January 2018 archive

Jan 26

Watch the “State of the Net 2018” Live on Monday, January 29

Internet governance, blockchain, algorithms, free speech, net neutrality, IoT, cybersecurity, fragmentation … and so much more!  On Monday, January 29, 2018, the State of the Net 2018 conference will be streaming live out of the Newseum in Washington DC. You can watch starting at 9:00am US EST (UTC-5) Monday morning at:

http://www.stateofthenet.org/live/

The SOTN 2018 agenda is packed with many of the leading voices in US Internet policy, including Senators, Representatives, and even an FCC Commissioner. Global organizations and corporations will be represented, too, among the many speakers.

At 11:00am EST, our own Sally Shipman Wentworth, VP of Global Policy Development, will participate in a panel, Internet Governance: Are We In A Post Multi-Stakeholder World?, along with Larry Strickling. Larry is perhaps best known recently for the IANA transition work but has been working with us on efforts to expand the use of the multistakeholder model for Internet governance. Another panelist will be Dr. Jovan Kurbalija from our partner the DiploFoundation. The abstract is:

It will have been one year into the Trump Administration and it is time to take stock of the complex set of International arrangements that the Administration is dealing with. A new set of stages for these issues are fast approaching. World governments and international groups are jockeying for greater control over Internet functions and content. Confabs like the ITU 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) are just one of the many venues that will reveal the struggles for Internet domination. Complex trade deals and national regulations such as the NAFTA and the imminent European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will strain intergovernmental cooperation. Cyber security initiatives and law enforcement cross-border access to citizen data will test the sovereignty of nations. 2018 may be the most significant year in terms of Internet governance since the dawn of the Internet.

It should be a lively and interesting discussion! In preparation, we would encourage you to read our paper: Internet Governance – Why the Multistakeholder Approach Works.

The sessions will be recorded for later viewing. You can also follow the #SOTN2018 hashtag on Twitter to see updates from the event.

The post Watch the “State of the Net 2018” Live on Monday, January 29 appeared first on Internet Society.

Jan 22

Building Our New Website: Improved search, speed, and an open issue tracker

As we continue to evolve our new website, I will provide more regular updates to all of you visiting our site. Today’s topics are: improved search; much faster speed; and an open issue tracker.

Searching our content

For all of you who contacted us saying “I can’t find anything” on the site through the search box (the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen), we’ve got some great news – it should now work!   We tried two different search solutions for all our content before we moved on to a third solution that we find works well. Please do let us know if you are still having challenges finding content.

Speeding up the site

The site should now be much faster! We recently deployed some caching servers in front of our site and the speed should be dramatically improved for most all of the pages. This was very important to us as we want to provide the best user experience.

Tracking open issues

If you do find anything wrong with the new site, we have an open issue tracker on Github. You can visit the repository at:

https://github.com/InternetSociety/web-site-feedback

and the actual list of open issues is at: https://github.com/InternetSociety/web-site-feedback/issues

You are welcome to open issues there and we’ll be notified. If you don’t have a Github account and for some reason you don’t want to create one, you are always welcome to email me directly at york@isoc.org.

We welcome any and all feedback about the site. Thank you for visiting – and for supporting the work of the Internet Society to ensure that the Internet remains open, globally connected, secure, and trusted for everyone.

The post Building Our New Website: Improved search, speed, and an open issue tracker appeared first on Internet Society.

Jan 22

Building Our New Website: Improved search, speed, and an open issue tracker

As we continue to evolve our new website, I will provide more regular updates to all of you visiting our site. Today’s topics are: improved search; much faster speed; and an open issue tracker.

Searching our content

For all of you who contacted us saying “I can’t find anything” on the site through the search box (the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen), we’ve got some great news – it should now work!   We tried two different search solutions for all our content before we moved on to a third solution that we find works well. Please do let us know if you are still having challenges finding content.

Speeding up the site

The site should now be much faster! We recently deployed some caching servers in front of our site and the speed should be dramatically improved for most all of the pages. This was very important to us as we want to provide the best user experience.

Tracking open issues

If you do find anything wrong with the new site, we have an open issue tracker on Github. You can visit the repository at:

https://github.com/InternetSociety/web-site-feedback

and the actual list of open issues is at: https://github.com/InternetSociety/web-site-feedback/issues

You are welcome to open issues there and we’ll be notified. If you don’t have a Github account and for some reason you don’t want to create one, you are always welcome to email me directly at york@isoc.org.

We welcome any and all feedback about the site. Thank you for visiting – and for supporting the work of the Internet Society to ensure that the Internet remains open, globally connected, secure, and trusted for everyone.

The post Building Our New Website: Improved search, speed, and an open issue tracker appeared first on Internet Society.

