Internet Governance

Human Rights and the Digital Domain Primer - Part 2

The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, as the globally accepted standard, should serve us as the guiding light when it comes to striking the delicate balance between our rights and responsibilities on and offline. more

Canadian International Pharmacy Association Celebrates 20 Years on the Internet

The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) recently achieved a major milestone: We celebrated our 20-year anniversary, serving millions of customers around the world who otherwise would not afford, access or trust ordering their daily maintenance medications where they live. Founded in 2002 by a group of Canadian pharmacists who recognized the potential of the Internet to provide safe and affordable access to medications... more

Exploring Common Ground: Human Rights at ICANN

Our relationship to human rights is ambivalent. We take them for granted, we don't want to be without them, but on the other hand, we see them as somewhat abstract and aspirational, a lofty ideal easily forgotten and set aside in our daily struggles. When it comes to the digital domain, human rights are seen by many as an unwanted source of regulations in an industry that demands "unregulated innovation." more

AI, Human Rights and the Rise of the Global South

As the current global geopolitical space becomes less friendly to Human Rights1, are there potential offsetting trends supporting them? Yes, but... it will require initiatives from the Global South for AI data-driven policies supportive of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), demonstrating the value of SDGs and Human Rights combined. more

EFF Raises Concerns Over EU’s Proposed Cyber Resilience Act

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has voiced concerns about the European Union's proposed Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), saying it could pose significant threats to open-source developers and cybersecurity. more

Failed Expectations: A Deep Dive Into the Internet’s 40 Years of Evolution

In a recent workshop, I attended, reflecting on the evolution of the Internet over the past 40 years, one of the takeaways for me is how we've managed to surprise ourselves in both the unanticipated successes we've encountered and in the instances of failure when technology has stubbornly resisted to be deployed despite our confident expectations to the contrary! What have we learned from these lessons about our inability to predict technology outcomes? more

Human Rights and the Digital Domain Primer - Part 1

The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The digital domain is not limited to the technologies itself, but it has an important ethical dimension that encompasses the values, principles and instruments that inform and govern it. Created by humans for humans, our beliefs, cultural backgrounds, and biases are reflected in the codes we write and the algorithms we create. more

We Blinked and the World Changed: Challenges of Generative AI to Internet Governance

The pace of generative AI development has been astonishing to the degree that the normative space has been unable to keep up. As governments start looking into some implementations of the technology, such as ChatGPT, more advanced techniques and products continue to emerge by the day. Society is changing in irrevocable ways, and it is paramount that the Internet Governance community turns its attention to this question. more

If Code Is Law, Then Protocols Are Good Manners That Help Us Get Along

The Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) is a product developed by Project Liberty, an international non-profit founded by Frank McCourt, with the goal of transforming how the Internet works, who owns and controls personal data, and who benefits from the digital economy. The McCourt Institute, as the research and digital governance arm of Project Liberty, aims to support the development and management of DSNP. more

Flying the Flag for the Technical Community: CENTR Provides Feedback to the United Nations’ Initiative on a Global Digital Compact

CENTR, the association which represents European country code top-level domain name registries (ccTLDs), such as .de for Germany or .no for Norway, has provided feedback to the United Nations' initiative on a Global Digital Compact (GDC). The GDC seeks to "outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all", and invites multistakeholder participation in the consultation phase. more

For ICANN to Have a Future, It Needs to Take Human Rights Considerations Seriously

Despite previous attempts1 I think it is safe to say that the discussion about Human Rights in ICANN was, until recently, fairly dead, even taboo. Nowadays, there seems to be a renewed demand for ICANN to have a future, and it needs to take Human Rights considerations seriously. During the ICANN Cancun meeting, representatives from several stakeholder groups mentioned HR and how they might support ICANN by informing its policy-making processes. more

Humans’ Best Defense Against Cybersecurity

At regular intervals, I have discussed the cybersecurity situation in Australia. In those assessments, I wrote about my frustration that the previous government policies more or less resembled a fire brigade approach. Trying to address individual incidents with regulations and legislation rather than coming up with a holistic strategy. more

UN and the Global Digital Compact: How to Strengthen the IGF?

According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the forthcoming UN World Summit on the Future", scheduled for September 2024, should adopt a "Global Digital Compact" (GDC).1 The GDC is part of the so-called "UN Common Agenda." The compact is expected to "outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all" and to cover issues as digital connectivity, avoiding Internet fragmentation, providing people with options as to how their data is used... more

US-China Tech War Threatens Global Internet Infrastructure: China Plans $500 Million Subsea Cable Rival

Chinese state-owned telecom firms plan an extensive undersea fiber-optic internet cable network to link Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The cable, to be named EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia), would cost approximately $500 million to complete and be manufactured and laid by China's HMN Technologies Co Ltd, a fast-growing cable firm whose predecessor company was majority-owned by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. more

U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy and Its Impact on Domain Security

Last month, the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy was launched, providing a new roadmap for stronger collaboration between those operating within the digital ecosystem. The strategy calls on software makers and American industry to take far greater responsibility to assure that their systems cannot be hacked while accelerating efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Department to disrupt the activities of hackers and ransomware groups around the world. more