Internet Governance

ICANN Africa Strategy - A View from the Inside

"Africa is rising" is a phrase we are accustomed to hearing nowadays. We Africans also seem desperate to make that positive narrative about Africa. From the vantage point of the digital Africa that I seat, it is most promising, but only if we can face some of our own self afflicted stagnation. Having been in the African Domain scene for nearly a decade now, I am always challenged to view our situation with a pinch of salt, a fact that doesn't attract many friends. But I am willing to go at it and point out the shortcomings. more

Internet Society Board of Trustees Issues Statement on IANA Transition

In a statement released today, the Internet Society says during its Board meeting 14-15 February, the Board of Trustees praised the progress made by the global Internet community on the IANA stewardship transition and emphasized that a successful transition will reinforce the value of the collaborative, multistakeholder model. more

The 2015 IGF Brazil Will Focus on Empowering Sustainable Development

The preparations of the Brazil Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting are well under way. After consulting the wider Internet community and discussing the overarching theme of the 2015 IGF meeting, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) decided to retain the title "Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development". This theme will be supported by eight sub-themes that will frame the discussions at the Joao Pessoa meeting... more

NETmundial Initiative Taking Positive Steps Forward

The Net Mundial conference in Sao Paulo in April 2014 added a new element to the global Internet Governance Ecosystem. It demonstrated that the multistakeholder model for the governance of the Internet is able, not only to discuss issues of global importance, as we do it now for nearly ten years within the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), but it can also produce a concrete outcome. The Universal Declaration of Internet Governance Principle and the Sao Paulo Roadmap have enhanced the existing mechanisms. more

ICANN’s 52nd Meeting Kicks Off in Singapore

Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information, Dr. Yaacob bin Ibrahim, and former Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton, Ira Magaziner, spoke to the success of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance during the Opening Ceremony of ICANN's 52nd public meeting today... more

U.S. Senate Declares “Internet Governance Awareness Week” Coinciding with ICANN 52 Singapore

On February 5th, while many (including the author) were on route to ICANN 52 in Singapore, the U.S. Senate passed S.Res. 71, a non-binding, "Sense of the Senate" Resolution declaring February 8th–14th as "Internet Governance Awareness Week". Those dates overlap the now ongoing ICANN meeting in Singapore, and the congruence is intentional. more

Return to Singapore: From Chili Crabs to Names, Numbers and Protocol Parameters

Almost a year ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community. The process was officially kicked off at the ICANN 49 meeting. That was March 2014. And the place? Singapore. Fast-forward a year later and we are again on our way to Singapore for an ICANN meeting. more

The IG Marathon, Who Will Win the Internet Governance Race

2015 has already started to make its own land marks in the internet of things world. A major thing that has definitely hit the headlines is cyber security issue, which gives an indication that organizations will probably have to make generous budgetary allocations to answer to these anticipated breaches. Internet governance is perhaps going to remain in the headlines for the rest of 2015. more

The True Faith of Internet Governance: Statism Finds Its Champion

A portion of me sympathizes with Richard Hill. He argues passionately in his recent article, "The True Stakes of Internet Governance" for a statist position on Internet governance. It is hard to be an unheeded prophet; difficult to take positions that are not in the comfortable mainstream of what, as you perceive, are lemmings heading for the cliff. I know the feeling. more

The IETF’s *Other* Diversity Challenge: An Update

Last June I wrote an article titled "The IETF's Other Diversity Challenge" where I discussed the positive steps the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is taking to increase the diversity of its participants and raised a potentially overlooked demographic: Network Operators. That essay was a problem statement of sorts, and I was long ago taught that you should only raise problems that you have a solution for, or are at least willing to help solve. more

NTIA Says Cromnibus Bars IANA Transition During Current Contract Term

The Congressional Internet Caucus held its 15th annual State of the Net conference today at The Newseum in Washington, DC. This is traditionally a start the new year networking and information update day for the capital's technology policy set. Immediately following the lunch break, at a session titled "Internet Functions in Transition: Is the US and the World Ready?", NTIA head Lawrence Strickling provided the first official Obama Administration reaction... more

Occupy IG - Internet Social Forum to Torpedo NETmundial Initiative and Disrupt Davos Discussions

As we have previously observed, the efforts undertaken by ICANN, the World Economic Forum (WEF), and CGI.BR to launch a NETmundial Initiative (NMI) to follow up on last spring's NETmundial meeting in Sao Paulo has encountered heavy skepticism and substantial resistance from the major civil society and technical groups from which endorsement and participation was sought. more

A Case for Looking Before Leaping: The IANA Stewardship Proposal

In my comments on the draft Cross-Community Working Group (CWG) on Naming Related Functions proposal for the IANA transition, I expressed my overall support, albeit somewhat reserved, for the proposal... but with the ICG's deadline of January 15 having come and gone, and the informal deadline of January 31 looming for the revised proposal from the Names community to be submitted, I'd like to shed some light on what I believe the role and reasoning for some of the mechanisms identified by the CWG, specifically the Contract Co., to be. more

Wikileaks 2012, NSA 2013, NTIA Mishaps & Global Cyber Crime 2014: U.S. Exceptionalism over IG 2015?

The internet has become almost part of our daily involvement and reality is that it affects every facet of our modern lives. We are increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet, for which reason its availability, functionality, safety, stability and security are now of great and continuing concern to all of us and most importantly to US Congress, who so far has maintained stewardship over these key functions. more

Civil Society Cautions Against ICANN Giving Governments Veto Over Geographic Domain Names

A group of twenty-four civil society organizations and individuals today submitted a joint statement regarding a proposal from an ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) sub-group on the use of "geographic names" in top-level domains. The joint civil society statement cautioned against the adoption of the GAC proposal that would give governments veto power on domains that use "geographic names." more