The World Internet Conference (WIC) is China's attempt to assert itself as a leader in global Internet governance. Held in the lovely, historically preserved town of Wuzhen, there have now been two annual events; the latest just concluded December 18. The conference could be seen as just another Chinese business networking...
The ICANN board has interfered with the accountability process once again, and this time, just like the last time, its intervention is likely to delay the transition by another two or three months. It may even succeed in eviscerating key accountability reforms. Board comments circulated yesterday identify 3 areas where...
This is the story of how ICANN accountability reforms dodged a bullet (barely), and how a greedy GAC got its wrist slapped. Actually the story is not quite over, and we do not know for sure yet whether the ending is a happy one. But that is why the story...
The Internet Governance Forum, held this year in the Brazilian beach resort town of João Pessoa, completed its 10th annual meeting Friday November 13. The IGF Secretariat claims that nearly 5,000 people attended. Moreover, it looks as if its existence will be continued for another 10 years when the UN...
The Internet Governance Forum begins next week. The Internet Governance Project, in collaboration with the Centre for Communication Governance at the National Law University of Delhi, India has organized a workshop on The IANA Transition: A new era in Internet governance? The workshop's goal is to discuss and explore the changes...
The Dublin meeting was not a train wreck. That much we can say. My assessment of ICANN 54 is not, to put it mildly, as chirpy as that of the Internet Society CEO, but it is more objective and nuanced. Insofar as progress on the transition is concerned, the deliberations among...
Most of the ICANN community is headed to ICANN 54, the critical meeting in Dublin where some kind of an agreement on accountability reforms needs to be reached if the historic IANA transition is to take place. Only a few months ago, an open, multi-stakeholder process proposed to enhance ICANN's...
Early this year, it appeared as if the U.S. Congress was going to be taking an intelligent and constructive approach to the IANA transition. Led by Senators Thune and Rubio, Congress asserted its oversight authority over NTIA to help ensure that the transition settlement provided adequate accountability mechanisms for ICANN....
It's the end game in the ICANN accountability process. ICANN thinks it's losing the game. It is desperately trying to derail the accountability reforms developed by an open, bottom up and very deliberate process with multiple public comment periods. It responds (to use a basketball metaphor) with a full court press....
And we wept as the ICANN Board scrapped our work on the accountability proposal. Of course, the board cannot really reject the proposal, they can only comment on it. But if their comments are taken seriously, our work will indeed be scrapped. For months the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing...
“In characteristically rigorous fashion, Mueller’s outstanding book punctures the alarmist myth of Internet fragmentation and helps us to understand what is really at stake as nations and other groups vie for power over the Internet.”