Researchers Explore Redesigning Internet Infrastructure from Scratch

Government and university researchers have been exploring ways to redesign the Internet from scratch. Some of the challenges that led researchers to start thinking of clean-slate approaches... Researchers are questioning whether all devices truly need addresses. Perhaps sensors in a home could talk to one another locally and relay the most important data through a gateway bearing an address. This way, routers wouldn't have to keep track of every single sensor, improving efficiency. more»

More on Difficulties Transitioning to IPv6

Transitioning to a next-generation Internet could be akin to changing the engines on a moving airplane.

Routers and other networking devices will likely need replacing; personal computers could be in store for software upgrades. Headaches could arise given the fact that it won't be possible to simply shut down the entire network for maintenance, with companies, groups and individuals depending on it every day. more»

Legal Attack on ARIN Dismissed in Court

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) has announced [PDF] that it has prevailed in a lawsuit that challenged ARIN's ability to allocate Internet Protocol (IP) number resources fairly. The lawsuit was brought by an individual - Gary Kremen - who sought to have a netblock of IP addresses transferred to him without agreeing to ARIN's standard terms and conditions.

"Today's victory is significant for consumers who rely on the Internet to operate efficiently and effectively," said ARIN President and CEO Raymond Plzak. more»

IP Address Confusion Results in Wrong Family Raiding

...IP addresses are not consistently reliable means of identifying users. Law enforcement officials and a family in Gretna, Virginia and learned that lesson the hard way after their home was searched by a law enforcement team that included Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, according to a law enforcement official. more»

China's MII Publishes New Email Regulations

China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has published a set of regulations that govern email services and include several provisions intended to cut down on the amount of spam that Chinese Internet users find in their in-box.

The new rules go into effect on March 30. As expected, the regulations require e-mail advertisements to include "AD" or the equivalent in Chinese characters (guang gao) in the subject header. They also require email service providers to register the IP addresses of their mail servers with the authorities. more»

IANA Up For Grabs?

The US government wants to hear from organizations interested in running some of the internet's key resources, including the master lists of IP address space and domain names.

The Department of Commerce last week published a request for information, a step before potentially putting a contract out to bidding, soliciting interest from anybody interested in taking over the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. more»