2010 - Page 4 of 11 - Internet Governance Project

U.S. National Science Foundation funds research on social impact of network surveillance technologies

Posted on August 30, 2010November 20, 2017 by Milton MuellerPrivacy & Surveillance

Syracuse University Professor Milton Mueller was awarded $304,000 by the U.S. NSF for his research on “Deep Packet Inspection and the Governance of the Internet.” The research grant was made by the Science, Technology and Society program of the Social, Economic and Behavioral Science Directorate of NSF. The research will take place over two academic years, 2010-11 and 2011-2012.

Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a new network surveillance and traffic analysis capability that enables network operators to scan the payload of TCP/IP packets in real time and make automated decisions about whether to intercept, block, slow down, speed up or otherwise manipulate traffic streams based on that information. Mueller’s research will investigate whether the use of DPI by Internet service providers is producing major changes in the way users and suppliers of Internet services are governed.

Domain Names as Second-Class Citizens

Posted on August 12, 2010November 20, 2017 by Milton MuellerInternet Identifiers

A new book by Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis (Lecturer in Law at the University of Strathclyde) provides a passionate yet legalistic and well-researched overview of the legal, institutional and ethical problems caused by the clash between domain names and trademarks. This is really the first decent book-length treatment of what is now a decade and a half of legal and political conflict between domain name registrants and trademark holders. But this is more than a static compilation and description of the subject: Komaitis has an original and fundamentally important argument to make.

Challenges facing the US in global cybersecurity and governance

Posted on August 9, 2010November 20, 2017 by Brenden KuerbisCybersecurity, Geopolitics of IG, IG Institutions

The US General Accounting Office has released a new report which provides an overview of US government involvement and the challenges it faces in global Internet security and policy. Cataloging the breadth and scope of departmental and agency efforts to engage in multiple issues and institutions, it paints a picture of a government struggling to identify a cohesive strategic approach to Internet governance.

US and Canadian Governments support Chinese-style censorship of DNS in ICANN

Posted on August 7, 2010November 20, 2017 by Milton MuellerFree Expression Online, Internet Identifiers

The Chair of ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee has issued a statement on the censorship of top level domain names. We are sad to report that the alleged GAC position is deeply flawed and outrageously wrong-headed. It is a recipe for global censorship, and although at this point it only applies to the DNS it can lead to the erosion of all internet freedom of expression unless it is stoutly resisted.

A new era in domain name economics?

Posted on July 20, 2010November 20, 2017 by Milton MuellerInternet Identifiers

As we enter an era of thousands of new top level domains, how will the industry evolve? The ICANN Working Group on vertical integration was one attempt to answer that question. In the course of its lively and extensive debates, the policy setting group confronted some fundamental issues about the organization of the domain name industry. Back in March the ICANN Board threatened to impose a draconian ban on any and all forms of vertical integration and cross ownership between registries and registrars if the group failed to reach consensus on a new policy. The working group (WG) will complete its work this week.

First, the bad news: the WG was not able to agree on a single, comprehensive new policy. It did, however, manage to reach consensus on one thing….

Open letter to the U.S. Goverment on domain name censorship

Posted on July 19, 2010November 20, 2017 by Milton MuellerFree Expression Online, Internet Identifiers

Editor's note: The following letter was initially sent privately to the U.S. government's representatives in ICANN. It asks why they - like all other governmental representatives - are completely absent from an ICANN group discussing the way to handle "sensitive" or "objectionable" top level domain name proposals. So far, I've...

IGF USA meets July 21

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Milton MuellerGeneral

The U.S. Internet Governance Forum is convening in Washington DC July 21 (Wednesday) to discuss the challenges of Internet governance. It will cover key areas such as privacy, openness, security, critical internet resources and child online safety. Launched in 2009, the IGF USA’s purpose is to engage US-based civil society,...

Hot news: UN discovers broadband

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Milton MuellerGeneral

Yawn. Just as WSIS represented a discovery by the UN that we were in an information society about 30 years after it happened and 10 years after its basic institutional parameters had been set, now the UN has discovered that broadband is important, a decade after everyone else. So it...

“Kill Switch” Bill: Ramifications for the DNS root zone?

Posted on July 1, 2010November 20, 2017 by Brenden KuerbisCybersecurity, Geopolitics of IG, Internet Identifiers

S.3480, The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, introduced by Sens Lieberman, Collins and Carper quietly passed committee last week on a voice vote and is now scheduled for debate on the US Senate floor. The controversial, nearly 200-page bill which amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 has been criticized by civil liberties and industry groups alike, who say it grants the President the ability to order operators of “covered critical infrastructure” to disconnect parts of the Internet. Our reading of the bill agrees with these general criticisms. We are also concerned with specific effects on the Internet’s DNS and possible extraterritorial effects of the legislation.

Year: 2010