Internet Companies in Negotiations for Agreement on Code of Conduct in China

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, in negotiations with other Internet companies and human rights organizations, have reached an agreement on a voluntary code of conduct for activities in China and other countries that censor the Internet. The participants are reviewing the agreement for final approval. more»

ICANN Responsible for Domain Name Trademark Mess

It is ICANN's responsibility to make sure domain names do not infringe on trademarks. To determine infringement, ICANN should rely in the short term on predictive models. Thus, domain name and trademark owners must start putting pressure on ICANN to assume its trademark responsibility. more»

ICANN Released Its Draft for New Top-Level Domains, 45 Day Comment Period Now Open

In follow up to its earlier announcement this year regarding the relaxation of rules for the introduction of new Top-Level Domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday released a draft version of the Applicant Guidebook for those interested in applying for a new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). Although application comes with a hefty entry fee of close to $200,000, the development of new gTLD introductions will be of particular interest to trademark owners as well as any other company involved with domain names. Among various issues, the guidebook aims at addressing concerns such as who would qualify for '.apple' or '.amazon' gTLDs. more»

Investigation Reveals Massive Security and Privacy Breaches Affecting Chinese Version of Skype

Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers have released a report on the extensive surveillance system in China that monitors and archives text conversations that include politically charged words. The research group, called Information Warfare Monitor, is a joint project of The SecDev Group, and the Citizen Lab, at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The following are introductory excerpts from the study... more»

On Why and How the Internet Needs to Be Governed

The World is not inventing Internet Governance. Internet is already being governed. There is governance, but without a formal structure -- the structure is undefined like a round table... The opponents of the concept of Internet Governance perhaps believe that the essential character of the Internet is preserved best by challenging the very concept of Governance. The words "Governance", "Control", "Regulation" or even "Coordination" are mistaken to be invasive to the essential character of a free, open and user-centric internet. more»

UN to Take First Step Towards the New Internet Governance Forum

The United Nations will launch the first round of consultations next month on creating a new Internet governance body [IGF], as agreed by delegates attending the global Net summit in Tunis last year.

The U.N., which hosted the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November, is welcoming all stakeholders to attend the consultations, which will take place in Geneva on Feb. 16-17, according to a statement published Jan. 11 by Swiss diplomat Markus Kummer, who had previously participated in the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance. more»

Cyber Security Commission Compiling Recommendations for the Next U.S. Presidency

During a panel discussion at the Black Hat conference, four members from a U.S. private organization called "Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency," established by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), sought input from the security community as part of their mandate to "develop recommendations for a comprehensive strategy to improve cyber security in federal systems and in critical infrastructure". more»

What's Going on at ICANN in Cairo

Following up on the big decision at the Paris ICANN meeting in June to make new Top-Level Domains available, there's lots of activity at the ICANN conference in Cairo, Egypt this week. A few of the hot topics of discussion that we are following are the applications process for new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), Registry/Registrar Cross Ownership, and restructuring of the ICANN Board. more»

European Commission Executive Slams "Interference" in .XXX Vote

The Internet governing body's decision to reject a new .xxx Internet domain for porn sites is a clear case of U.S. political interference in the Web's governance, the European Commission said on Thursday.

...The EU executive said the decision underscored the need to make ICANN independent quickly, following unsuccessful demands last year by a group of countries including the EU to make ICANN fully independent. more»

Governments Concerned Over Introduction of New Geographical Top-Level Domains

There has been a lot of argument at the 33rd meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Cairo, which ends on Friday, about the rules for introducing new top-level domains. If certain governments have their way, ICANN will have to wait before introducing country or regional names as top-level domains (TLDs). They want the procedure for introducing new country domain names (ccTLDs, such as .uk) in non-Latin alphabets to be adopted first. This emerges from a report delivered by the Latvian diplomat Janis Karklins, chairman of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) at the meeting in Cairo. more»

Rising Concerns Over UN Anti-Cyberattack Plan: Could End Internet Anonymity

Recent reports suggest that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, is "quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government," aimed at preventing Internet attacks which could also put an end to anonymity on the Internet. At an up coming ITU meeting in Geneva next week, telecommunication experts will be discussing draft recommendation of "IP Traceback" use case and requirements, looking at ways to identify the source of packets sent across IP (Internet Protocol) networks. more»

Internet Governance Forum: Starting a Dialogue Which Will Last for Years

A dispute over U.S. control of the Internet is likely drag on through a conference of state envoys, regulators and technology experts next week to discuss the future of the Internet.

"There are many countries which all have their own interests and opinions," Greek Transport Minister Michalis Liapis said Thursday. "We are starting a dialogue which I think will take many years." Liapis and the Greek government will host the first Internet Governance Forum, a four-day U.N. global summit in Athens that starts Monday. more»

ICANN to Undergo Transparency Evaluation

A U.K. governance organization will review The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as it tries to increase transparency after criticism of its close U.S. government ties. The report from One World Trust will be made public next year according to Paul Levins, ICANN's executive officer and vice president of corporate affairs. more»

10 Years of ICANN

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, was officially incorporated on 30 September 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, United States, ICANN was assigned to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks originally performed directly on behalf of the U.S. government by other organizations, such as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Back in 1998, there was only one domain name registrar; now there are over 900 ICANN-accredited registrars in the world and over 168 million domain names registered. more»

Internet Governance Experts Debate ICANN's Full Control of DNS

Internet governance experts argued on Wednesday for and against having the U.S. government hand over completely the technical coordination and management of the Internet's domain name system (DNS) to the private, non-profit ICANN this year.

Those in favor of completing this transition, which began in 1998, said the political price of having the U.S. involved in DNS management has become too high and holds back the international development of the Internet. ...Others warned that ICANN isn't yet ready to take on this task...  more»