Domain name seizures: The end of the dotcom dominance?

Is the Internet free and open?

Some days social media feels like this…

It has been an interesting week for those interested in Internet studies. As everyone knows, the International Telecommunications Union is meeting in Dubai for the WCIT, and there has been a bit of a revolt against what might happen. I have made my feelings clear, so there [...]

Is the UN trying to take over the Internet? Part II

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”. This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain, but there is no evidence that he ever said it, which ironically proves the saying.

I have been thinking of that saying a lot in the last month as [...]

In search of an open Internet

“Who you gonna call?

Internet openness is all the rage these days. From call signs on buildings to Declarations of Internet Freedom, an important sector of informed users is catching on to the relevance of keeping the Web open. This openness movement has been prompted in part by the perceived and real [...]

Who controls the Internet?

This is the question posed by every single Internet governance paper, every Internet regulation book. In classrooms around the world, students grapple with this very simple question.

The usual answer is that nobody is in charge of the Internet. Of course, this is not entirely true, there has to be some sort of structure, [...]

Is the UN trying to take over the Internet?

The Reds are Coming!

For some weeks now I have been seeing an article from the Wall Street Journal popping up practically everywhere in my collective social media timeline, from Twitter to Google Reader, from Facebook to mailing lists, there is growing concern that the Internet is about to suffer such an attack that [...]

El ocaso del puntocom

El 19 de enero del 2012 quedará grabado en la corta historia del Internet como el día en que se cerró el popular locker digital Megaupload, con el consecuente arresto de su dueño y de varios socios. Muy probablemente esta fecha se vaya a recordar también como el inicio del fin de la popularidad de [...]

Letters from the Internet governance front

Last week Yours Truly attended the 43rd ICANN meeting in Costa Rica. The gathering had a heavy agenda with more than 200 sessions, and the discussion was centred towards the issue of the new generic top level domains (gTLDs), which will allow the open registration of domains beyond the current crop of [...]

Council of Europe releases strong user-centred document on Internet governance

I’ve received an interesting press release from the Council of Europe about a new strategic document on Internet governance. This is a very strong document with interesting comments on privacy, human rights and cyber-security. Here is the press release:

“Strasbourg, 15.03.2012 – The 47 Council of Europe member states have adopted an Internet governance strategy [...]

ICANN 43

Next week Yours Truly will be attending ICANN 43 in Costa Rica. As an Internet regulation geek I have always been interested in ICANN, how a vast Internet governance edifice has been built, how it is maintained, and the politics that seem to run deep all around me. There have already been some meetings here [...]

Domain name seizures: The end of the dotcom dominance?

Back in November 2011 the US Department of Justice announced its continuing program of domain name seizures under the authority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. At the same time, ICE removed the domain from 150 sites allegedly infringing copyright. Back then, I felt that this would be a big [...]