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Category Archives: Domain Names

Territorialization of the Internet Domain Name System

Trimble, Marketa, Territorialization of the Internet Domain Name System (March 25, 2017). Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 45, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2940864

“A territorialization of the internet – the linking of the internet to physical geography – is a growing trend. Internet users have become accustomed to the conveniences of localized advertising, have enjoyed location-based services, and have witnessed an increasing use of geolocation and geoblocking tools by service and content providers who – for various reasons – either allow or block access to internet content based on users’ physical locations. This article analyzes whether, and if so how, the territorialization trend has affected the internet Domain Name System (“DNS”).  As a hallmark of cyberspace governance that aimed to be detached from the territorially-partitioned governance of the physical world, the DNS might have been expected to resist the territorialization trend – a trend that seems antithetical to the original design of and intent for the internet as a globally distributed network that lacks a single point of control. However, the DNS has never been completely detached from physical geography, with which it has many ties, and the article shows that the territorialization trend is detectable in the DNS as well. The article contemplates what impact, if any, the trend will have on the future of the DNS – a future that is challenged by the role of internet search engines, whose predominant use by internet users could render the DNS, as we know it today, obsolete.”

Tim Berners-Lee: I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it

theguardian – Sir Tim Berners-Lee – “Today marks 28 years since I submitted my original proposal for the worldwide web. I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries. In many ways, the web has lived up to this… Continue Reading

Cybersquatting Cases Up in 2015, Driven by New gTLDs

Via WIPO –  Geneva, March 18, 2016 PR/2016/789 – “Amid the roll-out of hundreds of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .GURU, .NINJA and .NYC, trademark owners filed 2,754 cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with WIPO in 2015, an increase of 4.6 % over the previous year. Videos: Highlights Video/YouTube |… Continue Reading

Controlling Internet Infrastructure, Parts 1 and 2

Via OTI – “The Open Technology Institute at New America is committed to freedom and social justice in the digital age. To achieve these goals, it intervenes in traditional policy debates, builds technology, and deploys tools with communities.” Controlling Internet Infrastructure. The “IANA Transition” and Why It Matters for the Future of the Internet, Part… Continue Reading

GAO Report – Air Force’s F-15 Eagle, FAA Commercial Space Launch, Internet Management

Department of Defense’s Waiver of Competitive Prototyping Requirement for the Air Force’s F-15 Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS) Program, GAO-15-800R: Published: Sep 21, 2015. Publicly Released: Sep 21, 2015: “The Department of Defense’s (DOD) rationale for waiving the competitive prototyping requirement in the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, as amended (WSARA),… Continue Reading

CRS – The Future of Internet Governance

The Future of Internet Governance: Should the U.S. Relinquish Its Authority Over ICANN? Lennard G. Kruger, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, May 5, 2015. “Currently, the U.S. government retains limited authority over the Internet’s domain name system, primarily through the Internet Assigned Number s Authority (IANA) functions contract between the National Telecommunications and Informati… Continue Reading

Robots, Pirates, and the Rise of the Automated Takedown Regime

Carpou, Zoe, Robots, Pirates, and the Rise of the Automated Takedown Regime (April 6, 2015). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2591187 “The notice-and-takedown provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has become increasingly controversial, particularly with the ever-increasing use of “robo-takedown” requests — an automated procedure by which a copyright holder locates allegedly infringing content… Continue Reading

Life in the Global Public Domain

Ruggie, John Gerard, Life in the Global Public Domain: Response to Commentaries on the UN Guiding Principles and the Proposed Treaty on Business and Human Rights (January 23, 2015). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2554726 ““This paper addresses the foundational logics of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and comments on the… Continue Reading

Understanding ICANN’s Complexity in a Growing and Changing Internet

Testart, Cecilia, Understanding ICANN’s Complexity in a Growing and Changing Internet (April 15, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2431571 “Historically, the primary governance of the Internet has been in the hands of the Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit corporation appointed by the US government to develop policy for and manage the critical… Continue Reading

What happens to the internet after the U.S. hands off ICANN to others?

Pew Research Center, Lee Raine: “It is important to remember that no one, no government and no organization “controls the internet.”  ICANN is a crucial cog in the functioning of the internet because computers (and the people who use them) cannot find each other on the internet without Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. ICANN oversees how those addresses… Continue Reading

ICANN will transition to global plan for private stakeholder control

Via Nextgov: “A top Commerce Department official pushed back Wednesday against concerns that the Obama administration is opening the door to an Internet takeover by Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes. The fears stem from the Commerce Department’s announcement last Friday that it plans to give the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an international nonprofit group, control… Continue Reading