Senate action on David Redl's nomination to be NTIA administrator is now up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday. Senate Commerce advanced Redl earlier this month but Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, vowed to block a full Senate vote on the nominee until his concerns about Redl's position on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition are fully resolved (see 1710040014 and 1710040063). “I hope that [Cruz and President Donald Trump's administration] can work out whatever differences still exist and get us to where we can get [Redl] across the finish line,” Thune said. “We need” to get Redl confirmed because NTIA administrator “is an important position.” Cruz's office didn't comment. Thune separately said the Senate will attempt to at least “set up” a debate on infrastructure legislation before the end of the year (see 1710170052).
The Department of Homeland Security announced new security measures for email and websites run by federal agencies using .gov domains. Speaking at a Global Cyber Alliance meeting, DHS Assistant Secretary Jeanette Manfra said the agency is transitioning to an email security protocol DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) to prevent spammers and phishers from using federal agency email domains to conduct cyberattacks. Additional tools will heighten security in communications with the public, she said. The cross-sector group endorsed the move.
Akamai will acquire privately held Nominum, which develops and offers domain name server-based services, in an all-cash deal expected to close this quarter, the buyer announced Wednesday. Akamai said the acquisition will enable it to provide better cybersecurity offerings for carriers and other companies.
Amazon’s bid for .amazon won’t be a smooth road, said Daniel Sepulveda, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, in a Council on Foreign Relations blog post. After several years of wrangling at ICANN, Amazon won a favorable ruling in July to move forward. But Brazil, Peru and their allies are again objecting to the .amazon application. “Amazon behaved in accordance with the rules, has a strong interest in acquiring .amazon, and is within its rights to pursue it,” Sepulveda said. Brazil and Peru have strong political and cultural reasons to object to awarding the company .amazon, but the challenge for ICANN leadership is whether this dispute is resolvable without governments feeling disrespected, he said, saying the U.S. “is likely” to support Amazon on procedural grounds but needs "vocal support" from other governments.
Nominum, which develops and offers domain name server-based services, told the FCC there's room for compromise on net neutrality rules. Replies comments are due Wednesday in docket 17-108. Nominum reminded the FCC that the internet functions because of DNS. Nominum found some signs of general agreement in the contentious proceeding. The record “demonstrates support for the Commission to adopt a framework that promotes transparency, prohibits blocking and throttling, and allows carriers flexibility to manage their networks,” the company said. Wednesday "could very well mark the official beginning of the end for the Open Internet," said Gigi Sohn, aide to former Chairman Tom Wheeler when the 2015 rules were approved. "With the closing of the public comment period for the FCC’s proceeding to repeal the 2015 Net Neutrality rules, the record is now full of tens of millions of comments, many of them demonstrably fake. Incredibly, it doesn't even matter if the facts are real or alternative because Chairman [Ajit] Pai intends to ignore them all so that he can eliminate the rules and protections for Internet users and innovators as quickly as possible." Credo Mobile, a wireless carrier that dedicates some of its profits to progressive causes, told the FCC it shouldn’t redo the rules. “Without the brightline rules that are only available under Title II, the world’s most vibrant public sphere would be subject to the whims and predatory business decisions of a few large corporations that control how the vast majority of Americans get online." The National Federation of Filipino American Associations said Title II reclassification harmed investment. “There is little disagreement over the need for net neutrality,” the group commented. “Nobody -- including the ISPs -- argues in favor of blocking, throttling, slow lanes, or any other methods that would undermine net neutrality. However, NaFFAA is concerned when it comes to the use of Title II as a means to protect these principles.” The FCC logged 4,333 comments Tuesday in 17-108 by our deadline and more than 21.8 million comments overall.
Google cancelled white supremacist website The Daily Stormer’s attempted domain registration transfer to the company’s Google Domains service Monday after original registry GoDaddy cancelled the website’s registration. GoDaddy told The Daily Stormer Sunday to move its registration to another registry after the website published an article disparaging Heather Heyer, who died in a Saturday attack on counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The story “violated our terms of service,” GoDaddy tweeted. Google believes The Daily Stormer’s registration is “violating our terms of service,” a spokesperson said. Google Domains says “making available of content that ... glorifies violence, inciting, racist or radical right-wing content” as one violation of its terms of service.
Donuts, which owns internet domain extensions, is a step closer to acquiring domain registrar Rightside, with early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review, they said. Donuts announced last month it would buy Rightside, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary, in a deal valued at $213 million.
More than 32,000 RadioShack IPv4 internet addresses will be up for sale when Hilco Streambank, an intellectual property disposition firm, sells the RadioShack assets owned by General Wireless in a stalking-horse auction July 20 (see 1706090051), Hilco subsidiary IPv4auctions.com said in a Monday announcement. The “internal and unused” RadioShack addresses will be offered in 20- to 24-bit “blocks,” it said. Though IPv4 addresses “remain a key component of growing networks,” the “free pool” of IPv4 addresses “reached exhaustion” in September 2015, it said: “Increasingly, organizations in need of IPv4 addresses are turning to private markets where brokerage firms have identified sellers among the thousands of address holders.” Bids for the July 20 auction are due July 18, it said.
Fight for the Future is calling a cease-and-desist letter it received for FFTF's Comcastroturf.com "exactly why we need Title II net neutrality protections that ban blocking, throttling, and censorship." The letter, which says it is from LookingGlass Cyber Security Center on behalf of Comcast, says the Comcastroturf.com domain is too close to "Comcast," violating the company's trademark, and the site should be reassigned to the cable operator. The site allows people to search if their names were attached to comments filed with the FCC in favor of a Communications Act Title II regulation of broadband rollback and to sign a petition demanding an investigation. FFTF said in a news release Tuesday if such a rollback happens, "there would be nothing preventing Comcast from simply blocking sites like Comcastroturf.com that are critical of their corporate policies. It also makes you wonder what Comcast is so afraid of? Are their lobbying dollars funding the astroturfing effort flooding the FCC with fake comments that we are encouraging Internet users to investigate?” FFTF, Demand Progress and Free Press are behind the Battle for the Net website that sends a form letter to the FCC opposing the Title II rollback. Comcast said it "supports strong, legally enforceable net neutrality rules and does not and will not block websites or content. Title II does not equal net neutrality." It also said, "Like most major brand owners, Comcast protects our company and brand names from being used improperly on the Internet by third parties. We use an established outside vendor to monitor for websites that use our name and brands without authorization, and the vendor routinely sends out notices to those sites. That is what happened here. This particular site also raised other legal issues supporting further investigation (for example, the site appears to collect personal information and has no posted privacy policy). After reviewing the site further, we do not plan additional action at this time.”
ICANN plans to implement its full complaints process by mid-July but it will likely “evolve over time as we gain experience and hear from the community and staff about what is and isn’t working,” said Complaints Officer Krista Papac in a Thursday blog post. ICANN hired Papac in March to lead the newly created Complaints Office, which would provide a centralized location for complaints about the organization (see 1703100062). Papac said she's working to finalize the complaints process but the new office’s work will include both resolving issues and collecting data to identify “operational trends that should be improved.” The office “will focus on reviewing verifiable information to ensure recommendations and resolutions are based in fact,” she said. “It will strive to be open and transparent, responsive and accountable to all parties, and to make recommendations that are constructive and actionable. And, above all else, the office will act with the utmost integrity in service of ICANN’s mission.”