The European Commission has launched a "call for evidence" for the "EU Toolbox Against Counterfeiting". What that means in practical terms is that they're expecting feedback and input from a variety of stakeholders on the subject. However the call is very broad and open, so I suspect they'll get a very big wishlist from IP interests. At the moment the official page for this … [Read more...] about European Commission Call for Submissions on Anti-Counterfeiting
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French ISPs Ordered to Block 18 Video Streaming Sites
A Parisian court has issued an order in favour of media company beIN Group who run several paid TV channels in France and other markets. The order forces the main French ISPs to block 18 domain names from their users: The media company, which operates in multiple markets and also owns MiraMax, took a case regarding so called pirate sites under newly introduced … [Read more...] about French ISPs Ordered to Block 18 Video Streaming Sites
EU Issues Call for Proposals for DNS Resolution Service
The European Commission has issued a call for tender (PDF) for an EU DNS resolution service aka a DNS resolver. As a reminder, a DNS resolver is what computers and other devices use to find out where websites, domains and other services "live" on the internet. They're most often accessed via their IP addresses. So Google's public DNS is at 8.8.8.8, Quad 9's at 9.9.9.9 and … [Read more...] about EU Issues Call for Proposals for DNS Resolution Service
Host.ie Novara.ie and Digihost Go AWOL
Earlier today one of Ireland's oldest hosting providers seems to have gone completely offline. The company in question is Host.ie, which is also known as Novara or Digihost. Over the better part of 20 years the provider has changed hands a couple of times, as well as its name. These days it's known as "Hostopia Ireland", after the company was acquired by American provider … [Read more...] about Host.ie Novara.ie and Digihost Go AWOL
Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp Suffer Outage
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have all suffered an outage this afternoon. Facebook owns all three platforms, so it looks like there's an issue on Facebook's side. It's unclear at this juncture what is causing the outage, though previous outages impacting big platforms have usually been due to software updates gone wrong. However it is clear that it's impacting … [Read more...] about Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp Suffer Outage
Cloudflare Suffers Outage Caused by Software Glitch
Cloudflare powers an ever growing percentage of the world's websites and online services. So when Cloudflare has snaffu a lot of other services are impacted, including ones that you might not even realise were using CloudFlare. Yesterday afternoon Cloudflare had an outage that lasted about 30 minutes. During that time period a lot of sites and services that use Cloudflare … [Read more...] about Cloudflare Suffers Outage Caused by Software Glitch
Oracle To Acquire Dyn
Oracle is acquiring DNS and internet performance provider Dyn. The announcement was made earlier today. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. It'll probably take several months for the deal to close and for now nothing will change for any of DYN's clients. Here's the press release: Oracle today announced that it has signed an agreement to … [Read more...] about Oracle To Acquire Dyn
Brazil Blocks WhatsApp Again
A Brazilian judge has ordered the blocking of WhatsApp. The order came in the last couple of days and has been reported in mainstream media: The Intercept The NextWeb The blocking order means that 100 million Brazilian users of WhatsApp are cut off. AFNIC's Stéphane Bortzmeyer did a bit of digging around using RIPE's Atlas probes and the blocking can be seen clearly … [Read more...] about Brazil Blocks WhatsApp Again
IE Zone Now DNSSEC Enabled
As of about 45 minutes ago the .ie zone has had DNSSEC turned on. For the next few months DS records will be processed manually Here's the full announcement: IEDR are pleased to announce the deployment of DNS security extensions (DNSSEC) for the .ie country code top level domain (ccTLD). This protocol will enable service providers to offer additional security for DNS … [Read more...] about IE Zone Now DNSSEC Enabled
Registration Operations Association Kick Off Meeting at ICANN 51
Registrars and registries have to work together. It's a reality. While relations between the two groups can be fantastic, there are also plenty of instances where at the operational level things are a little "strained". Those issues stem a lot of the time from technical issues, limitations and possibly "design choices". There are a lot of very intelligent people working in … [Read more...] about Registration Operations Association Kick Off Meeting at ICANN 51