May 17, 2012 1:37 PM PDT
Shalini Singh reporting in the Hindu: "The raging controversy over possible excessive state regulation of the internet based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week over India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly, for government control of the Internet... In its proposal submitted to the General Assembly in New York on October 26, 2011, India has argued for a radical shift from the present model of multi-stakeholder led decision-making, to a purely government-run multilateral body..." more
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Related Topics: ICANN, Internet Governance
May 17, 2012 10:28 AM PDT
Up to 100,000 customer modems are at risk of losing their internet connection from July 9 when the FBI disables rogue DNS servers seized late last year. The affected customer modems make up about a third of the 350,000 to 400,000 internet users believed to still have the DNSChanger malware on either their modems or Windows computers. more
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Related Topics: Cyberattack, Cybercrime, DNS, DNSSEC, Malware, Security
May 08, 2012 10:48 AM PDT
A recent report by Pingdom looks at the booming growth of Internet's DNS infrastructure. From the article: "Five years ago there were 123 DNS root server sites (the "backend" of DNS) spread out on the Internet. Today there are more than twice as many, over 300. Five years ago, 46 countries had root servers. Today, 76 have them. In other words, not only has the number of root servers grown tremendously, but their geographical spread has increased as well. This is good news for the overall stability and performance of DNS worldwide." more
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Related Topics: DNS
May 08, 2012 8:34 AM PDT
The United States Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has issued a warning about an active "spear phishing" campaign targeting companies in the natural gas pipeline sector. In an advisory issued last week, ICS-CERT said it has received information about targeted attacks and intrusions into multiple organizations over the past several months. more
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Related Topics: Cyberattack, Malware, Security
May 08, 2012 8:13 AM PDT
The upcoming expansion of the internet's domain name system could see more than 2,000 new top-level domains come into existence, according to policy overseer ICANN. The organisation revealed at the weekend that it has received 2,091 applications for its controversial new gTLD programme, and could see up to 214 more before it shuts the door to applicants. more
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Related Topics: ICANN, Top-Level Domains
May 04, 2012 12:29 PM PDT
China now has more than 1 billion mobile subscribers (India isn't far behind) -- that's more than three times the US. Second, China now has more than 150 million 3G users, as reported by mobiThinking. "These are the sum of subscriber stats from the three main Chinese operators. Third, China has more than 400 million mobile Internet users (i.e. more than there are mobile subscribers in the US), according to Analysys International. Fourth, China is now the largest smartphone market in the world with 22 percent (overtaking the US at 16 percent), according to Canalys." more
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Related Topics: Mobile
May 04, 2012 11:40 AM PDT
Declan McCullagh reporting in CNET: "The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require the firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance. In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities..." more
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Related Topics: Access Providers, Email, Internet Governance, Policy & Regulation, Privacy, VoIP, Web
May 02, 2012 12:35 PM PDT
Britain's High Court - not the highest, but well up the ladder - has officially ordered Internet service providers to block Sweden-based file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. That means top British ISPs must shut off access to the site as soon as possible. ISPs Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media have said they will, while a sixth, BT, has asked for a few weeks to mull over whether it will comply or not. The Pirate Bay hosts "torrent" files that let users connect with each other to download or share information -- in principle, a legitimate activity. more
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Related Topics: Access Providers, Censorship, Internet Governance, Policy & Regulation
Apr 25, 2012 11:24 PM PDT
The United Nations has announced that the membership of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum has been renewed. A total of 56 members, 33 among them new, have been appointed. The Advisory Group members are from all stakeholder groups and all regions, representing Governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and technical communities. more
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Related Topics: Internet Governance
Apr 24, 2012 11:16 AM PDT
Google today launched a long-rumored "Drive" service to allow users store photos, videos, and other digital files in its massive data centers. Available immediately, first five gigabytes of storage per account of Google Drive is free and additional storage will be sold for prices starting at $2.49 per month for 25 gigabytes. more
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Related Topics: Cloud Computing, Data Center