Here’s looking at you …

Much has been said in recent weeks about various forms of cyber spying. The United States has accused the Chinese of cyber espionage and stealing industrial secrets. A former contractor to the United States’ NSA, Edward Snowden, has accused various US intelligence agencies of systematic examination of activity on various…


A Year in the Life

On the 6th June 2012 we held the World IPv6 Launch Day. Unlike the IPv6 event of the previous year, World IPv6 Day, where the aim was to switch on IPv6 on as many major online services as possible, the 2012 program was somewhat different. This time the effort was…


The Company You Keep

This story started earlier this year, with a posting to the Australian network operators’ mailing list, asking if anyone had more information about why the web site that was operated by an outfit called “Melbourne Free University” was inaccessible through a number of major Australian ISPs. When they asked their…


APNIC Labs IPv6 Measurement System

For some years now at APNIC Labs we’ve been conducting a measurement exercise intended to measure the extent to which IPv6 is being deployed in the Internet. This is not a measurement of IPv6 traffic volumes, nor of IPv6 routes, nor of IPv6-capable servers. This is a measurement of the…


But That’s Impossible!

For some time now at APNIC Labs we’ve been running an experiment that is intended to measure the state of IPv6 capability across the Internet. To do this we use a number of experimental data sources. A number of web site administrators have kindly put our Javascript test code on…


Measuring DNSSEC Performance

There are a number of reasons that both domain name administrators and vendors of client DNS software cite for not incorporating DNSSEC signing into their offerrings. The added complexity of the name administration process when signatures are added to the mix, the challenges of maintaining current root trust keys, and…


A Primer on IPv4, IPv6 and Transition

There is something badly broken in today’s Internet. At first blush that may sound like a contradiction in terms, or perhaps a wild conjecture intended only to grab your attention to get you to read on. After all, the Internet is a modern day technical marvel. In just a couple…


DNSSEC and Google’s Public DNS Service

The Domain Name System, or the DNS, is a critical, yet somewhat invisible component of the Internet. The world of the Internet is a world of symbols and words. We invoke applications to interact with services such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, and the interaction is phrased in human readable…


Literally IPv6

As many who have worked with computer software would attest, software bugs come in many strange forms. This month I’d like to relate a recent experience I’ve had with one such bug that pulls together aspects of IPv6 standard specifications and interoperability.


“Multi-Stakeholderism” and the Internet Policy Debate

With WICT-12 over, and now the preparation for the forthcoming WTPF underway, and of course also we have the WTDC and WTISD coming up, one could be excused for thinking that that world famous, but hopelessly unintelligible, cartoon character from the 80’s and 90’s, Bill the Cat, has come out…