ICANN participation

During a conference, "Internet of Things," in France, the U.S. Department of Commerce made the announcement that it will hold a public consultation on the different proposals to cryptographically sign the DNS root zone file, and determine who will hold the root zone trust anchor for global DNSSEC implementation, says Milton Mueller on the Internet Governance Forum blog. The blog, titled "Commerce Department asks the world to comment on its plans to retain control of the root," continues:

"The announcement was made by NTIA's [National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce] Meredith Attwell Baker, who encouraged other governments to participate in the domestic U.S. proceeding. The announcement occurred after NTIA prevented ICANN, the supposedly independent, global, "bottom up" administrator of the DNS, to hold its own public consultation. Also, DoC says it is awaiting a proposal from ICANN regarding "automation" of certain root functions. ICANN's Paul Twomey, who was on the same panel, declined comment on anything NTIA said; apparently the gag order still holds."

Update 10/09/2008: The official Notice of Inquiry has now been published
Update 10/10/2008: Proposal To Sign the Root Zone Made Public

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan research firm suggests that the IPTV subscriber base in Asia-Pacific—covering 13 countries—reached 4.1 million in 2007 and estimates this number to reach 22.4 million by the end of 2013, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 32.7 percent (2007-2013). Of the 13 countries, eight had commercial IPTV services in 2007, while the rest are conducting trials for expected deployments from 2009 onwards, according to the report. "Many service providers feel the urge to launch IPTV services as a defensive strategy to increase their 'n-play' offerings with one more service."

Asia-Pacific accounted for about a third of the global IPTV subscriber base last year. Apart from South Korea which does not have true IPTV service, the top two Asia-Pac countries by subscribers as at end-2007 are Hong Kong with 24.9 percent (1.02 million subscribers) of the region's IPTV subscriber base and China with 22.7 percent (0.93 million). Hong Kong has the highest household IPTV penetration rate at 45.3 percent, and is the only market where IPTV dominates the pay-TV industry with a 46.7 percent subscriber market share in 2007 through its incumbent PCCW. Cable TV controls 41 percent of Hong Kong's 2.18 million pay-TV subscriber market, while satellite DTH (direct-to-home) services hold the remaining 12.3 percent.

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According to U.S. presidential candidates' position statements on the issues, John McCain is against Net neutrality and Barack Obama supports it. Glenn Derene, senior tech editor of Popular Mechanics who has put some thought into this issue in light of the current presidential race, says Net Neutrality is "one of the few technology issues on which the candidates clearly disagree." Derek explains:

"I invited both campaigns to elaborate on their positions, but in the waning weeks of the race, neither side was willing to take a few moments from their busy schedules and talk technology with me. Nevertheless, the general philosophies of each side seem clear: McCain believes in a lightly regulated Internet, while Obama believes in more government involvement. But it gets a bit more complicated. When it comes to net neutrality, both sides can make a credible case that they're the ones defending freedom of innovation and open communication."

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Internet is a "cesspool," a festering sea of bad information, said Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, yesterday while speaking to a group of visiting magazine executives at the company's Mountain View, California Campus during the American Magazine Conference. Schmidt suggested that "brands" are more important than ever and key solution for this problem is brands. "Brands are the solution, not the problem," said Schmidt. "Brands are how you sort out the cesspool." Branding, on the other hand, may be an essential element that helps people navigate the world, he continued. "Brand affinity is clearly hard wired," he said. "It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component."

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An extensive report released today by The National Research Council (NRC), titled "Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists: A Framework for Assessment", examines the balance between security and privacy. According to the report, all U.S. agencies with counterterrorism programs that collect or "mine" personal data—such as phone, medical, and travel records or websites visited—should be required to systematically evaluate the programs' effectiveness, lawfulness, and impacts on privacy.

"The danger of terror attacks on the U.S. is real and serious, and we should use the information technologies at our disposal to combat this threat. However, the threat does not justify government activities that violate the law, or fundamental changes in the level of privacy protection to which Americans are entitled," said William Perry, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, former U.S. secretary of defense, and Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor at Stanford University.

Declan McCullagh, reporting at CNet News: "A National Research Council report, years in the making and scheduled to be released Tuesday, concludes that automated identification of terrorists through data mining or any other mechanism 'is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts. Inevitable false positives will result in 'ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses' being incorrectly flagged as suspects."

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According to a report by research firm, TeleGeography, the price of wholesale internet access (IP transit) continues to decline but varies considerably around the world.

From today's report: "Median monthly IP transit prices for 1,000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) ports in major US and European cities ranged from USD10 to USD14 per Mbps in Q2 2008. IP transit prices in Asia remain far higher than in the US and Europe. Prices for GigE ports in major Asian cities in Q2 2008 ranged from USD30 per Mbps month in Seoul to USD45 per Mbps per month in Tokyo. IP transit service in Latin America is even more expensive, with median GigE port prices ranging from USD73 per month in Buenos Aires to USD86 per month in Santiago."

