Apologies for cross posting! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 09, 2009 A Field Guide to the ICANN Reforms EU posts online consultation results on "Internet of Things" Cyber-security for people? Or nations? Shareholder groups push ISPs for transparency on DPI use Search Internet Governance Project Headlines ________________________________________________________ * A Field Guide to the ICANN Reforms - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=38133930&f=175425&u=11399282 Important changes are taking place in ICANN’s representational structures. They are the most sweeping changes in ICANN since the so-called “evolution and reform” process of 2001-2. The new changes will directly affect opportunities for people to participate in ICANN – hopefully in a more positive way. Indeed, there are some (potentially) good things about the planned reforms, such as a more balanced representation of commercial and noncommercial users and more flexible working group structures. But there are also serious problems and dangers in this effort. That is why the Internet Governance Project is initiating a series of blogs explaining and analyzing the structural changes underway in ICANN. If you think reading about this topic is about as appealing as getting a tetanus shot, we sympathize, and promise to make it as lively and interesting as possible. At the very least, we guarantee that reading this unfolding report will be more pleasurable than reading the 23 different ICANN staff reports, 5-6 Board resolutions, months of Council minutes and multiple email lists you would have to monitor to piece it all together for yourself. • Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;9995717;Main Page;A Field Guide to the ICANN Reforms;1047081 • • * EU posts online consultation results on "Internet of Things" - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=38108085&f=175425&u=11399282 Europe is very interested in the Internet of the future, having ceded to the United States so much of the standards and governance of the Internet of the past. A September 29, 2008 European Union staff working paper, “Early Challenges to the Internet of Things,” shot some policy concerns across the bow. How should the IoT be regulated? EU seemed especially concerned about the apparent linkage between the Object Naming System (ONS) used by EPC Global (contracting with VeriSign) and the U.S.-controlled DNS root. Comment upon and responses to this staff paper are now posted online. If you are interested in the evolution of thinking about IoT a look through these comments might be rewarding. • Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;9995717;Main Page;EU posts online consultation results on "Internet of Things";1047081 • • * Cyber-security for people? Or nations? - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=38066197&f=175425&u=11399282 The Internet is organized around “autonomous systems” -- independently managed networks most of which are privately owned or, if public, managed at the agency or department level. The current institutional structure for public governance, on the other hand, is organized around nation-states. That disjunction encourages some actors to construct Internet security as a national security issue. Political claims that invoke “national security” can inflate budgets and provide for more effective political mobilization within bureaucracies and the political class. A recent report from a "Commission on Cyberspace Security for the 44th Presidency" assembled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington DC-based think tank with longstanding roots in Cold War dialogue, exemplifies this problem. Written late in 2008, it urged the incoming President to proclaim that “cyberspace is a vital asset for the nation and…the United States will protect it using all instruments of national power.” This is a fundamentally misguided approach; this post explains why. • Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;9995717;Main Page;Cyber-security for people? Or nations?;1047081 • • * Shareholder groups push ISPs for transparency on DPI use - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=38031216&f=175425&u=11399282 A coalition of investors have filed shareholder resolutions with 10 major U.S. Internet service providers, urging their corporate boards to report on the impact of the companies’ use of deep packet inspection for Internet network management on the freedom of expression and privacy of their customers. The effort was organized by the Open Media and Information Companies initiative (OpenMIC). A spokesperson for one of the investor groups, Farnum Brown of Trillium Asset Management, said: "These companies have responded to the challenges of managing the Internet in a patchwork, ad hoc fashion. In so doing they've failed to notice the profound social policy issues they've unwittingly engaged. Americans are concerned about how their use of the Internet is monitored. They're concerned about whether their privacy and freedom of expression are respected by the companies that manage the Internet. We as shareholders believe it is in these companies' best business interests to respond to those concerns." • Email to a friend • Article Search - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Search=175425;9995717;Main Page;Shareholder groups push ISPs for transparency on DPI use;1047081 • • ________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe from all current and future newsletters powered by FeedBlitz - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?EmailRemove=_MTEzOTkyODJ8fGxpbGxpYW5AY2lwZX...