"Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future" was the theme of the 19th edition of the UN-based Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It attracted more than 11.000 participants (Offline and Online) from all over the world in Riyadh/Saudi Arabia, December 15-19, 2024. In the 307 plenaries, workshops, open fora, lightening talks and other conversations in the meeting rooms and the lobby halls of the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center (KAICC), nearly everything... more
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has announced that it will not compete for the Pentagon's cloud-computing contract with an estimated value of $10 billion; says the project may conflict with its corporate values on artificial intelligence. more
Meta has unveiled plans for an ambitious undersea cable project that, at 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles), would be the longest in the world—surpassing the Earth’s circumference. Dubbed Project Waterworth, the infrastructure aims to link the United States with India, Brazil, South Africa, and other regions, bolstering global connectivity and supporting artificial intelligence (AI) development. more
Having been involved in this sector for over fifteen years now, the rate of change in the market dynamics continues to surprise me - from its early years when MarkMonitor and NetNames clearly led the space for several years, then seeing well-funded startups such as Yellow Brand Protection and Incopro challenge that, followed by a period of heavy M&A, it is now extremely diverse. more
I am proud (or disappointed) to announce the 8th annual MIT Spam Conference, March 25th and 26th at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A regular research competition that brings out the best minds in the fight against unsolicited email. At this point it would be helpful to provide a little background on the conference and remind everyone that the Call For Papers is still open. more
Internet Governance, like all governance, needs to be founded on guiding principles from which all policymaking is derived. There are no more fundamental principles to guide policymaking than the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This article, Part 7 of a series, looks at Articles 20 and 21 and explores how principles in the UDHR and lessons learned over the last half-century help define the rights and duties of one's engagement in the digital spaces of the Internet ecosystem. more
It seems like most new technology today comes with a lot of hype. Just a few years ago, the press was full of predictions that we'd be awash with Internet of Thing sensors that would transform the way we live. We've heard similar claims for technologies like virtual reality, blockchain, and self-driving cars. I've written a lot about the massive hype surrounding 5G -- in my way of measuring things, there isn't any 5G in the world yet, but the cellular carriers are loudly proclaiming its everywhere. more
Early June 2018 the European Internet community traveled into the Caucasian Mountains to participate in EURODIG 11. On its way into the digital age, Europe is, as EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said, at another crossroad. In cyberspace, Europe risks becoming sandwiched between US and Chinese Cyberpower policies. Social networks, search engines, smartphones, eTrade platforms - key sectors of today's digital economy - are dominated both by the US and Chinese giants: Alibaba and Amazon, Google and Baidu, Facebook and Weibo, Apple and Huawai. more
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become synonymous with innovation, transforming industries at an unprecedented pace. While some may frame AI as a groundbreaking development of our time, it's essential to acknowledge that its roots run deep. AI has evolved immensely from early tools like the abacus to present-day GPU-driven large language models. What sets the current landscape apart? The sheer scale of data, computational demand, and complexity of workloads. more
Internet Governance like all governance needs to be founded in guiding principles from which all policy making is derived. There are no better fundamental principles to guide our policy making than the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (UDHR). This article is Part 3 of a series exploring the UDHR as a guide and template for the digital governance and digital citizenship. We discuss UDHR Articles 6 through 12 and address topics such as fundamental digital values, cyberlaw, policymaking and the role of tribunals in digital governance. more
Large Language Models (LLM) like GPT -- 4 and its front-end ChatGPT work by ingesting gigantic amounts of text from the Internet to train the model and then responding to prompts with text generated from those models. Depending on who you ask, this is either one step (or maybe no steps) from Artificial General Intelligence, or as Ted Chiang wrote in the New Yorker, ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web. more
Tech developments saw less drama than trade and environmental shifts during Trump's first 100 days. Continuity, not abrupt change, defined his approach to AI and digital regulation. Only 9 of 139 executive orders (EOs) focused on tech. Trump's tech policy emphasised reviews and incremental shifts. Public consultations on AI, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrencies signal steady evolution over upheaval. more
Dr. Laura DeNardis, Professor and Interim Dean of the School of Communication at American University and a Faculty Director of the Internet Governance Lab, is a featured panelist at this week's IGF-USA conference. In advance of the event, I would like to draw attention to her sixth book: The Internet in Everything. Freedom and Security in a World with no Off Switch. This treatise is one of those "should/must-reads" that come along from time-to-time as it focuses on a critical issue that is overlooked by either design or neglect: how digital infrastructure determines policy. more
As the final project of my UC Berkeley School of Information course in Artificial Intelligence strategies, we had to submit an AI strategy canvas. Today, I will attempt to share important aspects of the canvas, so you and your team may have a template to work from and consider. Let's begin. We will look at both a strategy and operations perspective both internally and externally. Part one will include Internal and Operational Strategies, while Part II will examine external processes, threats, and procedures. more
MIT released a comical study in May of 2020 on the historical innovation accomplishments, and the potential logistical endeavors brought to light by the beleaguered United States Postal Service. The apparent scholarly article cited several technological implementations and employee empowered frameworks that could define the USPS's plight over the next five years. These frameworks, through FY2025, mention a postal-banking initiative and two AI autonomous vehicles initiatives. more