July 16, 2021 US, EU converge on global taxation In a move with major implications for global internet governance, the European Commission “put on hold” its work on a digital services tax (DST) until October. The announcement came after the G20 nations came to a loose agreement to adhere to...
Biden didn’t “revoke” the TikTok ban President Biden issued an executive order June 9 on “Protecting Americans’ Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries.” The media widely reported it as “rescinding” or “revoking” two Trump executive orders that banned new downloads of WeChat and TikTok. But that framing is wildly inaccurate. First,...
Ransomware fuels talk of Bitcoin ban, Russia and the US clash over YouTube, WhatsApp backtracks on enforcing its new privacy policy, and IGP presents at the PLSC for the first time. Bitcoin and Ransomware Successful, highly disruptive ransomware attacks are prompting calls to ban Bitcoin or find ways to crack...
This week we cover some of Biden's Cybersecurity Order and a few 5G related developments. Biden’s Cybersecurity EO: Encrypted data at rest for me, why not thee? On the heels of the Colonial Pipeline, Microsoft Exchange Server, and SolarWinds incidents, the White House has issued a new Executive Order that...
China fines Ali Baba for competing vigorously; platform governance becomes a thing; reports of a digital currency war are greatly exaggerated; NSA’s “we need visibility” thesis is contested. From China, with love China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has fined Ali Baba 18.228 billion yuan (about 2.79 billion U.S. dollars)...
India and other Asian countries are asserting control over content on platforms. The European Commission tries to explain to the ICANN community how and why it is asserting jurisdiction over domain names. The Biden administration makes a clean break with the Trump Administration’s State Department on handling cyber issues. India’s...
Facebook’s Oversight Board is sparking discussion about global governance institutions for online content. Privacy, competition policy and cybersecurity are all implicated in the battle over enclosing platforms’ data. And an insurance company is demonstrating how cybersecurity information sharing really happens. Facebook Oversight Board sparks governance debate The Oversight Board, set...
We focus on India and Europe, where frameworks for the regulation of non-personal data are emerging. We add a bit of SolarWinds followup, and peek at ICANN hiding in the corner Governance of Non-Personal Data Although most data governance efforts in recent years have been focused on the collection, storage,...
This time we analyze the SolarWinds intrusion and challenge some narratives being spun around it. We also look at Europe’s whirlwind of legislative activity in the EU around cybersecurity and the digital economy. And oh, happy New Year. It’s an idiot (solar) wind... The biggest event shaping Internet governance discussions...
The Narrative is a twice-monthly survey of key developments in Internet governance. This time we take up competition law activity against platforms, and the EU data governance initiative. Competition policy and platforms As Internet-driven platforms achieve ever-greater prominence and market power in the 21st century, antitrust actions are proliferating based...
“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.”