Jan 08

Deadline of Feb 1 for Nominations for Public Interest Registry (.ORG Operator) Board of Directors (Featured Blog)

Would you be interested in helping guide the future of the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit operator of the .ORG, .NGO and .ONG domains? If so, the Internet Society is seeking nominations for three positions on the PIR Board of Directors. The nominations deadline is 23:00 UTC on Thursday, February 1, 2018. Find out more about the positions and the required qualifications. More...

Jan 04

Meltdown and Spectre: Why We Need Vigilance, Upgradeability, and Collaborative Security

Today the tech media is focused on the announcement of two security vulnerabilities, nicknamed Meltdown and Spectre, that are found in almost all CPUs used in modern devices. Mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers, cloud services, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are all vulnerable.

There are many articles being published on this topic. The best source of information I’ve found is this site by the security researchers at the Graz University of Technology:

https://meltdownattack.com/

At the bottom of that page are links to the security blog posts, advisories, and other statements from companies and organizations across the industry. In an excellent example of the principles of Collaborative Security, the announcement was coordinated with the release of patches and updates for a wide range of operating systems and devices.

For readers wanting a deeper technical dive, the site from Graz University has links to multiple academic papers. Google’s Project Zero team also published a detailed technical analysis.

From our perspective, today’s news highlights a couple of points:

  • Keeping up to date on patches is critical. We each need to ensure that we upgrade our own systems and devices. If we work for organizations/companies, we need to ensure that processes are in place for patches to be applied rapidly. Vigilance is critical.
  • “Upgradeability” is necessary. We’ve mentioned this particularly in the IoT context, but devices need to be able to be upgraded. They can’t just be distributed or sold to people without some mechanism for updates. We see approaches such as the Online Trust Alliance IoT Framework as critical to help on this issue.
  • Independent security research is essential. These vulnerabilities were discovered by different groups of researchers at companies, security firms, and universities. If we didn’t have people doing this research for the benefit of all of us, we would be open to attacks by those who might find these vulnerabilities and exploit them for malicious purposes.
  • Collaborative security is the key. Sharing this research – and coordinating activity across the industry – is critical to ensuring a secure and trusted Internet.  We need the kind of collaboration shown today to be the norm across the industry.

The key point right now for everyone reading this is simply this: get out there and patch your systems! Don’t delay installing the latest security updates for your computers, mobile phones and other devices.

Each of us play a critical role in ensuring the security of an open, global and trusted Internet!

The post Meltdown and Spectre: Why We Need Vigilance, Upgradeability, and Collaborative Security appeared first on Internet Society.

Jan 01

My 3 Words For 2018

3words2018

Continuing the tradition I started back in 2010 (see past years), here are three words that describe themes I intend to focus on this year. They aren't "resolutions" as much as areas of activity. "Themes" is a good way to think about them.

HEALTH

Carrying this one over from last year... because sadly not a great amount has changed over the past 12 months. I have let my weight creep up to where I am about 30 pounds over where I should be (and where I was back in 2011). I haven't been exercising. I have some dental issues to take care of. I want to be around with my wife and daughters for a long time... and we each only have one body. I need to focus on this in 2018.

WRITING

You'll notice that the last time I wrote on this DanYork.com blog was ... one year ago! I have not written on Disruptive Telephony since March 2017 - and that was the ONLY post in all of 2017 on what used to be my primary blog. Only 4 posts on Disruptive Conversations, 0 posts on Code.danyork.com, 1 on Monadnock Curling Club, and so on....   I posted 9 times on CircleID , but they were all short pieces about events, activities, deadlines, etc. And I only published 28 posts on the Internet Society's blog during the whole year.

The reality is that 2017 was a challenging year for my writing in that I spent an insane amount of time focused on the launch of the Internet Society's redesigned website in September (which involved work through the end of the year, of course). Everything else got pushed aside - including all of my own writing.

In 2018 I hope to change that. There are a great number of stories inside me just trying to explode out. There are some reflective "thought pieces" about the current state of the Internet that I so dearly want to write. There's a book I'd like to update. I have several new book ideas I'd like to move forward on.

For me, I write because if I don't write... the stories build up inside of me until they want to explode like a pressure cooker without a relief valve. Writing is my relief valve. I need to do it.

My work responsibilities will still be significant around our web sites, but I'm hoping that somewhere in the midst of all the madness I can make the time to get my voice out there.

CONNECTIONS

Like perhaps many people, I'm finding that I'm communicating with a large number of people, but not necessarily connecting with people. I don't mean that in the LinkedIn "I have XXXX connections" form, but more in the deeper relationships and knowledge about other people.  I want to deepen some of the connections I have this year, both with people online and also people locally and "offline". Some of that is actually meeting with more people face-to-face. Some of that is just carving out the time to have deeper and more meaningful conversations. In the end, the connections we have between us - and the community we have around us - are what is so vitally important to us all. 

That's what I am thinking about for this year... what about you?