Background on Internet Governance

"Internet Governance" discussions often center around ownership or control of the Internet's DNS root server, or "the root". But a broader "Internet governance" debate includes an examination of the laws, policies, technologies, and customs that regulate the way in which we use the Internet. Currently, the United States Department of Commerce "controls" the Internet's root server through its contractual relations with the California non-profit corporation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). But many in the international community are displeased with a single country maintaining sole control over the Internet's DNS root server, since the Internet is a shared global resource. Some developing countries are pushing for Internet governance under the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is multi-national. The US, Europe, and Japan continue to support the Internet management by ICANN. Developing countries are unhappy with ICANN, which is an undemocratic private California corporation that wields enormous power over the governance of the Internet -- a part of any nation's vital infrastructure. ICANN's legitimacy has been in doubt since its creation, and its tendency to favor large trademark owners at the expense of Internet users' rights continues to worry Western consumers and developing countries alike. The inordinate level of influence that the United States Government exercises in ICANN policy making is also of concern to the international community. But even with the general dissatisfaction with ICANN, there is little reason to believe that the ITU would be an improvement and would probably be worse when it comes to protecting freedom of expression values. . . .

Other Internet Governance Resources:

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Internet Governance Project ICANN-Watch United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) The Public Voice ICANN Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) WSIS Internet Governance Caucus Internet Democracy Project Canadian Law Professor Michael Giest Blog US Attorney Brett Faucett's Blog on Internet Issues Brooklyn Law Professor Wendy Seltzer's Blog Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin's Papers Karl Auerbach's CaveBear Blog Cardozo Law Professor Susan Crawford's Blog Internet Governance Project Blog Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig's Blog UN ICT Task Force Home Page ICANN-Wiki "Beyond Internet Governance: The Emerging International Framework for Governing the Networked World" By Mary C. Rundle 13 December 2005 Sixth Meeting of the ICT Task Force Meeting Resources and IP Information March 2004 Markus Kummer Presentation on UN Working Group on Internet Governance (PDF) May 2004 Internet Governance: The State of Play (PDF) By Internet Governance Project - September 9, 2004 Making Sense of Internet Governance: Defining Principles and Norms in Policy Context (PDF) By Internet Governance Project - April 26, 2004 “ITU Workshop: ICANN’s ‘we don’t do governance’ line falls flat” By Dr. Milton Mueller - Februrary 2004 “WSIS, Internet Governance and the Role of ICANN” (PDF) By Vinton G. Cerf, Senior Vice President of Technology Strategy for MCI UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Home Page Consultations on the Establishment of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Geneva, 20-21 September 2004

Internet Governance

• 4 Mar, 2012: Tricor Online Without Prescription
  Today I write to express my personal disappointment with the way ICANN has mis-handled this request for special rights to prohibit the use of certain words in domain names which are desired by politically powerful, but ultimately arbitrary, interests. Unfortunately, this case represents another clear example of ICANN departing from its own established policies and stated principles of bottom-up ...

• 14 Dec, 2011: Triamterene Online Without Prescription
  ICANN's Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) today sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives to express concern over the harmful impact from proposed legislation in the US Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The House Judiciary Committee will likely vote on SOPA tomorrow, and if it ...

• 27 Sep, 2011: Toradol Online Without Prescription
  By Robin Gross (Published by APC) - ICANN occupies a unique role in that it manages a global public resource (the internet’s domain name addressing space), but it shares this responsibility between businesses, governments, and civil society participants from many nations. It represents a unique blend of “multi-stakeholderism” governance: the different parties that will be impacted participate in ...

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  ICANN should bake-in to its internal policy development process, consideration of the various interests and stakeholders that can together reach what can be called the 'public interest'. Consider principles that we agree help us to achieve what we think is the 'public interest,' like openness and promoting freedom and making sure the Internet enables education, communication, innovation, exploration ...

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  Statement in public forum regarding ICANN Board response to "scorecard" of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on trademark protections for new generic top-level Internet domain names. The GAC is pressuring the ICANN Board to dramatically expand the rights of trademark owners after heavy lobbying by trademark industry of governmental representatives who participate at ICANN.

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  "Unfortunately ICANN’s lack of commitment to internationally recognized fundamental rights and freedoms threatens the healthy growth of the DNS and the global public interest. ICANN’s structure must be rooted in a firm foundation and a legally enforceable obligation to uphold basic rights. Today more than ever, we see the promise and the power of a free and open ...

• 24 Feb, 2011: Buy Female Pink Viagra Without Prescription
  The Internet Governance Project has published a very important petition against a governmental power-grab over of the Internet's Domain Name System. Governments are pushing ICANN for a "veto" right to prevent any top-level domain "for any reason". Sign the petition to support multi-stakeholder bottom-up consensus policy at ICANN instead.

• 21 Jul, 2010: Buy Viagra Without Prescription
  IP Justice submitted brief comments today to ICANN regarding its plan for introducing new Top-Level Domains (TLDs). Specifically, IP Justice raised concerns about policy proposals that threaten freedom of expression on the Internet and seek to expand ICANN's mission to include ensuring "Morality and Public Order" (MAPO) and preventing "terrorism" through personal background checks. IP Justice believes both ...

• 19 Jun, 2010: Buy Viagra Plus Without Prescription
  Please consider endorsing the International Civil Society Declaration, which was the result of a meeting in Washington, DC (16-18 June 2010) of over 90 academics from 5 continents, public interest organizations and other legal experts concerned with the public interest aspects of ACTA. ACTA is a dangerous proposal to radically expand intellectual property rights at the global level. ...

• 10 May, 2010: Buy Viagra Super Active+ Without Prescription
  IP Justice supports the swift adoption of the decision of the Independent Review Panel (IRP) by ICANN and the inclusion of the applied for .xxx domain name into the root. This IRP decision should not be, and cannot be, a referendum on pornography as some comments urge. This decision is only about ICANN's accountability mechanism - its means ...

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