"Disparities suggest that there is plenty of room for IP transit prices in Asia and Latin America to decline. However, because prices in both the US and Europe are declining at least as fast as prices in higher cost regions, wide price disparities will likely persist for years to come," said TeleGeography analyst Erik Kreifeldt.

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Researchers at Battellea, a research and development firm in Columbus, OH, have succeeded in using off-the-shelf optical telecommunication components to create a faster millimeter-wave device sending data at 10 gigabits per second. Current Wi-Fi and cellular networks operate on frequencies of 2.4 to 5.0 gigahertz.

Today there are no commercial wireless systems available that could match the speed of optical fiber capable of carrying tens of gigabits per second. Kate Greene of Technology Review reports: "One way to achieve faster speeds is to harness the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum, although this usually requires expensive and very complex equipment. Now, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have come up with a simpler way to send data through the air with millimeter-wave technology. Earlier this year, in field tests of a prototype point-to-point system, the team was able to send a 10.6-gigabit-per-second signal between antennas 800 meters apart. And more recently, the researchers demonstrated a 20-gigabit-per-second signal in the lab."

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Researchers at Battellea, a research and development firm in Columbus, OH, have succeeded in using off-the-shelf optical telecommunication components to create a faster millimeter-wave device sending data at 10 gigabits per second. Current Wi-Fi and cellular networks operate on frequencies of 2.4 to 5.0 gigahertz.

Today there are no commercial wireless systems available that could match the speed of optical fiber capable of carrying tens of gigabits per second. Kate Greene of Technology Review reports: "One way to achieve faster speeds is to harness the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum, although this usually requires expensive and very complex equipment. Now, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have come up with a simpler way to send data through the air with millimeter-wave technology. Earlier this year, in field tests of a prototype point-to-point system, the team was able to send a 10.6-gigabit-per-second signal between antennas 800 meters apart. And more recently, the researchers demonstrated a 20-gigabit-per-second signal in the lab."

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A British man and a German man have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to intentionally cause damage to the computers of two U.S.-based retail satellite companies by launching large-scale distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks that shut down the companies' websites.

The two men were allegedly hired by the owner of Orbit Communication, currently wanted by the FBI, to carry out DDOS attacks. Those attacks were directed at the public websites of two of Orbit's competitors, Rapid Satellite of Miami, Florida, and Weaknees of Los Angeles. If convicted, Walker and Gembe face 15 years in prison.

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A British man and a German man have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to intentionally cause damage to the computers of two U.S.-based retail satellite companies by launching large-scale distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks that shut down the companies' websites.

The two men were allegedly hired by the owner of Orbit Communication, currently wanted by the FBI, to carry out DDOS attacks. Those attacks were directed at the public websites of two of Orbit's competitors, Rapid Satellite of Miami, Florida, and Weaknees of Los Angeles. If convicted, Walker and Gembe face 15 years in prison.

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This month marks the fifth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) will be actively engaging public and private sector partners through events and initiatives to increase overall awareness and minimize vulnerabilities. This year, according to DHS, 28 state governors signed a proclamation in recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness Month and 51 endorsements were provided by companies, non-profits, universities and government agencies. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. To learn more, visit DHS and StaySafeOnline.org.

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This month marks the fifth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) will be actively engaging public and private sector partners through events and initiatives to increase overall awareness and minimize vulnerabilities. This year, according to DHS, 28 state governors signed a proclamation in recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness Month and 51 endorsements were provided by companies, non-profits, universities and government agencies. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. To learn more, visit DHS and StaySafeOnline.org.

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Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers have released a report on the extensive surveillance system in China that monitors and archives text conversations that include politically charged words. The research group, called Information Warfare Monitor, is a joint project of The SecDev Group, and the Citizen Lab, at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The following are introductory excerpts from the study:
* * *

Our investigation reveals troubling security and privacy breaches affecting TOM-Skype—the Chinese version of the popular voice and text chat software Skype, marketed by the domestic Chinese company TOM Online. TOM-Skype routinely collects, logs and captures millions of records that include personal information and contact details for any text chat and/or voice calls placed to TOM-Skype users, including those from the Skype platform. These records are kept on publicly-accessible servers, along with the information required to decrypt these log files. These files contain the full text of chat messages sent and/or received by TOM-Skype users that contain particular keywords that trigger TOM-Skype's content-filtering capability.

