DOTZON Study: Digital City Brands 2025

We have just released the 2025 edition of the DOTZON study "Digital City Brands." Since first presenting the study in early 2017, DOTZON has now analyzed for the ninth consecutive year how cities successfully use their Digital City Brands. The Digital City Brand represents the digital aspect of a city's brand and reflects how digitally advanced a city is. The emergence of the Internet was the reason Digital City Brands were created in the first place.  more

Censorship-by-Infrastructure: How DNS Blocking Threatens the Open Internet—and How You Can Help Document It

What happens when governments don't just regulate content, but forcibly repurpose the very guts of the Internet's infrastructure to enforce their policies? The chilling answer, increasingly evident worldwide, is widespread, devastating collateral damage. Around the world, neutral systems like Domain Name System (DNS) resolvers and IP routing, the bedrock of our digital lives, are being weaponized as enforcement tools. more

Increasing Broadband Price Competition Across the US

Competition has been creeping into broadband pricing for the last several years as cable companies have been using low introductory rates to try to win new customers and offering similarly low prices to try to keep them. Anybody who competes against the big cable companies will tell you that cable companies have been competing for years by offering two-year promotional prices to keep customers. However, competition might have gone into a new gear recently... more

A Targeted Blueprint for Tackling DNS Abuse

The NetBeacon Institute is pleased to publish its White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse. We created this paper to support and advance ICANN Community discussions on potential policy development related to DNS Abuse. From our unique perspective, we believe there are a number of issues that are constrained enough to be a successful ICANN PDP and can make a meaningful difference in our collective work against DNS Abuse. more

What Can We Learn From 160 Years of Tech Diplomacy at ITU?

On 17 May 1865, 20 European states convened to establish the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to streamline the clunky process of sending telegraph messages across borders. 160 years later, ITU's anniversary is more than a mere commemorative moment; it is a stark reminder that multilateral cooperation is beneficial and necessary in our increasingly interconnected world. more

Towards a Generalised Threat-Scoring Framework for Prioritising Results From Brand Monitoring Programmes

The ability to rank results according to the level of threat they pose (based on factors such as, for example, the extent to which a webpage relates to a brand of interest) is a key component of many brand protection services. The prioritisation process has a number of purposes, including the identification of: (a) priority targets for further analysis; (b) candidates for content tracking (i.e. regular reinspection of content or configuration, and the generation of an alert if high-concern findings are identified) - as may be appropriate in cases where a domain name presents a high potential level of risk but is not currently associated with any live site content; and (c) priority targets for enforcement actions. more

Beyond WHOIS: Rethinking Domain Verification in a Post-GDPR World

The introduction of GDPR in 2018, and the subsequent tightening of privacy regulations around the world, was a necessary step toward protecting user data. Consumers gained critical rights over their personal information, and companies were forced to adopt stronger standards for how they collect, store, and use that data. However, one unintended consequence has been the erosion of access to domain registration information once easily available through WHOIS databases. more

The WSIS+20 Review: A Chance to Advance the Multistakeholder Approach Leveraging the Sao Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines

Negotiation processes in the UN are remembered not just for what came out of them, but also for what they were like, who participated, and how they were conducted. People who participated in the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) back in 2003 and 2005 often talk about the process, its challenges and its achievements. more

How New Domains are Driving DNS-based Attacks

Cyber criminals are the kings of recycling. Once they've found a tactic that works well, they'll keep doing it as long as they can get away with it. That's why it's so important for research teams to keep a close eye on what's happening behind the scenes with web traffic. Case in point? Our team at DNSFilter recently analyzed global DNS activity from the first quarter of 2025 and identified several notable trends. more

When Space Becomes Infrastructure: Governance Challenges in Record-Breaking Week for Satellites

This past week offered a striking illustration of the pace and scale at which our shared orbital environment is evolving. In less than 24 hours, six rockets were launched from different parts of the globe, each contributing to the rapid expansion of low Earth orbit (LEO) infrastructure. China deployed a new set of Guowang satellites, while SpaceX launched two batches of Starlink satellites - one from Vandenberg in California and another from Cape Canaveral in Florida. United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully placed Amazon's Kuiper satellites into orbit... more

