Milton Mueller reports in IGP: "On the 1st and 2nd of September in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian foreign relations ministry, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and the Center for Technology & Society (CTS/FGV) held what they called a 'Seminar' on Global Internet Governance. But while 'seminar' has an educational, even academic ring to it, this event was more than that. It was actually a preparatory conference for a major political initiative regarding Internet control." more»
ICANN needs ethics rules says U.S. lawmaker, Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, in a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department. Any group overseeing the system "is hugely important in regulating the multimillion-dollar domain name industry" and should be "subject to the same financial-disclosure, ethics or conflict-of-interest rules as executive leadership at federal agencies or in Congress," Wyden wrote. more»
Kieren McCarthy reporting in .nxt: "An extraordinary series of policy papers drawn up by the European Commission and seen by .Nxt have called for greater governmental control over the Internet's domain name system. ...the measures would provide governments with de facto control over the Internet's naming systems and bring an end to the independent and autonomous approach that has defined the Internet's domain name system since its inception." more»
ICANN is seeking a global background screening service provider in order to conduct a "thorough and timely" background check on all new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) applicants. The Request for Proposal recently issued by ICANN aims at background screening focused on general business diligence, criminal history, and cybersquatting behavior. more»
Kevin Murphy reporting in DomainIncite: "The UK Direct Marketing Association has added its voice to the collection of advertising trade groups that oppose ICANN's new generic top-level domains program." ... The Association of National Advertisers, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the American Association of Advertising Agencies have already made similar calls." more»
Rod Beckstrom announced today that he will be ending his work at the the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) by July of next year. Beckstrom, a former U.S. cybersecurity chief, was elected as the President and CEO of ICANN in Jun of 2009 following Paul Twomey who had been serving the position since March 2003. more»
In a letter to Mr. Rod Beckstrom, President, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has expressed major flaws in ICANN's program for introducing new generic Top-Level Domains. A program which ANA warns would allow as many as 1,000 new Top-Level Domains in the first year and the same cap every year thereafter. more»
Joly MacFie writes to report: "iBreakfast is presenting About the 'Domain' Conference: The Era of New TLDs, this Wednesday Aug 3 2011 at Herrick, Feinstein LLC in NYC. Wendy Seltzer, Esther Dyson, and Annalisa Roger, representatives of dotgay, .berlin, .xxx, plus major registries are among the participants who will discuss how the Internet will be impacted by the coming new TLD rollout." more»
Monika Ermert reporting in Intellectual Property Watch: "ICANN issued a new statement last week on its future contract with the United States for root zone management and other internet infrastructure functions, warning against undermining the multistakeholder model for governing core internet infrastructures... Some see this action by the US government as a reaction to the inclusion of the controversial .xxx to the root zone." more»
ICANN has named, Internet pioneer, Steve Crocker as new Chair of the Board. Dr. Crocker whose involvement with ICANN dates back to 2002, has also served as chair of ICANN's Security, Stability, and Advisory Committee (SSAC) until 2010. He was the SSAC liaison to the Board from 2003 to 2008, a voting member of the Board since 2008, and vice-chair of the Board since December 2010. Crocker succeeds Peter Dengate Thrush, who was Chair since 2007. Also board member Bruce Tonkin, an Australian, was named Vice Chair. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer for Melbourne IT Limited. more»
ICANN and internet exchange firm Packet Clearing House (PCH) have joined forces with Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) to launch the first of three facilities designed to boost the adoption of Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC) among country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs). The three new facilities, located in Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland (still under construction) and San Jose, California, provide cryptographic security using the recently deployed DNSSEC protocol. more»
The Board of ICANN today gave final approval to the most dramatic change to the Internet in four decades -- allowing the expansion of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs). This monumental decision will allow companies and organizations to turn their own brands into Internet domain extensions (that is .brand) or to create broad generic strings such as .CAR, .SPORTS or .BANK. ICANN's TLD expansion plan was first announced three years ago on June 26, 2008 at the 32nd ICANN Meeting in Paris. more»
Kevin Murphy reporting in DomainIncite: "As ICANN's 41st meeting begins in Singapore, the Governmental Advisory Committee is sticking to its guns on a number of its outstanding demands on new top-level domains. GAC chair Heather Dryden said in a Saturday letter to the ICANN board (pdf) that its concerns relating to controversial string objections, trademark protection, and vertical integration have not been satisfactorily addressed." more»
Kevin Murphy reporting in DomainIncite: "Interpol plans to apply to join ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee as an observer, according to ICANN. The news came in a press release this evening, detailing a meeting between ICANN president Rod Beckstrom and Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble. The meeting 'focused on Internet security governance and enhancing common means for preventing and addressing Internet crime'." more»
Jennifer Baker or IDG News reports: "The U.S. and the European Union have agreed to work together to ensure that domain naming on the Internet remains in the hands of independent private-sector stakeholders, but have demanded reforms. On Thursday, E.U. Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Larry Strickling, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said that they will continue to support the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) system for assigning top level domains..." more»
