In this month's VoM, we highlight Dave Clark's recent presentation, concerning the role of the IETF in Internet protocols and human rights, made to the plenary at IETF 98 in Chicago. Clark reflects on the recent efforts proposing guidelines for human rights considerations in IETF standards work. He recalls earlier...
The NTIA’s multistakeholder process on Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity is apparently beginning to bear fruit. At this week’s virtual meeting, a draft document, "Communicating IoT Device Security Update Capability to Improve Transparency for Consumers", was determined to be “consensus” output. In this post, we briefly review the process...
In a victory for fairness and rule-based Internet governance, an independent review panel (IRP) has decided that ICANN was wrong to deny retailing giant Amazon, Inc. the top level domain AMAZON. Key elements of the decision were unanimous, particularly the conclusion that the Board “cannot accept GAC consensus advice as...
ICANN is a California nonprofit headquartered in the United States. ICANN’s accountability reforms included a discussion of how U.S. jurisdiction affects ICANN’s accountability and domain name users. Not satisfied with ending U.S. control over the DNS root, a few stakeholders wanted to get ICANN out of the U.S. altogether. It...
As this blog post shows, ICANN's management is now thinking about how to comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They'd better be. Everyone knows ICANN’s Whois policies, which require registries and registrars to provide indiscriminate public access to personal data about domain name registrants, violate European privacy laws. In...
As part of its effort to improve the security of inter-domain routing traffic exchange, NIST has issued a request for comments on a proposed project to test RPKI and Route Origin Validation (ROV), a process by which route advertisements can be authenticated as originating from an expected Autonomous System (AS)....
Initiatives to globalize cybersecurity governance took a step forward this weekend with the release of a RAND Corporation study of an international attribution organization. The Microsoft Corporation’s idea for a global attribution agency modeled on the International Atomic Energy Agency was the catalyst for this report; the research was funded...
Will the Internet fragment? Professor Mueller gave a talk about his book "Will the Internet Fragment?" at Clemson University (his talk starts around 4:30). He says the network effects of global compatibility are powerful enough to defeat a technical fracturing of the web. The real threat comes from governments' attempts to align...
Participants at the 3rd annual IGP workshop went for a deep dive into the complexities of governance as it pertains to the Internet, cybersecurity, and national security. Held in Atlanta on the Georgia Tech campus, the 25-person workshop featured a complementary mix of academic researchers, industry representatives and military and...
The idea of cyber self defense - or as some call it, “hack back” - is back into cybersecurity discussions with a proposed Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act by Congressman Tom Graves. Graves, a Republican from Georgia's 14th District, joined with Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema at a panel discussion arranged by...
“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.”