Increased Attacks Against ISP Networks

Netscout recently released its latest Threat Intelligence Report that documents DDoS attacks in the second half of 2024. As has been the trend for many years, the largest target of DDoS attacks has been ISP networks. There were over 8.9 million DDoS attacks documented in the second half of last year, up 12.75% over the first half of the year. more

Amazon’s Satellite Ambitions Finally Lift Off: Project Kuiper Enters the Low-Earth Orbit Race

After several delays due to bad weather, Amazon's Project Kuiper finally launched its first batch of low-orbit broadband satellites on April 28. The company says it is in communication with all 27 new satellites. Amazon used a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral. Amazon is under pressure to get the launches going and has a commitment to the FCC to launch 1,618 satellites by July 2026. more

Jevons Paradox and Internet Centrality

The story of computing and communications over the past eighty years has been a story of quite astounding improvements in the capability, cost and efficiency of computers and communications. If the same efficiency improvements had been made in the automobile industry cars would cost a couple of dollars, would cost fractions of a cent to use for trips, and be capable of travelling at speeds probably approaching the speed of light! more

Why Digital Sovereignty Cannot Escape Its Own Contradictions? Reflections for Moving Forward

The debate surrounding digital sovereignty has gained momentum in recent years, particularly within BRICS nations, where governments seek to assert greater control over their digital ecosystems. Proponents of digital sovereignty often frame it as a necessary countermeasure against foreign technological dominance, positioning it as either a "positive" force- fostering local innovation and self-reliance- or a "negative" one- fueling authoritarian control and economic isolation. more

WSIS+20: IGF, EC, GDC and the Future of Digital

The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) convened by World leaders in 2003 and 2005 following the realization of the crucial roles of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) (also known in the industry as the Internet) played in economic growth and development. Since 2005, ICTs have added more than $10tr to the global economy (Oxford Economics, 2020). more

Tech Continuity in President Trump’s First 100 Days

Tech developments saw less drama than trade and environmental shifts during Trump's first 100 days. Continuity, not abrupt change, defined his approach to AI and digital regulation. Only 9 of 139 executive orders (EOs) focused on tech. Trump's tech policy emphasised reviews and incremental shifts. Public consultations on AI, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrencies signal steady evolution over upheaval. more

Remembering Dave Taht

Dave Taht died on April 1st. I met him only recently, and never in person, but his passing saddens me. His technical work and evangelism have improved the Internet, and I will give some examples of his contributions to the Internet community and users, but I am sad because he was a good person -- idealistic, unselfish, open, and funny. I'll miss him. First, his contributions, then his values. more

Internet Governance - the End of Multi-Stakeholderism?

When the Internet outgrew its academic and research roots and gained some prominence and momentum in the broader telecommunications environment, its proponents found themselves in opposition to many of the established practices of international telecommunications arrangements and even in opposition to the principles that lie behind these arrangements.  more

A Call to Action for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review

Last week, GPD, together with 114 organisations and 57 individual experts from civil society, the technical community, industry and academia, presented a set of cross-stakeholder community recommendations aimed at operationalising the modalities for the twenty-year review of the WSIS (WSIS+20). The open letter responds to the adoption on 25 March of a UN General Assembly resolution on WSIS+20 modalities, advocating for a transparent and inclusive review process that meaningfully engages all relevant stakeholders. more

Thousands of Third-Party Domains Target Super Bowl Betting Brands

When major events like the Super Bowl are on the horizon, cybercriminals exploit public trust by creating fraudulent domains for fake betting sites, phishing, and malware distribution. CSC's research into top online sportsbooks highlights the hidden risks of dormant domains, which, though inactive, can quickly be repurposed for cyber attacks. Overlooked yet dangerous, these domains play a key role in impersonation, misinformation, and scams targeting event-driven traffic, underscoring the need for continuous monitoring of lookalike, dropped, re-registered, and newly registered domains. more

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