[WSIS CS-Plenary] [IGP Announce] Internet Governance Project Headlines

[Internet Governance Project]

September 30, 2009

Ask us about ICANN's, um, "affirmation"

ICANN oversight: a change of phase

A new ICANN-Commerce Department deal: Does the public get to comment?

European Internet Governance meeting calls for oversight role for IGF

Consumer Fraud

Drinking from the firehose

Who's the real Communist?

Upcoming Event: KJPS-SNU & GigaNet Regional Conference on Internet Governance

Search Internet Governance Project Headlines

 
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* Ask us about ICANN's, um, "affirmation" - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=41474683&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

We are all waiting for the other shoe to drop - i.e., for the NTIA to formally release the actual document that constitutes the "Affirmation of Commitments" that will replace the Joint Project Agreement. We have a pretty good idea what's in it but at this point it's best to wait for the official release. Once it is, IGP's crack team of ICANN-analysts stands ready to provide commentary and analysis of it. Call us at +1.202.657.5881 or email info {at} internetgovernance.org. While you're waiting, be amused with Jeremy Rabkin's quip about the new title for the Agreement. An "Affirmation of Commitment," he said, sounds a lot like marriage vows exchanged by same-sexers in a state where gay marriage is not yet legal. It's sort of like a legal vow, but not quite, and no doubt some conservative types will find it all a bit strange. Internet governance is getting so New Age.

• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;Ask us about ICANN's, um, "affirmation";2605022 • •

 
 

* ICANN oversight: a change of phase - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=41325400&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

Details are beginning to emerge about the replacement for the ICANN – Commerce Department Joint Project Agreement (JPA). The Economist is reporting that the JPA will be replaced by an “affirmation of commitments” that is only four pages long. This corresponds to what we are hearing from various sources here in Washington. Unlike the JPA, which had to be renewed every few years – a process that triggered what we at IGP considered to be a dysfunctional politics in which U.S. business interests ran to Congress every time ICANN did something they didn’t like – the “affirmation” has no fixed term. From this point on, the details become hazier. The new agreement is organized around four policy areas around which regular reviews will be conducted: 1) competition among generic domains; 2) Whois; 3) security; and 4) transparency, accountability and the public interest. The reviews will be conducted by “oversight panels” that include representatives of foreign governments. That is an area where the details are especially hazy. We do not know how these “oversight panels” will be selected, or whether they will include business and civil society in a balanced way as well as foreign governments. But it does look like a move to a more transnational approach to oversight. The Economist article reports that the U.S. government will retain “a permanent seat” on the panel dealing with accountability. It also claims that “there are no penalties if ICANN fails to heed its new overseers.” This sounds like the kind of “soft oversight” we proposed be conducted through the Internet Governance Forum. We have also heard that NTIA officials were actively vetting the proposal among foreign governments.

Overall this sounds like a mixed bag. One can only marvel at the elevation of Whois (the policies governing the display of data on domain name registrants) to the same level of importance as “transparency, accountability and the public interest.” But we all know that the trademark lobby is strong and focused. The shift in the form of oversight and the move to a more international approach is welcome – but we await the details.• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;ICANN oversight: a change of phase;2605022 • •

 
 

* A new ICANN-Commerce Department deal: Does the public get to comment? - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=41038944&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

It is no secret that ICANN and the U.S. Commerce Department are engaged in intensive negotations over the future of their relationship as we approach the expiration of the current Joint Project Agreement. We have no inside information about what will happen, but we do suspect that there will be some kind of a new agreement that breaks some new ground. We have already seen the U.S. Congress openly ask for some kind of permanent charter or agreement (which of course we think would be a mistake) and such a new agreement could have long term consequences. Shouldn't ICANN's constituencies and participants be allowed to have their say before ICANN itself signs on to it?• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;A new ICANN-Commerce Department deal: Does the public get to comment?;2605022 • •

 
 

* European Internet Governance meeting calls for oversight role for IGF - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=41022917&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

Reports are emerging from European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), one of the regional Internet Governance Forum events, of calls for a greater role for the IGF in monitoring Internet governance institutions. During a plenary session held today, "The post-JPA phase: towards a future Internet governance model," there was discussion amongst the European governments and other participants about the role of the IGF in contributing to ICANN's accountability.

Participants identified the creation of a "Dynamic Coallition on ICANN Accountability and International Conformity" at the IGF as a possible solution to deal with the ICANN related issues more strategically, and in conformance with the Tunis Agenda. Although details are emerging about what the new Dynamic Coalition would entail, the suggestion sounds similar to the soft oversight role proposed by the IGP in its 2008 comments to the Department of Commerce during its mid-term review of the JPA.

