The Internet Governance Project's coverage in 2025 documents a troublesome ongoing global shift from "multistakeholder" governance and ICT liberalization norms toward an era characterized by aggressive techno-nationalism and state-centric control over networks, software applications, and expression. However, there were also important positive developments surrounding decentralized digital currency, a pragmatic transition...
It is a depressing sign of our illiberal times: the assassination of a right-wing youth organizer who embraced public debate and engaged in provocative free speech has provoked sweeping new threats to public debate and freedom of expression – from his own supporters. Even before we knew who the...
On July 1, 2025, dubbed “Content Independence Day”, Cloudflare announced a bold initiative to block unauthorized AI crawlers from accessing websites by default and to create a marketplace where content owners and AI model providers can transact. This move marks a pivotal shift in the contest over who controls, benefits...
What should become of the World Summit on the Information Society? The WSIS+20 review process, culminating at the UN General Assembly in December 2025, will assess progress made since the original WSIS and chart a course for its future. The UN is preparing a "Zero draft" and asked for comments...
AfriNIC, the Internet Protocol address registry for the African continent, has been operating without a Board since 2022. The election for a new AfriNIC board is currently underway, with electronic voting having commenced on June 18, 2025, and in-person voting scheduled for Sunday, June 23, 2025. This election is the...
The future of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process will be one of the main topics of the 2025 Internet Governance Forum. Many in the IG community are heavily invested in the renewal of WSIS. They imply that if it is not renewed, there will be major, negative...
As we approach the 20th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Lillestrøm, Norway, a pivotal question looms: how will the United Nations system reconcile two competing efforts to shape global digital governance—the legacy of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the newly adopted Global Digital Compact (GDC)? Behind...
This Palantir advertisement, displayed at the Detroit airport—a symbolic and literal hub of U.S. industrial manufacturing—makes a highly strategic and ideologically charged claim: “Palantir is Reindustrializing America’s Manufacturing.” The ad visually juxtaposes sleek, robotic car manufacturing lines with logos of firms heavily invested in AI, defense tech, and automation (e.g.,...
The UN Internet Governance Forum will be held June 22-27 in Oslo, Norway. The Program Committee for the conference, known as the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), released its selection of workshops for the 2025 IGF. The number of workshops was more limited than ever this year, with over 400 applications...
Reporter: "DeepSeek, do you believe it is a national security threat?" President Trump: "No, I think it's happening, it's a technology that's happening, we're gonna benefit, it will be a lot less expensive than people originally thought, I view that as a very good development, not a bad development." This...
Declaring Independence in Cyberspace tells the story of the struggle between governments and the global Internet community over control of the Internet registries (IANA). It offers new insights into a pressing question with profound implications: is state sovereignty the immutable foundation of global governance, or can new technological capabilities change the model?
“This is a book that needed to be written, and no one is better placed to write it than Milton Mueller. This full, rigorous account provides researchers and policymakers with a precious resource on global internet governance.”
