US congress proposes designating the week of Feb. 8 as Internet Governance Awareness Week. Coincides with ICANN52

As reported on the Hill byMario Trujillo Two Republican senators are hoping to shine a spotlight on the Commerce Department’s moves to hand off oversight of the system governing Internet addresses. GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Roy Blunt (Mo.) introduced a resolution Tuesday that would designate the week of Feb. 8 as Internet Governance …

Philip S. Corwin: NTIA Says Cromnibus Bars IANA Transition During Current Contract Term

The Congressional Internet Caucus held its 15th annual State of the Net conference today at The Newseum in Washington, DC. This is traditionally a start the new year networking and information update day for the capital’s technology policy set. Immediately following the lunch break, at a session titled “Internet Functions in Transition: Is the US …

The Register: ICANN CEO criticizes domain ‘hoggers’ But just who’s eating at the trough?

By Kieren McCarthy ICANN’s CEO has infuriated domain investors by dismissing them as domain “hoggers” in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Talking about the introduction of hundreds of new top-level domains, and prompted by the interviewer about the risk of “landgrabs” under the new names, Chehade gave what some feel was …

IpJustice: Civil Society Cautions Against ICANN Proposal to Give Governments a Veto Over New Domains Using “Geographic Names”

A group of twenty-four civil society organizations and individuals today submitted a joint statement regarding a proposal from an ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) sub-group on the use of “geographic names” in top-level domains.  The joint civil society statement cautioned against the adoption of the GAC proposal that would give governments veto power on domains …

ICANN Denies Allegation That New gTLD Have Increased Phishing & Malware Sites

According to a company blog post out today, by brand protection company CSC, citing Amy Mushahwar, counsel and Chief Information Security Officer at Washington, D.C. law firm ZwillGen PLLC, says: “New domains (new gTLD’s) are being registered as phishing sites and for drive-by downloads of malware.”….“Nefarious uses have been very widespread. It’s incumbent upon ICANN …