According to one account, provided by a member of the IGF MAG and relayed to ICANN's Noncommercial Users Constituency, a reason given for such a mechanism was that "although ICANN's constitutional documents and by-laws require it to co-operate with relevant international organisations and to carry out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law, there are no related formal accountability arrangements and this can be the first step to create this process."• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;European Internet Governance meeting calls for oversight role for IGF;2605022 • •

 
 

* Consumer Fraud - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=41240452&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

Two people in ALAC are pushing to create a Consumer constituency within the new Noncommercial Stakeholders Group. While superficially this may seem like a good idea, nothing in ICANN is simple or straightforward. The Board should not recognize a Consumer Constituency now. There are four reasons why the Board must wait until next year before even considering it.• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;Consumer Fraud;2605022 • •

 
 

* Drinking from the firehose - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=40859896&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

The new President of ICANN, Rod Beckstrom, is making the rounds, listening. He's quickly figured out what makes the global institution he is supposed to run tick: the diverse and fractious "stakeholder" groups that cluster around the business and technology of IP addresses and domain names. He's trying to acquaint himself with the people and attitudes of each one and learning about their issues. Registries and trademark lawyers complaining about registrars; registrars complaining about registries; business badmouthing civil society; frustrated Russians, Chinese, European Unionists complaining about the U.S.; the ITU, the RIRs....all have their own angle, their own feuds, their agendas and demands to press.

In Washington Wednesday he made a point of meeting with public interest groups, the noncommercial stakeholders his predecessor went out of his way to marginalize. I was there, along with representatives of Free Press, EPIC, the Media and Democracy Coalition, and OneWebDay. He barely had time to sit down before I presented him with a copy of the Top Ten Myths about Civil Society in ICANN, which I jokingly offered to autograph. He totally one-upped me. He pulled out a copy of Ruling the Root and asked me to autograph that instead. Then he graciously presented me with my very own copy of The Starfish and the Spider, which I insisted he autograph for me. Auspicious exchange. 

It was a get-acquainted session; no deals made, no promises sought. But there seems to be some badly needed wafts of fresh air. This new CEO of ICANN thinks his job is to run the organization and not to drive policy, and for now, at least, he's willing to listen. And if anyone can drink from a firehose, it's Aquaman.• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;Drinking from the firehose;2605022 • •

 
 

* Who's the real Communist? - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=40861894&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the China's Ministry of Culture has announced sweeping new regulations for online music. The new regulations attempt to make the Ministry a bottleneck and gatekeeper for all commercial exchanges of online music in China. Foreign-produced music must be approved by censors and checked for copyright compliance before it can be distributed over the Internet. According to the Journal, "Online music distributors will be required to provide written lyrics for each song, translated into Chinese, and documents to prove they aren't infringing on intellectual property rights, the ministry notice said. In addition, companies wishing to provide music download services will be required to apply for an Internet culture license to do so." In other words, this is an attempt to undo exactly what the Internet is designed to do. 

Normally the West loves to hold up Chinese censorship as a bad example to the rest of the world. But guess who has expressed enthusiasm and support for the new regulations? You guessed it: The music publishers! Both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) are quoted in the article as supporting this new extension of Chinese censorship. Remember the satiric poster "when you pirate MP3s, you're downloading communism?" Now maybe we need a new one: "Communists and Copyright owners: perfect together."• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Main Page;Who's the real Communist?;2605022 • •

 
 

* Upcoming Event: KJPS-SNU & GigaNet Regional Conference on Internet Governance - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=40903916&f=175425&u=11399690&c=2605022
 
 

The Korean Journal of Policy Studies (KJPS) at Seoul National University (SNU) and the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) invite you to a Regional Conference on global Internet governance. The one-day event sponsored by Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) will be held in Seoul, Korea at Seoul National University on October 23, 2009 – the Friday before the Seoul ICANN meeting (25 October - 30 October) from 2:00 to 6:00 pm. View the program.

The KJPS is published biannually by the Advanced Center for Administrative Development (ACAD), Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, to provide an international forum for academics and practitioners who are interested in public administration and policy. The KJPS publishes articles that examine a broad range of issues in public administration and public policy, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research. Although there is no limitation on subject areas, papers focusing on the East Asian countries and/or adopt a comparative perspective are particularly welcome.

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GIGANET) is a scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet Governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society. 
• Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;11349437;Events;Upcoming Event: KJPS-SNU & GigaNet Regional Conference on Internet Governance;2605022 • •

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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