Security problems appear to be endemic at TOM Online. The publicly-accessible servers accessed by our investigation are insecure and contain information that can be used to exploit the TOM-Skype server network. It is possible that a malicious attacker could exploit vulnerabilities in the system and access the millions of logged communications and, possibly, detailed user profiles. In fact, evidence suggests that the servers used to store captured data have been compromised in the past and used to host pirated movies and torrents.
* * *

The study has raised key issues such as the extent of cooperation between TOM Online, Skype and the Chinese government in monitoring the communications of activists, dissidents and ordinary citizens. The study has listed the following as "Major Facts" in the findings:

• The full text chat messages of TOM-Skype users, along with Skype users who have communicated with TOM-Skype users, are regularly scanned for sensitive keywords, and if present, the resulting data are uploaded and stored on servers in China.
• These text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information, are stored on insecure publicly-accessible web servers together with the encryption key required to decrypt the data.
• The captured messages contain specific keywords relating to sensitive political topics such as Taiwan independence, the Falun Gong, and political opposition to the Communist Party of China.
• Our analysis suggests that the surveillance is not solely keyword-driven. Many of the captured messages contain words that are too common for extensive logging, suggesting that there may be criteria, such as specific usernames, that determine whether messages are captured by the system.

The following is a chart of the 96,499 messages that were successfully translated with machine translation where 15,156 messages (15.71%) contained the word "communist", 6,744 contained "Falun" (6.99%) and 2,363 (2.45%) contained "Taiwan Independence."

Readers can learn more by visiting the Information Warfare Monitor website where this report titled, "Breaching Trust: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on China's TOM-Skype platform" can be downloaded.

Update 10/2/2008 10:49 AM PST: Jennifer Caukin, an eBay spokeswoman, has issued the following statement today:

"In China, TOM Online is the majority partner in our joint venture that brings Internet communications to Chinese citizens. The software developed and distributed in China by TOM utilizes Skype functionality, and TOM, just like any other communications company in China, has established procedures to meet local Chinese laws and regulations.

In 2006, Skype publically disclosed that Tom operated a text filter that blocked certain words on chat messages but that it did not compromise Tom customers' privacy. Last night, we learned that this practice was changed without our knowledge or consent and we are extremely concerned. We deeply apologise for the breach of privacy on Tom's servers in China and we are urgently addressing this situation with Tom.

We confirm our strong belief that Skype to Skype communications, enabled by our peer to peer architecture and strong encryption, remain the most secure form of publically available communications today."

Update 10/2/2008 1:28 PM PST: President of Skype, Josh Silverman has addresses the Chinese privacy breach on the company blog.

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Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers have released a report on the extensive surveillance system in China that monitors and archives text conversations that include politically charged words. The research group, called Information Warfare Monitor, is a joint project of The SecDev Group, and the Citizen Lab, at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The following are introductory excerpts from the study:
* * *

Our investigation reveals troubling security and privacy breaches affecting TOM-Skype—the Chinese version of the popular voice and text chat software Skype, marketed by the domestic Chinese company TOM Online. TOM-Skype routinely collects, logs and captures millions of records that include personal information and contact details for any text chat and/or voice calls placed to TOM-Skype users, including those from the Skype platform. These records are kept on publicly-accessible servers, along with the information required to decrypt these log files. These files contain the full text of chat messages sent and/or received by TOM-Skype users that contain particular keywords that trigger TOM-Skype's content-filtering capability.

Security problems appear to be endemic at TOM Online. The publicly-accessible servers accessed by our investigation are insecure and contain information that can be used to exploit the TOM-Skype server network. It is possible that a malicious attacker could exploit vulnerabilities in the system and access the millions of logged communications and, possibly, detailed user profiles. In fact, evidence suggests that the servers used to store captured data have been compromised in the past and used to host pirated movies and torrents.
* * *

The study has raised key issues such as the extent of cooperation between TOM Online, Skype and the Chinese government in monitoring the communications of activists, dissidents and ordinary citizens. The study has listed the following as "Major Facts" in the findings:

• The full text chat messages of TOM-Skype users, along with Skype users who have communicated with TOM-Skype users, are regularly scanned for sensitive keywords, and if present, the resulting data are uploaded and stored on servers in China.
• These text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information, are stored on insecure publicly-accessible web servers together with the encryption key required to decrypt the data.
• The captured messages contain specific keywords relating to sensitive political topics such as Taiwan independence, the Falun Gong, and political opposition to the Communist Party of China.
• Our analysis suggests that the surveillance is not solely keyword-driven. Many of the captured messages contain words that are too common for extensive logging, suggesting that there may be criteria, such as specific usernames, that determine whether messages are captured by the system.

The following is a chart of the 96,499 messages that were successfully translated with machine translation where 15,156 messages (15.71%) contained the word "communist", 6,744 contained "Falun" (6.99%) and 2,363 (2.45%) contained "Taiwan Independence."

