The Domain Name Service (DNS) which translates names to IP addresses (among many other things) is critical for humans using the Internet. Research by Slavko Gajin and Petar Bojovic presented at the TERENA Networking Conference indicates that mis-configurations are more common than we might hope. Getting DNS right often requires different organisations to have matching configurations: if my name server says that part of the name space is delegated to your name server then your name server needs to agree!

Robin Wilton of the Internet Society gave a talk at the TERENA Networking Conference on the interaction between privacy, regulation, and innovation. It's a commonly heard claim that regulation stifles innovation; yet the evidence of premium rate phone fraud and other more or less criminal activities suggests that regulation can, in fact, stimulate innovation, though not always of the type we want.