In the first quarter of 2024, Pulse has documented 22 deliberate internet shutdowns across 12 countries, with some ongoing since 2023. This figure matches the peak seen in 2021 during Myanmar‘s military coup, highlighting a concerning trend. India has been the most affected, with nine shutdowns, followed by Ethiopia and Senegal, each experiencing two incidents. Over half of these shutdowns have been localised, impacting specific regions within countries including Chad, Comoros, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory and Russia.
Among the recorded events, nine led to nationwide disruptions lasting from hours to months, affecting approximately 297 million internet users and resulting in over 910 days of downtime. These shutdowns have inflicted significant economic losses, amounting to USD 565.4 million in GDP, as reported by Pulse. Such disruptions hinder societal progress, hamper economies, and undermine the stability of the global internet infrastructure.
Why does it matter?
Championing an open and easily accessible internet, advocates stress the significance of prioritising policies that ensure uninterrupted connectivity. Governments and policymakers globally are encouraged to endorse efforts to protect the internet, acknowledging its pivotal role in nurturing economic development and providing opportunities for individuals to exercise fundamental human rights in the digital era.
By the end of this year, Vietnam aims to have 65-80 percent of internet activities using IPv6, positioning the state among the top 8 nations worldwide in terms of protocol adoption. The project aims to convert 90-100 percent of formal e-Portals and public service portals of state ministries, agencies, and local authorities. This transition will facilitate more efficient and secure communication and interaction between citizens and the government.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam has made significant progress in adoption. As of December 2023, IPv6 usage in Vietnam had reached an impressive 59 percent, placing the country in second position among ASEAN nations and ninth worldwide. Furthermore, all critical national Internet infrastructure in Vietnam already operates on IPv6, demonstrating the country’s commitment. By the end of the previous year, 76.48 million broadband internet subscribers, whether fixed or mobile, were already using this technology.
Internet Protocol version 6, offers a solution to the impending shortage of addresses with its nearly limitless address space. It enables the seamless integration of these technologies into the digital ecosystem.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has launched a project to explore the practices and choices of malicious actors when they decide to use the domain names of certain registrars over others. The project, called Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains (INFERMAL), will systematically analyse the preferences of cyberattackers and possible measures to mitigate malicious activities across top-level domains (TLDs). It is funded as part of ICANN’s Domain Name System (DNS) Security Threat Mitigation Program, which aims to reduce the prevalence of DNS security threats across the Internet.
The team leading the project intends to collect and analyse a comprehensive list of domain name registration policies pertinent to would-be attackers, and then use statistical modelling to identify the registration factors preferred by attackers. It is expected that the findings of the project could help registrars and registries identify relevant DNS anti-abuse practices, strengthen the self-regulation of the overall domain name industry, and reduce the costs associated with domain regulations. The project would also help increase the security levels of domain names and, thus, the trust of end-users.
A little over 10 years after the New gTLD Program which saw the delegation of over 1,000 new generic top-level domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is now moving closer to launching a new gTLD round. At the ICANN76 Community Forum in Mexico, the ICANN Board adopted a series of recommendations made in the context of what within the ICANN community is known as the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process. The approval of these recommendations (with some more requiring further discussions) marks ‘the start of the implementation process for the next round of new gTLDs’.
The Board also directed ICANN to deliver a comprehensive implementation plan, including a work plan, information for the infrastructure design, timelines, and anticipated resource requirements to achieve the necessary work to open the next round of gTLDs no later than 1 August 2023. The organisation can spend up to US$9 million to fund the implementation work through 31 October 2023.
Another Board decision was to direct ICANN to promote the New gTLD Program to prospective applicants, particularly those in underserved and underrepresented regions.
The IANA stewardship transition process, which spanned over two years, concludes with the expiration of the IANA functions contract between ICANN and the US government, and the transition of the IANA functions stewardship to the global internet community. The process started in March 2014, when the US government announced its intention to delegate its oversight role to a global multistakeholder community. Starting October 2016, the IANA functions are performed by the Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), an affiliate of ICANN.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launches the New gTLD Programme, opening up the Domain Name System (DNS) beyond the 22 generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in existence at that point. Withing the programme, over 1200 new gTLDs have been delegated as of August 2022.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference held in November 1998 in Minneapolis puts the basis of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Adopted at the conference, Resolution 73:
– Instructs the ITU Secretary-General ‘to place the question of holding a world summit on the information society on the agenda of the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination;
– Instructs the ITU Council to ‘consider and decide on the Union’s contribution to the holding of a world summit on the information society’.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is established to coordinate main internet technical resources. Until September 2016, ICANN was mandated by the United States Department of Commerce to perform the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) functions, including globally alocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and other numbering resources to the Regional Internet Registers (RIRs), introducing changes to the main DNS root zone file (the global Internet ‘address book’), and managing the .INT top-level domain. Starting October 2016, these functions are performed by ICANN’s affiliate Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), following the transition of the IANA functions stewardship from the US government to the global multistakeholder community.
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web (www) while working at CERN. On 30 April 1993, CERN puts the www software in the public domain, and later makes a release available with an open licence, paving the way for the web to flourish.
