Internet Governance

When Space Becomes Infrastructure: Governance Challenges in Record-Breaking Week for Satellites

This past week offered a striking illustration of the pace and scale at which our shared orbital environment is evolving. In less than 24 hours, six rockets were launched from different parts of the globe, each contributing to the rapid expansion of low Earth orbit (LEO) infrastructure. China deployed a new set of Guowang satellites, while SpaceX launched two batches of Starlink satellites - one from Vandenberg in California and another from Cape Canaveral in Florida. United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully placed Amazon's Kuiper satellites into orbit... more

Quintett Leads Net Mundial Initiative (NMI): New Steam for an Enabling Multistakeholder Platform

At June 30, 2015 the Inaugural Meeting of the Coordination Council of the NetMundial Initiative (NMI.CC) elected a "Quintett" to guide its activities through the global Internet Governance Ecosystem. Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma from China, ICANN's President Fadi Chehade, Brazilian's Minister Virgilio Almeida and two woman: Eileen Donahou from Human Rights Watch (HRW)) and Marilia Maciel from the Center of Technology and Society (CTS) in Rio de Janeiro are sharing now the helm to bring more steam to this new innovative multistakeholder platform. more

ARIN Elects First Board Member from the Caribbean

Regenie Fräser, the former Secretary General of a regional trade association, has been selected to serve a one-year term on the board of trustees of the American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN). Fraser's appointment makes her the first person from the Caribbean and the first non-white person to serve on the ARIN board. ARIN is one of five registries worldwide that coordinate Internet number resources. more

Internet Governance: The Issue, The Myths, The Problems, The Solutions

I have written a short paper on the topic of Internet Governance. Since it includes a number of resources, it would be easier for me to just point to a link with the document itself. Below are some selected excerpts from the document. "Several myths have been spreading around the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), but especially after the first Internet Governance Forum (IGF): The critical Internet resources (CIR) consist only of the IP addresses and the domain name system... There are only 13 root servers..." more

After Saying No in Dubai: What Next

What occurred in Dubai on 14 December was unprecedented in the history of the ITU. It was unprecedented in the history of international telecommunication law. Most of the major nations of the telecommunication world rejected a profoundly broken treaty instrument that had no reason to even exist. A large number of "minor" networking nations accepted the obligations of the treaty instrument, although almost all of them entered significant reservations. In the long history of telecommunication law and intergovernmental organizations since 1850, this has never occurred. more

Internet: Government Dominance or Governance?

In an age where the world has gone global in many forms and guises, the political attention is more and more focussed on national, populist issues, that arise from fear for the unknown. I can't deny it: the future undoubtedly contains many uncertainties. This usually comes with a general public that's afraid and in fear of things they cannot oversee. Thus it is easily aroused by a populist leader who feeds on this fear and throws flammable material on the already smouldering fire. In a time where leadership is called for, it seems lacking. The Internet governance discussion demands visionary leadership on a cross border level and it needs it soon. more

ICANN IRT Report Open for Comment With Short Timeframe?

The Intellectual Property Constituency's draft report on trademark issues is now available for comment. The draft report was put together behind closed doors, which would appear to go against the normal policy development process at ICANN, which is quite worrying. Its contents, however, are even more disturbing... more

U. S. Government Blasts China’s Draft Domain Regulations

In an unexpected move, the two top U.S. officials charged with the Obama Administration's Internet policy have issued a joint statement severely criticizing draft Chinese domain policies. On May 16th, the State Department's Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda and NTIA's Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence E. Strickling issued an official statement titled "China's Internet Domain Name Measures and the Digital Economy". more

U.N. Approves Resolution to Combat Cybercrime Despite Opposition From E.U., the U.S. and Others

The U.N. General Assembly has approved a resolution to start the process of drafting a new international treaty against cybercrime despite objections from the European Union, the United States and other countries. The Russian-drafted resolution received approval from a 193-member world body with a vote of 79-60 and 33 abstentions. more

CENTR Unveils Key Principles for Internet Policy Ahead of 2024 EU Elections

This follows a general meeting on November 14, 2023, and comes ahead of the 2024 EU elections. The initiative outlines strategies for protecting Europe's digital future in the coming decade, especially considering potential strategic shifts in the next legislative term. more

Russia and China Propose UN General Assembly Resolution on “Information Security”

On September 12 China, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan released a Resolution for the UN General Assembly entitled "International code of conduct for information security." The resolution proposes a voluntary 12 point code of conduct based on "the need to prevent the potential use of information and communication technologies for purposes that are inconsistent with the objectives of maintaining international stability and security and may adversely affect the integrity of the infrastructure within States..." more

The Importance of IP Resource Planning in Government ICT Strategic Plans

It seems everywhere I turn, there's someone throwing around statistics for how the Internet and broadband will drive economic growth, create jobs, end world hunger and bring world peace (ok, maybe not the later). Sure enough, government officials are buying into that rhetoric and extending it in initiatives like national broadband strategies, cybercrime and cybersecurity plans as well as e-governance strategies. more

Of Canaries and Coal Mines: Verisign’s Proposal and Sudden Withdrawal of Domain Anti-Abuse Policy

Too many techies still don't understand the concept of due process, and opportunistic law enforcement agencies, who tend to view due process constraints as an inconvenience, are very happy to take advantage of that. That's the lesson to draw from Verisign's proposal and sudden withdrawal of a new "domain name anti-abuse policy" yesterday. The proposal, which seems to have been intended as a new service to registrars, would have allowed Verisign to perform malware scans on all .com, .net, and .name domain names quarterly when registrars agreed to let them do it. more

The US as Keeper of a ‘Free’ Internet?

The imminent expiration date (September 30) of the joint project agreement between ICANN and the US government, establishing the US as unilateral supervisor over Internet's addressing and Domain Name System (DNS) operations, has rejuvenated the call for an internationalization of Internet oversight. The average Internet user, however, is unlikely to benefit from a change in the current status quo as both alternatives, full privatization and intergovernmental oversight, are bound to affect both the Internet's innovative power and the personal liberties enjoyed by its users. more

ICANN the Machine…

ICANN's new gTLD expansion is really quite an ingenious ploy to grow the once small California non-profit into an unstoppable machine, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which soon plans to finally be free from any external oversight. I have no doubt that ICANN pats itself on the back for pulling the wool over so many eyes, including stakeholders, new gTLD applicants, politicians, and the global general public. more