Readers can learn more by visiting the Information Warfare Monitor website where this report titled, "Breaching Trust: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on China's TOM-Skype platform" can be downloaded.

Update 10/2/2008 10:49 AM PST: Jennifer Caukin, an eBay spokeswoman, has issued the following statement today:

"In China, TOM Online is the majority partner in our joint venture that brings Internet communications to Chinese citizens. The software developed and distributed in China by TOM utilizes Skype functionality, and TOM, just like any other communications company in China, has established procedures to meet local Chinese laws and regulations.

In 2006, Skype publically disclosed that Tom operated a text filter that blocked certain words on chat messages but that it did not compromise Tom customers' privacy. Last night, we learned that this practice was changed without our knowledge or consent and we are extremely concerned. We deeply apologise for the breach of privacy on Tom's servers in China and we are urgently addressing this situation with Tom.

We confirm our strong belief that Skype to Skype communications, enabled by our peer to peer architecture and strong encryption, remain the most secure form of publically available communications today."

Update 10/2/2008 1:28 PM PST: President of Skype, Josh Silverman has addresses the Chinese privacy breach on the company blog.

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According to Google's findings released today, the company claims that its energy-optimized data centers are the most efficient in the world. More specifically, the company says that its data centers "use nearly five times less energy than conventional facilities to feed and cool the computers inside." This includes efforts to optimize every element in the data center, from the chip to the cooling tower. "As a result, the energy used per Google search is minimal. In the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than we will use to answer your query."

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According to Google's findings released today, the company claims that its energy-optimized data centers are the most efficient in the world. More specifically, the company says that its data centers "use nearly five times less energy than conventional facilities to feed and cool the computers inside." This includes efforts to optimize every element in the data center, from the chip to the cooling tower. "As a result, the energy used per Google search is minimal. In the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than we will use to answer your query."

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held a meeting today in Washington, D.C. discussing concerns over the organization's takeover by governments and other outside entities as well as the need for further accountability to Internet users.

ICANN's current oversight agreement with the U.S. government comes to an end in a year and there are no plans to sign a new agreement according to ICANN officials. However in the past few years, representatives of other countries have called for an international organization to oversee the 10-year-old ICANN. In order to steer clear of outside takeovers, ICANN proposes remaining in the U.S. where it can take advantage of the countries relatively strong antitrust and competitive laws.

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held a meeting today in Washington, D.C. discussing concerns over the organization's takeover by governments and other outside entities as well as the need for further accountability to Internet users.

ICANN's current oversight agreement with the U.S. government comes to an end in a year and there are no plans to sign a new agreement according to ICANN officials. However in the past few years, representatives of other countries have called for an international organization to oversee the 10-year-old ICANN. In order to steer clear of outside takeovers, ICANN proposes remaining in the U.S. where it can take advantage of the countries relatively strong antitrust and competitive laws.

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Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has met with the Chinese government body in charge of censoring online content in the country. Cai Mingzhao, Vice Director of China's State Council Information Office in charge of China's "Internet Management Division" (censorship division), discussed Wales' concerns regarding censorship. Although no deals or agreements where made, it has been reported that the meeting has "opened a channel of communication and dialogue between the Wikipedia community and the Chinese government."

Rebecca MacKinnon, Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre reports: "Since 2005 Wikipedia—both Chinese and English—has been blocked in China, but it was unblocked in the run-up to the Olympics, along with a number of other overseas websites. At last year's Wikimania meeting in Taipei, Jimmy was adamant in stating that neither Wikipedia nor his company, Wikia, will ever agree to censor content at the request of Chinese authorities. Google's decision to offer a censored search engine in China, he said last year, was 'a bad business decision for Google… When there is a sufficient amount of change that the Great Firewall is torn down, the Chinese people will appreciate that Wikipedia stood its moral ground.'"

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Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has met with the Chinese government body in charge of censoring online content in the country. Cai Mingzhao, Vice Director of China's State Council Information Office in charge of China's "Internet Management Division" (censorship division), discussed Wales' concerns regarding censorship. Although no deals or agreements where made, it has been reported that the meeting has "opened a channel of communication and dialogue between the Wikipedia community and the Chinese government."

Rebecca MacKinnon, Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre reports: "Since 2005 Wikipedia—both Chinese and English—has been blocked in China, but it was unblocked in the run-up to the Olympics, along with a number of other overseas websites. At last year's Wikimania meeting in Taipei, Jimmy was adamant in stating that neither Wikipedia nor his company, Wikia, will ever agree to censor content at the request of Chinese authorities. Google's decision to offer a censored search engine in China, he said last year, was 'a bad business decision for Google… When there is a sufficient amount of change that the Great Firewall is torn down, the Chinese people will appreciate that Wikipedia stood its moral ground.'"

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