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A Clear Case for ISP Regulation: IP Address Logging

Over on the Network Neutrality Squad yesterday, I noted, without comment, the following quote from the new Time Warner Cable privacy policy bill insert: "Operator's system, in delivering and routing the ISP Services, and the systems of Operator's Affiliated ISPs, may automatically log information concerning Internet addresses you contact, and the duration of your visits to such addresses." Today I will comment, and explain why such logging by ISPs creates a clear case for regulatory intervention, on both privacy and competition grounds. more»

Do You Care About Your Privacy?

ICANN is currently going through a complicated process in order to introduce more Top-Level Domains (TLDs). While the launch of new TLDs is something that a lot of people will welcome it is not without its issues. One of the areas that has been receiving quite a bit of attention is in relation to intellectual property rights. So what has this got to do with privacy? more»

Contributory Cybersquatting and the Impending Demise of Domain Name Proxy Services?

This case involves an alleged domain name theft. Solid Host is a web host and initial owner of the domain name solidhost.com, which it registered through eNom in 2004. Solid Host claims that in 2008, a security breach at eNom allowed an unknown interloper (Doe) to steal the domain name and move the registration to NameCheap. Doe also acquired NameCheap's "WhoisGuard" service, a domain name proxy service that masked Doe's contact information in the Whois database. Solid Host contacted Doe and sought the domain name; Doe asked for $12,000, and Solid Host took a pass... more»

ICANN IRT Report Open for Comment With Short Timeframe?

The Intellectual Property Constituency's draft report on trademark issues is now available for comment. The draft report was put together behind closed doors, which would appear to go against the normal policy development process at ICANN, which is quite worrying. Its contents, however, are even more disturbing... more»

A Few Thoughts on the Future of Email Authentication

With the Online Trust Alliance Town Hall Meeting and Email Authentication Roundtable next week as well as the RSA Conference, I decided to pause and think about where we are and where we might be headed with regard to email authentication. Over the years, many of us have collectively worked to provide a framework for authenticating email... more»

Internet Records Retention Bill

A lot of pixels have been spilled lately over an Internet records retention bill recently introduced in both the House and the Senate. The goal is to fight child pornography. That's a worthwhile goal; however, I think these bills will do little to further it. Worse yet, I think that at least two of the provisions of the bill are likely to have bad side effects... more»

DPI is Not a Four-Letter Word!

As founder and CTO of Ellacoya Networks, a pioneer in Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), and now having spent the last year at Arbor Networks, a pioneer in network-based security, I have witnessed first hand the evolution of DPI. It has evolved from a niche traffic management technology to an integrated service delivery platform. Once relegated to the dark corners of the central office, DPI has become the network element that enables subscriber opt-in for new services, transparency of traffic usage and quotas, fairness during peak busy hours and protection from denial of service attacks, all the while protecting and maintaining the privacy of broadband users. Yet, DPI still gets a bad rap... more»

Google AdSense Asks Publishers to Change Their Websites' Privacy Policy

I received an e-mail from Google Adsense about its new interest-based advertising feature. The latest feature of Google AdSense allows Google to track the behavior of users who click on ads on their AdSense network. It also allows Google users to 'select' their interests—this way they would view advertisements based on their category of interest…

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Facebook's TOS Fumble

One big story of the day was Facebook's new and improved terms of service which this Consumerist post flagged and which set off a firestorm of controversy... What Was Facebook's Mistake? Facebook could have avoided much of the controversy by providing its users some advance notice of the upcoming changes. more»

Law Requiring Sex Offenders to Hand Over All Internet Passwords Going Too Far?

Maybe you've seen one of the news stories about the revised Georgia statute (Georgia Code ยง 41-1-12) that now requires sex offenders to turn their Internet passwords, screen names and email addresses over to authorities. The purpose of the revised statute is to give authorities the ability to track what sex offenders are doing online, to, in the words of one news story, "make sure" they "aren't stalking children online or chatting with them about off-limits topics." more»

News Briefs

Democracy Now Video Reporting on Iran's European Aided Internet Monitoring Capabilities

Canadian Government Proposes Mandated Surveillance Capabilities at ISPs

British Court Rules Against Anonymous Blogging

EFF Announced New Service to Let You Know When Terms-of-Serivce of Popular Sites Change

Website Monitoring Practices Taking Advantage of Critical Loopholes in Privacy Protection

UK Government Rules Out Content Monitoring But Will Track Who, When, Where and How of Communications

UK Faces Legal Action for Failing to Enforce EU Privacy Laws

FCC Fines Telecoms with $12 Million Over Customer Privacy Requirements

C-SPAN Interview: Internet and Cybersecurity

Canadian Judge Allows Use of IP Addresses to Identify People Without Search Warrant

FTC Issues New Privacy Guidelines for ISPs, Mobile Companies

TV Warehousing: Comcast's 500-Terabyte Storage Development for Advanced Advertising

UK Police Gets Go-Ahead to Hack Home PCs Without Warrant

More US States Placing Criminal Records Online

China Internet Cafes Forced to Switch Computers Running Microsoft to Chinese Operating System

Most Viewed

Adult-Related TLDs Considered Dangerous

Do Not Enter - It's XXX

Whois Privacy vs. Anonymity

Examining Two Well-Known Attacks on VoIP

Some Notes on the .XXX Top-Level Domain

Most Commented

Conflict of Opinion

DPI is Not a Four-Letter Word!

Hunting Unicorns: Myths and Realities of the Net Neutrality Debate

Whither DNS?

The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008

Industry Updates

SnapNames Extends Reach to Live Auctions

SnapNames, an Oversee.net company and the volume leader in aftermarket domain sales, will debut SnapNames Live, a live auction system for premium domains, at DOMAINfest Global's Hollywood, California event in January 2008. ›››

Hostway's New WhoisProtector Lite Protects Your Online Identity

Hostway has expanded its line of products to protect customers' private information with the release of WhoisProtector Lite. ›››

Resignation of Public Interest Registry President and CEO Announcement

Viltz has been the organization's president and CEO since February 2003. Effective 1 January 2007, Eva Frölich, chair of the PIR board of directors, will serve as acting CEO until a replacement is named. ›››

Hong Kong Internet Expert Pindar Wong Joins Public Interest Registry Board

Pindar Wong has been actively involved in developing the Internet in the Asia Pacific region, holding several board positions including chairman of the Asia Pacific Internet Association, executive committee chairman of Asia Pacific Internet Conference on Operational Technologies and alternate chair of Asia Pacific Network Information Center. ›››

PIR Welcomes New Worldwide Internet Leaders to the .ORG Advisory Council

Advisory Council members continue to provide PIR with sound advice on a wide range of registry issues and opportunities affecting the .ORG community. ›››