InternetPolicy.net

DNS and the future of Internet navigation

"An Invitation to Individuals Worldwide to Provide Input to a Study Conducted by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

"The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is soliciting input regarding its study on Internet Navigation and the Domain Name System (DNS)... At this time, we are soliciting input from the public worldwide [on various issues including]:

1. The particular characteristics of individual nations that are not being accommodated by currently available mechanisms for navigation on the Internet.
2. The extent to which people in each country use domain names directly (i.e., by typing domain names into a software program as opposed to using a portal, search engine, or clicking on a link provided by others) to find the information that they seek on the Internet. The committee is interested in relevant data or published reports that characterize this use.
3. The technological challenges that inhibit citizens of a country from finding the information that they seek on the Internet, including the market (economic), social, research, or governance constraints that impede the development and deployment of technologies that could overcome these challenges.
4. Within the context of the project scope of this study, the Committee is interested in specific comments on improving Internet navigation and the domain name system...

"Comments for each of the four issues should be in English and should not exceed 500 words per issue..." Click here to go to the NAS's webpage for this project and to read responses that have already been submitted.

Thanks to ICANNfocus and CircleID for the pointer.

Will IPv6 conversion fail in the US?

Simson Garfinkel has a cautionary article about IPv6 in the latest issue of MIT's Technology Review: "The Net Effect." He points out that while packet-level encryption will be the norm in IPv6, transmission through today's routers is likely to be slower than with IPv4 because the current protocol is implemented in hardware while the new protocol will initially be in software. Replacing all of the IPv4 routers will take years and many millions of dollars - he compares it to the plan for the US to convert from inches and miles to the metric system, which never happened because of the cost and disruption. Will IPv6 fail for similar reasons?

"Forced re-delegation" of .ng domain?

Nigeria's Information Technology Development Agency has licensed the Nigerian Internet Group to administer the country's top-level domain, .ng. But ICANN recognizes other individuals as the domain administrators, including an American who maintains the .ng DNS server in North America. The conflict looks like it could get hotter before it is resolved, say Shina Badaru and Russell Southwood in issue 190 of the Balancing Act's News Update. They quote NITDA as saying "forced re-delegation is only now a matter of time."

CENTR criticizes ccTLD report

In December, the International Telecommunication Union released the results of its survey of member states' experiences with country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) management. See the ITU Newslog for access to individual responses. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist wrote a 23-page analysis of the survey data, but his analysis has now been criticized by the Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR).

Quoting from an article about the controversy by Tim Mertens on CircleID: "'In the last decade the general trend has been to de-regulate markets in the Communications Industry, which continues to stimulate economic growth and innovation, and it seems perverse that this ITU supported report is seeking to go against the proven successful trend,' said Paul Kane, chairman of CENTR... CENTR members feel that Geist's conclusions are misleading the general public in several ways: The study does not comply with generally accepted methods of data analysis, and claims to be representative, although less than 25% of all world-wide country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) Registries replied to the survey... Whilst Geist's conclusions are indicating the importance of government involvement, he ignores the crucial part the private sector has played historically and is playing today in the growth and stability of the Internet..."

Private ADSL comes to Iran

Agence France Presse says that the Iranian government has given permission to a private firm, Parsonline, to offer Internet access via ADSL. This is not only the first offering of high-speed dial-up Internet in Iran, it is "a first step towards privatising telecommunications," according to Majid Emami, a spokesperson for Parsonline, which claims to have 60,000 customers already for its non-ADSL access service.

New restrictions on net access in Cuba

Associated Press writer Anita Snow says: "Cuba tightened its controls over the Internet on Friday, prohibiting access over the low-cost government phone service most ordinary citizens have at home... Cuba's communist government already heavily controls access to the Internet. Cubans must have government permission to use the Web legally and most don't, although many can access international e-mail and a more limited government-controlled intranet at government jobs and schools. Now Cubans will need additional approval to access via the nation's regular phone service. Since few Cubans are authorized to use the Internet from home -- only some doctors and key government officials -- the new law amounts to a crackdown on illegal users..."

Internet-only political party could violate EU, UK laws

"A new internet-only party, claiming to have no policies beyond what its readers agree on, could be in breach of electoral rules, according to academics from Nottingham University," Matthew Tempest writes in the Guardian Unlimited (UK). "Yourparty.org is hoping to launch next month, in time to fight the European elections in June, but experts have warned that having candidates contractually bound to vote according to supporters could contravene the law... [Dr Richard Whitaker of the Nottingham University's school of politics] points out that the rules of the European parliament explicitly forbid MEPs being contractually bound. He adds that if Your Party succeeds in getting candidates elected to Westminster they will run up against the 1689 Bill of Rights... Philip Cowley, a colleague at Nottingham University, said: 'There is nothing to stop Your Party - or any party, come to that - using the internet to develop its policies. But what they can't do is bind any MP or MEP to vote that way. All they can do is hope that their MPs will follow the party's line...' [Yourparty.org's] advocates see it as a way of empowering the electorate, while its critics have condemned it as a dangerous trivialisation of politics."