27 Feb, 2007: Power-Grab: ICANN to Become Internet’s “Word Police” — Top-Level Domain Policy to Bypass National Sovereignty and Free Speech
Civil Society Proposes Amendment to Protect Civil Liberties and Innovation ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) submitted a proposal to protect freedom of expression and innovation in the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). ICANN’s policy council, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), is currently developing policy recommendations to regulate the introduction of new top-level domain names on the Internet. NCUC is troubled by the GNSO’s draft recommendation to create string selection criteria that would prevent the registration of a new gTLD string that contains a controversial word or idea. ..."

23 Feb, 2007: New gtld Application Evaluation Process (from ICANN)

22 Feb, 2007: IP Justice Report: TOP MYTHS About Karaoke CD-G Users’ Legal Rights
Little case law exists in the United States that specifically deals with a consumer’s legal rights to use Karaoke CD+Graphic (CDG) discs. The lack of case law in this area leads to uncertainty among consumers regarding the legality of different uses of a CDG disc. This legal uncertainty has also lead to intimidation and fear of lawsuits stemming from over-zealous threats from karaoke producers, music publishers or record companies who hope to extend their rights in an unchartered area. Private consumers, karaoke hosting businesses (KJs), bars, restaurants, and others all make use of CDG discs in different ways and for different purposes. As a result, their legal rights may vary in some situations. ...

15 Feb, 2007: Internet Governance Forum: Is it More Than Talk? (IP Watch)
Multi-stakeholder “dynamic coalitions” of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) are pushing to have privacy, intellectual property, open standards and freedom of expression on the agenda of the second meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next autumn. At a 13 February IGF stocktaking meeting in Geneva, several of the coalitions formed at the first IGF (in Athens in October-November 2006) presented short progress reports. Agenda-setting, the role of the coalitions, the IGF as a whole and the IGF output are still to be debated. IGF activists and organisers also look to New York where the new UN Secretary General has yet to make his first comments on Internet governance issues. The dynamic coalitions so far are the most ...

13 Feb, 2007: A2K@IGF Dynamic Coalition at IGF Open Consultations
An important goal of our coalition is to make recommendations for implementation of the anti-circumvention provisions contained in the 1996 WIPO “Internet Treaties” and more recent bi-lateral trade agreements. Therefore key deliverables will be the development of “best practice norms” for DRM technologies and anti-circumvention laws and report our progress at the 2007 IGF meeting in Rio de Janeiro.