Governance
14 May 2010
The Battle for the Internet by Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of France and founder of Médecins Sans Frontières New York Times
In 2015, 3.5 billion people -- half of mankind -- will have access to the Internet. There has never been such a revolution in freedom of communication and freedom of expression. But how will this new medium be used? What obstacles will the enemies of the Internet come up with?
09 May 2010
CDT Applauds Reports of FCC Action on Net Neutrality Center for Democracy & Technology
The Center for Democracy & Technology issued the following statement in response to reports that the FCC is poised to use its Title II authority to exercise limited jurisdiction over the Internet's "on ramps" -- the physical transmission lines that people use to connect to the Internet:
07 May 2010
ICANN Webinar: Policy Development at ICANN: How You Can Help Shape the Future of the Internet ICANN
On Thursday 20 May at 12.00 UTC and 19.00 UTC, ICANN Policy Staff will host a webinar that introduces newcomers to the world of ICANN and policy development. The webinar will provide an overview of ICANN as an organization, what issues ICANN policy addresses, who develops policy at ICANN (and how), and most importantly, how you can become involved and help ICANN to shape the future of the Internet. This webinar provides useful, actionable information to you if you are wondering whether a role in Internet policy development could benefit your or your organization's long-term goals.
05 May 2010
Designing The Future Internet Forbes
Will the Future Internet just happen, or can we influence its shape? If we can, what values should we seek to uphold? How will technical mechanisms such as IPV6 and policies such as net neutrality change our lives? Is there a way to bring the engineering principles of the IP protocol further up the stack into more advanced layers of services?
03 May 2010
Web's Users Against Its Gatekeepers New York Times
With the majority of Internet traffic expected to shift to congestion-prone mobile networks, there is growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic about whether operators of the networks should be allowed to treat Web users differently, based on the users' consumption.
16 April 2010
At Internet Conference, Signs of Agreement Appear Between U.S. and Russia New York Times
For the 140 computer network specialists, law enforcement agents and diplomats from eight countries who met in this German ski resort this week for a Russian-sponsored conference on Internet security, the biggest challenge was finding a common ground to discuss their differences.
07 April 2010
US Court Curbs FCC Authority on Web Traffic New York Times
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that regulators had limited power over Web traffic under current law. The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users.
21 March 2010
Vint Cerf on internet without borders The Age
Vinton Cerf clearly recalls something billionaire investor George Soros told him in 1994: ''He said just because the internet is open now doesn't mean it will stay that way.'' That observation, Cerf says, holds as much today as it did in 1994, maybe even more so.
11 March 2010
American Internet Freedom Caucus launched, legislation introduced NextGov
Reps. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., and David Wu, D-Ore., Tuesday announced the launch of a bipartisan Global Internet Freedom Caucus to promote online free expression. At the same event, Wu announced he was introducing legislation aimed at providing groups and individuals with the tools to bypass efforts by some countries to block or censor the Internet.
02 March 2010
China can't control the net for ever The Guardian
Google has been widely celebrated for its loud refusal to continue censoring its search results in China. It is still unclear whether Google will continue to operate in China, but in any event we are not about to see much change in China's internet policy. More likely, all this "foreign meddling" will merely cause the Chinese government to dig in its heels.
09 February 2010
CDT: More Thoughts from State of the Net 2010 Center for Democracy and Technology
One of the most highly anticipated panels at last week's State of the Net Conference was the Judith Krug Memorial Intellectual Freedom Panel, entitled "Global Free Expression: Will the Internet Reign or Get Reined In?". Held less than one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's widely-lauded speech on global Internet freedom and less than one month after Google announced that after suffering cyberattacks traced to the Chinese mainland it would no longer censor search results in China, the panel was a timely and fitting tribute to long-time free speech advocate Judith Krug.
01 February 2010
UN calls for global cyber treaty ZDNet
The world needs a treaty to prevent cyber attacks becoming an all-out war, the head of the main UN communications and technology agency has warned.
14 January 2010
Economics backs net neutrality, say researchers OUT-LAW News
Net neutrality is not just the fairest way to organise the internet but the most economically effective, according to two US academics. Their economic analysis of the policy claims that it is the best way to encourage investment in online services.
27 November 2009
Internet activists push for greater democracy Washington Post
The Internet can be a powerful medium for politicians to get their message across but it is also a vital means for civilians to have a say in what politicians do, participants in a political conference say.
26 November 2009
One (Almost) Happy Multi-stakeholder Family At The Annual Internet Governance Forum Intellectual Property Watch
If you don't count China, it was difficult to find people speaking against an extension of the non-decision-making Internet Governance Forum (IGF) of the United Nations at last week's gathering. An overwhelming majority of the 1,800 participants at the Egyptian tourist destination Sharm El Sheikh seemed to be in favour of the "multi-stakeholder" discussions taking place during the IGF events because they allow for better understanding on overarching issues like human rights and privacy or access problems in developing countries, but also the specialised problems with the internet infrastructure like internationalised domain names and the next generation internet, IPv6.
19 November 2009
China says scrap UN Internet governance forum West Australian
China on Wednesday called for the abolition of the UN's Internet Governance Forum, blasting it as a powerless gathering where IT heavyweight countries dominate.
A status check on the Internet Governance Forum by Vint Cerf, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Google Public Policy blog
Delegates from around the world are in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, this week for the annual Internet Governance Forum. This is the fourth year of the IGF, meetings started by the United Nations, the mandate of which is to encourage discussion about cross-cutting international Internet policies. The big question is whether this forum ought to carry on beyond its five-year trial run, which ends next year. We think it should.
Internet Governance Forum goes to Egypt and hits a few snags ZDNet
It seems that no matter where, when and why, somebody has to make sure a political statement is made. Now it seems that the United Nations is also getting into the Internet debate and dipping its toes into the Net Neutrality debate. The Internet Governance Forum is no different. Funded by the United Nations, its political firestorms are no different than those occurring daily at the World Headquarters in New York.
18 November 2009
Internet Governance Forum examines how to maximise internet's potential United Nations
[news release] A United Nations-backed international gathering focusing on how to make the most of the Internet to boost social and economic well-being for the greatest number of people around the world is underway in Egypt.
16 November 2009
Tim Berners-Lee's Foundation Wants the Web to Improve Life PC World
[IDG] The World Wide Web Foundation, Tim Berners-Lee's latest brainchild, is now officially open for business and involved with two initial projects, as it embarks on using the Web to empower people worldwide and bring about positive socio-economic change.
Violator of online free expression, Egypt, to host Internet Governance Forum Reporters sans frontières
Reporters Without Borders finds it surprising and disturbing that Egypt is hosting next week's Internet Governance Forum, at which important decisions about the Internet's future will be taken or announced.
Internet Governance Forum kicks off debate BBC News
Egypt should not have been picked as the venue for a key net talking shop, say human rights activists.
05 November 2009
European internet access ‘fundamental right’ plan dropped Financial Times
Plans to make internet access a "fundamental right" are to be dropped, a move that paves the way for European law enforcement agencies to cut off web users who have been caught downloading pirated films and music.
Is access to the internet now a human right? The Times
Can checking your e-mail really be a human right? Carphone Warehouse hopes so. After the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, announced his plans to disconnect persistent internet pirates last week, the owner of Britain's largest internet service provider, TalkTalk, threatened him with legal action under human rights legislation.
31 October 2009
Celebrating 40 years of the net BBC News
It has often been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For the internet, that first step was more of a stumble.
