Policy & Regulation

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

What Trump and Clinton Said About Cybersecurity in the First US Presidential Debate

The Internet and tech got very little mention last night during the first of three presidential debatest. The only notable exception was cybersecurity where moderator Lester Holt asked: "Our institutions are under cyber attack, and our secrets are being stolen. So my question is, who's behind it? And how do we fight it?" The following are the responses provided to the question by the two candidates. more

Facebook In Talks with U.S. Government About Offering Its Free Internet Service

Facebook is talking to the White House about giving US citizens ‘free’ Internet access via its Free Basics program, Brian Fung reporting in the Washington Post today. more

ICANN Is Violating Its Legal Agreements with the U.S. Government – Who’s Next?

In April, I published an article, The Multistakeholder Moment of Truth: Will Stakeholders Hold ICANN Accountable?, alerting stakeholders that ICANN is violating its legal agreements with the U.S. Government -- namely the InterNIC licensing agreement and merged Memorandum of Understanding. At that time, I warned that it is essential for stakeholders not to remain silent in the face of this transgression, "hoping that such behavior left unchecked will end of its own accord." more

Republicans Barreling Toward a September Showdown Over IANA Transition

Republicans gear up for fight against internet transition," Ashley Gold and Tony Romm reporting in the POLITICO today. more

Internet Society Urges Congress to Press Ahead with IANA Steward Transition

In a letter to key Congressional leaders, the Internet Society's CEO, Kathryn Brown, has urged Congress to allow the IANA stewardship transition to proceed without delay. The contract between the US Commerce Departments National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is set to expire on September 30. more

Undersea Cables as a Layer of the AI Tech Stack

As AI shifts from experimentation to real-world deployment, its unseen foundation - undersea cables - emerges as a strategic frontier. Their resilience may shape not only infrastructure policy but the outcome of US-China AI competition. more

The .nyc High-Bid Auctions

There were highs and lows in city hall's rollout of the .nyc TLD last month. Early on we were cheered when we received notification that our application for the JacksonHeights.nyc domain name had been approved. And with the de Blasio Administration committed to putting the city's 350+ neighborhood domain names under the control of local residents, we began to imagine that our decade-old vision of an "intuitive" city Internet might materialize... more

When Registry Power Detaches From Liability, It Detaches From Reality

IPv4 scarcity turned regional internet registries from clerks into gatekeepers of a valuable resource. Yet liability caps remain trivial, leaving powerful institutions with little accountability and incentives for conflict and structural breakdown ahead. more

EU, US Strike Deal in Principle on New Data-Sharing Agreement

The European Union has struck a deal "in principle" with the United States on a new data-sharing agreement to allow digital information to flow between borders. more

Why DNS-Level Piracy Enforcement Is a Trap

Efforts to combat online piracy are pushing courts to weaponise the Internet's naming system. Turning DNS operators into enforcement agents may deliver quick takedowns, but risks collateral damage, jurisdictional conflict and long-term fragmentation of the Internet. more

Can Digital Human Rights Be Sustained in an Evolving UN?

Are Human Rights, both traditional and digital, at risk of becoming an empty promise? (a) The political environment for Human Rights has notably deteriorated since the United Nation's (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. How have things changed? more

AI: The Squandered Opportunity in India

India's AI summit promised a Global South rethink of digital governance. Instead, a weak declaration and Delhi's accession to America's Pax Silica exposed widening power asymmetries, leaving countries like Brazil outside the real circuitry of control. more

Fast-Moving Technologies Need Bottom-Up Standards

Technical standards typically are not something we think about: they simply make things work. Credit for this goes to the innovators who ensure that the technical standards needed to make many of our devices work together are robust and effective. Given how central telecommunications and information and communications technologies (ICTs) are to our economies and to how we live, it is crucial that they function as expected. Standards enable interoperability, as well as functionality, reliability, and safety. more

U.S. and China Negotiating Cyeberwarfare Control Deal

United States and China are in negotiation to establish a cyberattack agreement, according to reports. If successful, it "could become the first arms control accord for cyberspace, embracing a commitment by each country that it will not be the first to use cyberweapons to cripple the other's critical infrastructure during peacetime," reports David Sanger in the New York Times. more