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Heartbleed bug hit list, Why you need to change your password now

April 10, 2014 Staff Writer

An encryption flaw called the Heartbleed bug is already being called one of the biggest security threats the Internet has ever seen. The bug has affected many popular websites and services — ones you might use every day, like Gmail and Facebook — and could have quietly exposed your sensitive account information (such as passwords and credit card numbers) over the past two years. But it hasn’t always been clear which sites have been affected. Mashable reached out to various companies included on a long list of websites that could…

Critical ‘homework’ before the U.S. relinquishes stewardship of ICANN

March 31, 2014 Staff Writer

The Department of Commerce announced on March 14 that it will give up its last bit of control of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2015. As is often the case with government decisions announced late on a Friday, this decision is controversial. The U.S. has exercised light oversight of ICANN since it established the organization and emphasized the need for a free and open Internet. Other nations do not share America’s perspective and have sought repeatedly to work through U.N. organizations such as the International…

BNA on Internet transition by US Ambassador Sepulveda and US DoC Assistant Secretary Strickling

March 25, 2014June 20, 2014

Celebrating and Protecting the Global Internet By Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State & Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce The U.S. government, working through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), has played a critical role in the stewardship of the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). But now is the time to transition that role, based on the success and maturation of the multistakeholder…

Edward Snowden: The Biggest Revelations Are Yet to Come

March 21, 2014June 20, 2014 Staff Writer

VANCOUVER, Canada — Edward Snowden on Tuesday said the biggest revelations have yet to come out of the estimated 1.7 million documents he acquired from the National Security Agency. In a surprise appearance via satellite robot at the 2014 TED conference in Vancouver, Snowden said there is still a lot of reporting to be done, including diving deeper into the accusation that the NSA tricks companies into building backdoors into their systems that make data vulnerable to hackers across the world. “Is it really terrorism that we’re stopping? I say…

US playing catch-up in Africa

January 27, 2014January 28, 2014 Staff Writer

African consumer spending is projected to rise from US$860 billion in 2008 to US$1.4 trillion in 2020. No other region in the world boasts such numbers. ADDIS Ababa, the rapidly modernising capital of Ethiopia, is on track to host the tallest building in Africa by 2017. That landmark building, which will boast 99 floors of offices and hotel rooms, has a distinctly un-African name: Chuan Hui International Tower. The tower, together with a host of other skyscrapers in the city – including the US$200 million (S$255.7 million) African Union headquarters…

Obama proposes changes to NSA surveillance

January 22, 2014 Staff Writer

U.S. President Barack Obama called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S. U.S. President Barack Obama called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S. However, Obama stopped short of major changes advocated by his own surveillance review panel and civil liberties groups.…

Year End message from DotConnectAfrica: 2013 Year in Review

December 20, 2013December 20, 2013 Staff Writer

As 2013 draws to a close it is worth looking back at where we have been and consider what 2014 will bring. As usual for DCA, it has been a year of intense activity to ensure that our promise to Africa stands – that “we shall deliver .africa registry to the continent, sooner than expected”. DCA Trust has a long-standing tradition of informing its African and global constituency on matters affecting the global Internet Governance, ICANN and related African affairs. Our regular Newsletters and Social media Campaigns sites provide us the…

Google’s ‘Zeitgeist’ Top Searches For 2013 Revealed

December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 Staff Writer

Google has revealed its annual look at the top searches for 2013, and as ever it’s revealing, interesting, and mildly disturbing. This year Google split the list into the top “trending” searches – IE those with the most intense periods of interest – and “most searched” terms overall. Among the highlights were the fact that Paul Walker was the top trending search of the year, after his untimely death following a car crash in November, followed by ‘iPhone 5S’ and ‘royal baby’. The top “What Is?” search was led by…

DotConnectAfrica Honors Africa’s Hero and Giant Iconic Leader Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

December 9, 2013June 20, 2014 Staff Writer

DotConnectAfrica Trust takes this opportunity to celebrate and honor the Giant Iconic Leader of Africa: Courageous, Selfless and Noble. The children of Africa indeed, the entire World mourn and honor the man who truly exemplified the need for hard work and sacrifice even when times were very hard, the comforting proof that good triumphs over evil. That Love wins over Hate. That Togetherness wins over Division. Mandela spent 27 years in prison on Robben Island, fighting over stereotypes and seeking to restore equality in humanity. Africa celebrates the lessons of…