ICANN, President Roosevelt And The Thralldom of Names

Former President Theodore Roosevelt is not one whose remarks are usually associated with the domain name industry, but his commentary in 1913 could just as easily have been written today:

"The mob leaders usually state that all that they are doing is necessary in order to advance the cause of 'liberty', while the dictator and the oligarchy are usually defended upon the ground that the course they follow is absolutely necessary so as to secure 'order'. Many excellent people are taken in by the use of the word 'liberty' at the one time, and the use of the word 'order' at the other, and ignore the simple fact that despotism is despotism, tyranny tyranny, oppression oppression, whether committed by one individual or by many individuals, by a state or by a private corporation." more

Old Habits Die Hard!

The new domains are coming! ?Dot-biz is going to be the next coming of dot-com?, I recently read in an article in the Denver Post. The buzz has begun. Seven new top-level domains have been approved by ICANN, the organization that governs domains, and could be available as early as spring of this year. The new domains approved are .biz, .info, .aero, .coop, .musuem, .pro, and .name. more

Registrars Must Offer DNSSEC, but Fewer Than One in Ten Use It Themselves

A study of 698 ICANN-accredited registrar domains finds just 9.46% have DNSSEC enabled, with European registrars leading adoption. Regional differences remain significant after accounting for registrar size, raising questions about security practices. more

Africa Youth IGF: Political Leaders Must Listen, Not Just Speak

Youth Internet governance forums across Africa risk prioritizing political speeches over meaningful dialogue. Stronger accountability, direct engagement and sustained participation could help young people influence the digital policies shaping their future. more

DNSSEC in Ghana: 99% Can Validate, But .gh Remains Unsigned

Ghana reports approximately 99% DNSSEC validation capability among measured users, yet its .gh domain remains unsigned, exposing a gap between resolver readiness and domain security that calls for coordinated deployment and operational planning. more

CaribNOG SHIELD Aims to Build Caribbean Cybersecurity Capacity Through Local Training

CaribNOG's new SHIELD initiative aims to strengthen Caribbean Internet security through technical internships, routing security training and regional collaboration, with St Kitts and Nevis planning to introduce the programme in 2027. more

Third-Level .name Registrations and Email Forwarding to Be Discontinued in 2027

Verisign plans to discontinue third-level .name registrations and email forwarding in February 2027, prompting objections from longtime users concerned about losing established addresses, disrupting online accounts and potential security risks. more

Testing the Classifier: What a Blind Comparison Revealed About Domain Namespaces

A blind comparison of domain classification results found strong agreement for investor-pattern names but lower recall for operator-aligned names, raising questions about earlier namespace composition estimates and the limits of structural classification. more

Pakistan’s .PK Is Now DNSSEC-Signed, but Only One Domain Validates

Pakistan's .pk domain has gained DNSSEC protection, but an October 11 scan found just one fully validating domain among 158,561 examined. Another 1,230 signed domains lack the parent-zone records needed to establish trust. more

Data Centers Can Profitably Clean Up Their Act

As opposition to large data centers grows, developers face mounting pressure to address environmental impacts, infrastructure costs and limited local economic benefits. Greater transparency and community engagement could prove more profitable than secrecy. more

Africa’s Digital Health Growth Exposes the Need for Stronger Cybersecurity Governance

As African healthcare systems adopt digital technologies, cybersecurity governance becomes essential to patient safety. Evidence from Ghana highlights gaps in institutional accountability, staff awareness and implementation, underscoring the need for stronger oversight and resilience. more

Africa Is Adopting AI but Who Is Governing the Risks?

African institutions are adopting AI across public services and business, but effective deployment requires governance structures that address cybersecurity, accountability, procurement, digital sovereignty, regulatory coordination and institutional capacity. more

Why Africa Keeps Relearning the Same Digital Lessons

Africa's digital transformation challenge is not a lack of strategies or research, but weak institutional learning that prevents governments from preserving project lessons, applying evidence and avoiding repeated failures across administrations and technology programs. more

A Domain Is Registered. But Is It Really Unavailable?

RFC 10023 standardizes a DNS TXT record that lets domain holders signal a registered name is for sale, giving registrars, marketplaces, brokers and search tools a machine-readable way to distinguish registration from purchase availability. more

Building Digital Operations Across Borders: Regulation, Security & Internet Governance

Building a technology operation in India showed that regulation, governance, security, people and technology work best as one operating environment, with compliance, access controls and local autonomy designed in from the outset. more