Internet Governance

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IANA Transition Under Further Attack, Now Officially Blocked by Republican Policy

"Handover of US internet control to ICANN now officially blocked by Republican policy," Kieren McCarthy reporting today in The Register: "The planned transition of the internet's critical technical functions from the US government to a technical body may come under further attack after the Republican Party officially agreed to block it on Monday. more

IAB Issues Statement on NETmundial Initiative, Says Will Not Participate

Internet Architecture Board issued a statement today announcing that it will not participate in NETmundial Initiative for reasons also expressed by others. Full statement included. more

Human Rights in the Digital Age, Online Pharmacies, and the “Brussels Principles”

"Human Rights in a Digital Age" is the theme of this year's RightsCon conference in Toronto. An essential human right is access to safe, affordable prescription medications. The Internet makes this possible, our organization has proven it's achievable and sustainable over an extended period of time, and our proposed "Brussels Principles" provide the framework to take our proven success internationally. Across the Globe, to people everywhere. more

Maintaining Trust, Respecting Privacy and Due Process

In order for the Internet to function properly, there has to be "trust". Trust in "online" is something that has ebbed and flowed over the years, but over the past two decades more and more of our daily lives are linked closely to "digital". Our banks encourage us to use online banking and their mobile apps. Government agencies share (and collect) information from private citizens and businesses online. And of course we all do more and more of our shopping online... more

Experts Urge Support for Security Researchers, Call a Stop to Intimidation Efforts

Over fifty experts and expert advocates have released an open letter in support of security research and against efforts to chill or intimidate security researchers. more

Brazil to Host Internet Governance Summit

Amidst reports of US, British and Canadian spying on the Latin American nation, Brazil has announced that it will host a global summit on Internet governance in April. President Dilma Rousseff made the announcement after a discussion in Brasilia with Fadi Chehadé, ICANN's CEO. Chehade heaped praise on Rousseff for using her UN General Assembly speech in September to demand measures to thwart the massive US cyber spying operation revealed by US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. The summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro. more

ICANN Announces Newly Created Organization to Replace IANA

ICANN has announced the name of the newly incorporated organization, Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), as a nonprofit entity to begin operation as 'Post-Transition IANA'. more

Stop the Presses! No Consensus at NetMundial!

We could see it as a victory for those advocating changes and adjustments in the system of internet governance. Au contraire... we could consider it as the debacle of the good intentions... all ending up in not knowing if it was worth it. I say and maintain, that the effort and the earned contributions were worth it. The final result is that ICANN should be strengthened to recognize its merits and achievements, not underestimate what this organization has accomplished in fifteen years of hard and continuous work. more

Russian Lawmakers Pass Bill to Expand Government Control Over Internet, Protests Expected to Ensue

Russian lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill to expand further government control of the internet proclaimed by backers of the bill to be a defensive measure against internet disruptions by hostile nations. more

NETmundial +10: Inspiration for Multistakeholder Digital Governance, but Is It Enough?

Last week (29-30 April), Global Partners Digital (GPD) joined other civil society groups, business actors, the technical community and governments in São Paulo, Brazil for NETmundial+10: the ten year follow up to the landmark NETmundial process in 2014, which set out principles for multistakeholder approaches to Internet governance. In the intervening decade, the policy landscape has been transformed by an increase in policy and normative frameworks related to digital technologies, as well the advent of new technologies—particularly AI—and their attendant opportunities and challenges. more

Controversy Looms as Pakistan Passes Cybercrime Law, Critics Say Violates Human Rights

Pakistan's National Assembly on Thursday passed the controversial cybercrime bill through a majority vote that prescribes a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail and 5 million rupees in fine for cyber-terrorism. more

Biden-Harris Administration Unveils National Cybersecurity Strategy

Today, the Biden Administration released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which outlines the use of all available resources to protect the United States' security, safety, and economic prosperity. more

Why Facebook Is Not a Common Carrier

The ever-entertaining Fifth Circuit has recently upheld a strange Texas law that forbids most kinds of social media moderation. (Techdirt explains many of the reasons the court is wrong, so I won't try.) This brings us to the trendy question of whether Facebook, Twitter, et al. should be treated as common carriers. You can make a good argument to separate the point-to-point data transport from the ISP and make the former common carriage. more

UN Human Rights Council Passes Resolution ‘Unequivocally’ Condemning Internet Shutdowns

United Nations Human Rights Council today adopted resolutions condemning measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access or dissemination of information on the Internet in violation of international human rights law. more

Facebook Stays, Everybody’s Happy, but Nothing Has Changed

After some turmoil, Facebook won the war with the Australian Government as the necessary changes were made to the legislation that avoided them needing to change their business model. Those subtleties are lost in the general press. What counts for the popular media is that they were able to spin some great stories around the fact that Australia stood up to the giants. That brought international attention, which boosted the ego of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. more

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