Is the ICANN GAC right? It depends on who you ask

What they’re saying about the GAC’s safeguard advice The ICANN New gTLD Board Committee request for comment on the GAC’s safeguard advice has closed, and the reply period will open soon. Here are some select comments, along with links to the full comments. “Instead of Guidebook advice, the GAC has offered public policy advice and …

ICANN on Africa’s Internet Market and Hub Offices: Interview with Brad White, ICANN’s Director of Global Media Affairs

Africa is increasingly becoming a key player in global business and essential resources like the internet will definitely be forming a critical part of this growth. At the end of 2012, Africa’s internet penetration rate was quoted as heading to 16%. While this is quite low compared to global rates, the continent has witnessed a …

Associated Press condemns US telephone record seizure

The Associated Press has described the US government’s secret seizure of its journalists’ telephone records as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion”. Chief executive Gary Pruitt said AP was told on Friday the justice department had gathered records of outgoing calls from more than 20 phone lines. Mr Pruitt said there could be “no possible justification …

Proposed ICANN Whois Information Status Policy opened for Public Comment

ICANN is opening a Public Comment Period for the proposed Whois Information Status Policy. Members of the Internet Community are asked to provide feedback on the proposed document. The proposed Policy is based on a recommendation from the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council related to the display of statuses in the Whois output by registry …

Google, Yahoo Sued Over ‘Sponsored’ Ads

Law360, New York (May 06, 2013, 10:13 PM ET) — Search giants Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. were sued in California federal court by a car replacement part business accusing them of allowing so-called sponsored advertisements for unrelated firms and competitors to appear next to results for its name that allegedly misdirect potential customers to …

Syria’s Internet goes offline

Syria’s Internet has gone down, according to wide reports. Umbrella Security Labs, a division of Internet security firm OpenDNS, reported that a Syria had a significant drop in traffic at around 6:45 p.m. UTC. The organization posted a graph showing that both top-level domain servers for Syria are “unreachable.” According to Google’s transparency report, all the …

Lifting barriers to Internet development in Africa: suggestions for improving connectivity

There have been significant improvements to Africa’s Internet connectivity in the last five years. Enormous investment in telecoms infrastructure has characterised these improvements, especially in terms of intercontinental connectivity and terrestrial fibre networks: Submarine cable investment has amounted to around USD3.8 billion and terrestrial networks have seen over USD8 billion of investment. Internet exchange points …

Location Recommendations Now Being Accepted for ICANN’s 2015 Meetings in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean Islands, Europe

ICANN is actively seeking locations for its three public meetings to be held 8-12 February 2015 in Africa, 21-25 June 2015 in Latin America/Caribbean Islands, and 18-22 October 2015 in Europe. Those in the geographic regions are invited to submit recommendations for specific locations to hold the events. These recommended venues, along with others in …