Re-Booting Internet Governance: Resurgence of Ideas and Proposals

Milton Mueller reporting at IGP: At the recently concluded Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, a memo was circulated calling for the creation of a "Commission on the Future of Internet Cooperation." The commission, the confidential memo said, would consist of "civic leaders, ministers, CEOs and technical pioneers." Its purpose will be to "provide new ideas for transnational and multistakeholder proposals for Internet governance." According to the leaked document, the group is supposed to begin work in October and conclude its work with a presentation at the World Economic Forum in January 2014. more

Is 47 USC 230(c) an Immunity or an Affirmative Defense (Does it Matter?)

Procedure matters. It matters whether a defendant can dispose of a litigation right out of the gate, or whether the defendant must suffer the slings and arrows of discovery, motions, and trial before presenting a successful defense. Procedurally, once a litigation has been initiated, defendant has a chance to say, "hey, wait a minute, there isn't actually a cause of action here." It's like someone suing me for being tall. Well, yeah, but there is no recognized cause of action against being tall. more

The Overlooked Signals of ccTLDs

Two ccTLD signals should get more attention when we're talking about the domains' benefits. Companies in emerging markets can signal their brands to expats and/or westerners. This ability to take the companies' appeal beyond their immediate, national markets deserves a look and some appreciation. Traditionally, Western companies have been the ones who registered ccTLDs to signal target="_blank" operations in overseas markets, while companies in emerging markets use them to signal their local brands to the local market. more

Video: IETF Chair Jari Arkko on “Pervasive Monitoring and the Internet”

Today at the RIPE 67 event in Athens, Greece, IETF Chair Jari Arkko gave a presentation on "Pervasive Monitoring and the Internet" where he spoke about the ongoing surveillance issues and: What do we know? What are the implications? What can we do? Similar to his earlier article on the topic, Jari looked at the overall issues and spoke about how Internet technology should better support security and privacy. more

Stronger Pro-Growth International Policies Are Needed for the Internet, Says ICC

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced that greater efforts to bring about better, more consultative global policy-making are needed to maximize the potential of the Internet to power future economic growth. ICC BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) plans to use its presence at the 8th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place in Bali, Indonesia, between 22-25 October, to call for attention to a greater collaboration between stakeholder groups and stronger pro-growth international policies in order to help the Internet retain its place as the world’s primary economic enabler. more

ICANN Announces Members of Its Strategy Panels

ICANN has announced a list of over 40 diverse practitioners, subject matter experts, and thought leaders as members of the ICANN Strategy Panels to support development of the organization's strategic and operational plans. more

The Big Bad Internet

I often think there are only two types of stories about the Internet. One is a continuing story of prodigious technology that continues to shrink in physical size and at the same time continue to dazzle and amaze us... The other is a darker evolving story of the associated vulnerabilities of this technology where we've seen "hacking" turn into organised crime and from there into a scale of sophistication that is sometimes termed "cyber warfare". And in this same darker theme one could add the current set of stories about various forms of state sponsored surveillance and espionage on the net. more

The Internet and OpenStand: The Internet Didn’t Happen by Accident

On the World Standards Day of 2013 it seems appropriate to recognize that on the Internet and throughout the Web, nothing goes anywhere without standards. These technical standards - communication protocols, data exchange formats, and interfaces - allow different computers and networks to talk to each other. They are the lifeblood around the world for multibillion dollar industries that didn't exist 20 years ago. They are born of a collaborative, open process that prides itself on technical expertise and measures success by the depth and breadth of their acceptance across a hodgepodge of vastly different technologies all interconnected to what we euphemistically call "the Global Internet." more

The Boundary Between Sec. 230 Immunity and Liability: Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings

Out in the wilderness of cyberspace is a boundary, marking the limits of Sec. 230 immunity. On the one side roams interactive services hosting third party content immune from liability for that third party content. On the other sides is the frontier, where interactive content hosts and creators meet, merge, and become one. Here host and author blend, collaborating to give rise to new creations. more

Registrars That Complied With “Shakedown” Requests May Now Be in Violation of ICANN Transfers Policy

At the time we posted 'Whatever Happened To Due Process,' we were unaware that we were just one of many registrars receiving these notices from the London (UK) Police. We have since been made aware that this was part of a larger initiative against the BitTorrent space as a whole, and that most if not all of the other registrars in receipt of the same email as us folded rather quickly and acquiesced to the shakedown orders. more

Is There Really a Mobile Malware Pandemic?

Much of the discussion regarding mobile security revolves around the growing "pandemic" of mobile malware. It's not uncommon to see headlines reporting the discovery of large numbers of new malware samples. However, as Google recently pointed out, with quite a bit of data to support them, there's little discussion of real world impact of these discoveries. This raises a number of relevant questions. Is the average user likely to be infected? Where does this malware come from? These are questions that deserve analysis and thoughtful responses. 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

How the NSA is Threatening the Future of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Others

When I read government arguments in defense of the NSA, an oft-repeated line was: We're not targeting Americans. We're targeting foreigners. Foreigners. I really dislike that word. And I'm sure companies like Apple, Google and Facebook do as well. Why? more

Where Are the World’s Most Popular Websites Hosted?

As I do every day, I was perusing Twitter and came across a link for a Business Insider piece on the world's most popular websites by country. Two researchers used web traffic data from Alexa to visually display each country's most visited website. It's an interesting read... But I couldn't help but wonder what the most popular website based in each country was. So, I put the Dyn research team to work and they came up with a comprehensive list. more

Meeting Held in Uruguay to Consider Current Issues Affecting the Future of the Internet

Leaders of organizations responsible for coordination of the Internet technical infrastructure globally have met in Montevideo, Uruguay, to consider current issues affecting the future of the Internet. more