Author: Sam Dickinson

Sam Dickinson is an Internet governance specialist having followed both the technical and political bodies surrounding the Internet for a number of years. Until recently working for regional Internet registry APNIC as its Internet policy and governance expert, Sam is one of the technical community's representatives on the United Nations working group formed to review the Internet Governance Forum (the CSTDWG).

A veteran of meetings in organizations as diverse as the ITU, ICANN, APNIC, the IGF and many others, Sam is a highly respected and hugely knowledgeable voice over discussions about how the Internet should function - and how it really functions.

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26 July 2012

ITU, MoUs and the web of standards development bodies

On 5 July, the ITU announced that it had signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI), replacing two earlier MoUs they had signed in 2000 (with the ITU-T) and 2002 (with the ITU-R).

The latest MoU will "smooth the way for regional standards, developed by ETSI, to be recognised internationally" and provide "a single framework through which to channel ITU, ETSI collaboration", according to an ITU press release. The release also explains that this latest agreement follows on from an MoU signed in 2011 with four national standards development organizations (SDOs) in Asia.

Story

26 June 2012

New gTLDs on religion and art capture Internet user interest

Two weeks after new gTLD reveal day, what does the world outside the sheltered ICANN sphere think of the exercise? Which proposed strings are they voting for with their mouse clicks?

.Nxt looks for some answers and wonders what this will all mean for the new gTLD program as it progresses.

Searching .Nxt's own database for clues

The most clicked link in the .Nxt new gTLD database isn't a potentially contentious string like dot-sex. Instead, it's dot-ismaili.

Ismaili is a branch of Shia Islam with somewhere around 20 million followers worldwide and the application for dot-ismaili as a community gTLD came from the Aga Khan Foundation, founded by the imam of the Ismaili community, so there is probably little chance that anyone in the community will object to the application.

Story

26 June 2012

.Wtf were .you think .ing? Part 2

Imagine the ICANN and the community as a newly married couple who didn’t taken the time to publish a bridal registry.

Two weeks after the fancy wedding reception party (the Big Reveal), the newlyweds now have 13 toasters (dot-app), 11 hat stands (dot-home), and 10 paintings on black velvet (dot-art). Not to mention some really strange kitchen gadgets that the newlyweds and their friends never figure out how to use (dot-ping, dot-men, dot-parts).

Newlyweds love their family and friends, though, and have to write nice little thank you notes to all the gift givers. Which is what we’ll do now, on behalf of the ICANN community, in the form of awards. Without further ado, here are...

The digital archery memorial new gTLD awards

Best impression of a Wikipedia entry

So many candidates were worthy of this award, it seems a shame they can’t all get a prize.

Bronze: The auto industry

Story

21 June 2012

Applicants: .wtf were .you think .ing?

After years of playing the coy .virgin, waiting for the right moment to say yes, the excitement of ICANN's potential suitors is writ large in their .love letters posted in that most unreliable of matchmakers, the TLD Application System (Is that an 18-letter long string in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me working again?)

Not all suitors will be rewarded, and none will get their $185,000 engagement rings back, so it's only fair to award applicants for efforts to stand out in a very crowded room.

In London within a few weeks there's a big sporting event whose name cannot be mentioned in the context of gTLDs. So, taking inspiration from the only successful thing Greece currently can claim credit for (and they need plenty of credit), here are...