Developments over the past few months — and especially the revelations about the spying work of the NSA on friendly governments and their people and businesses — show how important it is to try and establish some high-level strategies relating to managing the governance of the internet. While companies like Google have been lobbying hard …
The US Senate has added its voice to the new gTLD process procedures. In a 26th June 2013 letter to ICANN, Senator Jay Rockefeller, the head of the Senate Commerce Committee told ICANN to “tread carefully” in opening up new gTLD’s follow GAC advice and consider a limited roll out of first round gTLD’s: Most …
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board of Directors today approved a new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). The new instruction change will hold domain name registrars more accountable for “whois” data, and mandates verification of phone numbers, email, and some personal information before a domain may be registered. “In no small way …
An ICANN working group is seeking input on a replacement for the current WHOIS system for retrieving details of domain name registrations An Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) working group is seeking public input on a successor to the current WHOIS system used to retrieve domain name information. The Expert Working Group …
ICANN has embarked on an effort to reinvent today’s WHOIS system. Be part of the solution and join the discussion…online and at ICANN‘s Durban meeting. As the Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services (EWG), we have proposed a paradigm shift – a new system in which gTLD registration data is collected, validated and disclosed …
The European Commission today announced plans for a Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO), an online platform to improve knowledge and participation on issues related to global internet policymaking. The GIPO would “act as a clearinghouse for monitoring Internet policy, regulatory and technological developments across the world,” according to a Commission press release. The platform would monitor internet-related …
The European data protection activists behind the Europe v Facebook (evf) campaign group, that has long been a thorn in Facebook’s side in Europe, have filed new complaints under regional data protection law targeting Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Skype and Yahoo for their alleged collaboration with the NSA’s Prism data collection program. The student activist organisation is targeting the …
New plan gives rights to existing domain registrants and offers lower pricing. Nominet, the registry behind the .uk namespace for the United Kingdom, has put forth a new plan to offer second level domains to the public. Currently, registrations are only available at the third level. The group’s previous proposal to offer domains such as …
17 June 2013 ICANN has announced today that it has signed an Accountability Framework with the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) manager for .ME (Montenegro), the Ministry for Information Society and Telecommunications of Montenegro, on 13 May 2013. The Accountability Framework program provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers can formalise their relationship with …
nside Fort Meade, Maryland, a top-secret city bustles. Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings—the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force. But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, …