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Internet ‘villain’ to headline ICANN Brussels

Kevin Murphy, March 17, 2010, Domain Policy

It’s a date! Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, has accepted Rod Beckstrom’s invitation to attend ICANN’s meeting in Brussels this June.
Reding is a mildly controversial figure in the domain name world.
Notably, she is the recipient of a UK Internet Service Provider Association Internet Villain award over the launch of .eu, which happened under her watch as Information Society commissioner.
ISPA nominated her in 2007, for “foisting the most arcane set of rules yet seen for prior registration of .eu domains, requiring UK-registered companies to submit legal affidavits to justify the authenticity of their business.”
Arcane rules? At an ICANN meeting? Shurely shome mishtake.
It’s not clear whether Reding will be speaking at the meeting. She’s agreed to attend on June 22, the same day as the Governmental Advisory Committee meeting.

Beckstrom: DNS is under attack

Kevin Murphy, March 11, 2010, Domain Policy

ICANN chief Rod Beckstrom has come in for a bit of criticism over “inflammatory” comments he made at the Government Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The headline quote: “The domain name system is more fragile and vulnerable today than it has ever been. It could stop at any given point in time, literally.”
Beckstrom described a DNS on its knees, then pointed the finger at unspecified nations for DNS abuses allegedly happening within their virtual borders, and said he would be writing to GAC members for more information and advice.
It was part call to arms, part Chicken Little.
If you missed it, here’s a full transcript. (continue reading)

Security faux pas in Nairobi

Kevin Murphy, March 11, 2010, Domain Policy

ICANN committed a diplomatic faux pas in its handling of the security scare before its meeting in Nairobi, according to the Kenyan Government Advisory Committee rep.
“We spent most of the months leading up to the meeting occupied and dealing with issues to do with security and I feel this was to do with badly handled communication,” Alice Munyua of the Communications Commission of Kenya said during a meeting on Tuesday.
“I feel that communicating people’s fears (continue reading)

ICANN chief slams African monopolies

Kevin Murphy, March 8, 2010, Domain Policy

ICANN may have been handed a lemon when it discovered six African nations will be crashing its party in Nairobi, but CEO Rod Beckstrom today sought to make lemonade.
Beckstrom “threw down the gauntlet” and invited IGAD nation leaders to “shatter telecom monopolies” and make high-speed internet access more affordable to the average African. (continue reading)

Cyber cop wants Whois privacy shake-up

Kevin Murphy, March 7, 2010, Domain Policy

Registrars should be made to police Whois so cops can take down illegal sites faster, even if domain name prices have to go up as a result, ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee has been told.
Speaking at the GAC hearing on new gTLDs in Nairobi this afternoon, Paul Hoare of the UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency called for (continue reading)

Political hell to descend on ICANN meeting

Kevin Murphy, March 5, 2010, Domain Policy

Forget terrorists, in-person attendees at ICANN’s Nairobi meeting will now have to contend with something potentially much worse: politicians.
About 200 civil servants and security goons from six east-African nations will descend on the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Monday, just as ICANN’s 37th get-together gets together (continue reading)

What’s wrong with M+M’s defensive reg report?

Kevin Murphy, February 28, 2010, Domain Policy

Minds + Machines has released a report into defensive domain name registrations by the largest 100 US companies. While I generally agree with its conclusions, I’m pretty certain I don’t trust the numbers.
The company, which has a financial interest in the new gTLD launches, plugged 1,043 Fortune 100 brands into DomainTools.com in order to figure out how many of them were registered.
(continue reading)