Internet Governance

Why We Need to Discard the Word “Multistakeholder”

A CircleID post by Alexander Klimburg takes aim at my article, "The Power to Govern Ourselves," delivered at the Gig-Arts conference in June. That speech, available here on the blog, argued that: "Multistakeholder does not describe a governance model. It never has. It was always a compromised Public Relations concept," one that muddied the distinction between governance by state actors and non-state actors. What really made the Internet institutions unique was their break with sovereignty. more

What Is Privacy?

Ask ten people what privacy is, and you'll likely get twelve different answers. The reason for the disparity is that your feelings about privacy depend on context and your experience. Privacy is not a purely technical issue but a human one. Long before computers existed, people cared about and debated privacy. Future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis defined it as "the right to be left alone" in 1890. Before the Web became a ubiquitous phenomenon, people primarily thought of privacy in terms of government intrusion. more

Pursuit of Sikh Separatist Prompts Widespread Internet Shutdown in Punjab, India

Indian authorities have instituted a mobile internet and text messaging blackout in the state of Punjab, which has a population of around 27 million, in an effort to capture a Sikh separatist. The ban began midday Saturday and was extended for another 24 hours on Sunday. more

ISOC-NY Forum: Civic Representation in ICANN: What Now?

Joly MacFie writes: The Internet Society's New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) will be holding a public forum at NYU on Oct 8 2009 to discuss, in the post JPA world, civic representation in ICANN. Specific concerns are the current restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council, and the replacement of the At-Large Liaison to the ICANN Board by a seated member. Will the creation of new constituencies serve to balkanize the Noncommercial users and dilute their influence? Will an At-large board member be less answerable to the rank and file? These questions and more will be discussed. The public are welcome to attend and the event will be webcast live. more

ICANN LAC-i Roadshow Stirs “High Interest” in Caribbean ccTLDs

The Caribbean can create a unique flavour on the Internet by using effectively managed and financially stable Country Code Top-Level Domains. Speaking after ICANN's first Caribbean edition of its Latin American and Caribbean Internet Roadshow (LAC-i Roadshow), recently held in Turks and Caicos Islands, Albert Daniels said the event yielded "very high interest" in the management and operations of the local ccTLD, .tc. Daniels is ICANN's senior manager of stakeholder engagement in the Caribbean. more

How the Sale of .ORG Could Hurt Non-Profits IRL

Private equity firm Ethos Capital's attempt to take control of .org, the Internet domain that's home to most of the world's non-profit and public-benefit organizations, has triggered an interesting crisis in Internet governance. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is the body responsible for regulating the global domain name industry. For the first time since oversight responsibility over ICANN was passed from the United States National Telecommunications and Information Administration... more

NCUC Sends Urgent Plea to the ICANN Board Regarding Recent Changes Affecting Noncommercial Groups

An open letter from nearly 150 individual and organizational members of ICANN's Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) has been submitted to ICANN's board of directors and CEO. The letter has expresses serious concern over a recent ICANN Board decision regarding the restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). From the letter: "We believe that the Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) chartering process has been seriously flawed on both procedural and substantive grounds. We appeal to you to address these problems before permanent damage is done to ICANN's reputation, to the GNSO reform process, and to the interests of noncommercial users of the Internet." more

ICANN’s Rocky Beginning - When Friends Were Scarce

In ICANN's earliest days, it had very few friends, or so it seemed to the initial Board members. There were none of the compliments and congratulations that normally accompany the creation of a new corporation. There was great hesitancy among potential donors over the fact that we did not yet have (and would not have for nine long months), a federal tax exemption number. There was also a poisonous open Board meeting in December 1998 in Cambridge, Massachusetts... more

Accountability Initiatives to Secure a Strong Future for .ORG

Last fall, when we put forth our bid to acquire the Public Interest Registry (PIR), our announcement - made jointly with PIR and its parent, the Internet Society - was met with questions. We took them seriously and made a conscious effort to engage with representative members of the .ORG community to deepen our understanding. We found that a consistent message was that the commitments made by Ethos since this fall addressed most of the community's issues, but there was a question as to whether they were enforceable and if so, how? more

Creating a Russian No-Cyber Zone

In response to Russia's horrific invasion and war against the Ukrainian nation ordered by Dictator Putin that will live in infamy, an array of nations, organizations, and companies have responded to shun and shut off Russia in every possible manner. The actions include no-fly zones, removal from ICT network services, and essentially universal declarations of condemnation. For the first time ever, all Russian proposals to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) quadrennial standards body plenary known as the WTSA have been "bracketed"... more

ICM Registry Publicly Posts Filings for Independent Review Panel Against ICANN on .XXX Domain

ICM Registry (proponents of the .xxx initiative) and Stuart Lawley, Chairman and President of the organization, have filed a 522-page brief in the ongoing Independent Review Process that began last June. "In what may prove to be the biggest sleeper Internet governance issue of the year, ICM Registry has publicly posted its filings for the Independent Review Panel that will decide whether ICANN acted improperly in rejecting its application for a .xxx domain," writes Brenden Kuerbis in a post on the IGP blog.  more

US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing Held on IANA Transition

"I urge you: Do not give a gift to Russia and other authoritarian nations by blocking this transition," Lawrence Strickling, administrator of the U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said on Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing Held on IANA Transition. more

GAO Rules IANA Transition Not a Transfer of Government Property Requiring Congressional Approval

The Untied States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that the IANA transition is not a government transfer of property requiring congressional approval. more

White House Announces Agenda for Game-Changing Cybersecurity R&D

The United States White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has released a new report titled, Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program, specifying an agenda for "game-changing" cybersecurity R&D according to an official announcement today. The report is described as "a roadmap to ensuring long-term reliability and trustworthiness of the digital communications network that is increasingly at the heart of American economic growth and global competitiveness." more

China Releases Strategy on Cyberspace Cooperation

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cyberspace Administration of China has jointly released a document titled "International Strategy of Cooperation on Cyberspace." more