DHS will present its 2010 budget request before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today, including a reported $400 million to protect critical infrastructure and cyber networks from attack. $11 million of this was requested to fund DHS's Information Infrastructure Security (IIS) Program and Secure Protocol Project, including work on securing the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) and routing infrastructure. Despite the relatively small amount of funding, SPP work is intended to, and if successful could, have far reaching impact on the Internet.
Hey Washington! A leaderless Internet finds its way, again
With Washington cyberbuzzing from Congressional hearings and report releases over the past week – on topics from the power struggle over who should be the USG’s cyber tsar to how best to prepare the nation for what seems to be imminent “cyberattacks” from Russia or China – you’d think lawmakers are convinced that, unless someone “owns the problem” and the US provides stronger leadership, the Internet as we know it is doomed.
Fortunately, the experts over at Renesys have again published data suggesting that this is not necessarily the case – that the Internet’s infrastructure (in this case routing) is remarkably resilient in the face of constantly changing threats. Furthermore, their data seemingly indicates that there are high levels of largely uncoordinated (that’s right, leaderless) organizational responses occurring when incidents transpire.
European Commission to hold Hearing on Internet Governance Arrangements, international dimensions of security and stability
IGP's Milton Mueller and Jeanette Hofmann have been invited to attend a European Commission Hearing on Internet Governance Arrangements to be held in Brussels on May 6. The agenda focuses attention on the international dimension of “security and stability” as governments continue to use the “critical infrastructure” rubric to position themselves for a stronger role. For example, it asks whether “self-regulation for critical infrastructures and services [should] be more closely monitored by governments and relevant public authorities?”
Commerce Department: Headed toward ICANN 3.0?
The NTIA has published a Notice of Inquiry, Assessment of the Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet's Domain Name and Addressing System, in advance of the expiration of the Joint Project Agreement in September 2009. The document outlines the history and evolution of the MOU between the DoC and ICANN, and the questions posed cover fairly standard territory. However, one caught our attention.
Upcoming Event: Congressional Seminar on “ICANN & Internet Governance: How Did We Get Here & Where Are We Heading?”
IGP's Milton Mueller will be a panelist at a Congressional Seminar, "ICANN & Internet Governance: How Did We Get Here & Where Are We Heading?," hosted by the Progress & Freedom Foundation on April 24, 2009 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office...
Mueller wins 2009 ITERA Outstanding Researcher Award
Mad props to IGP's Milton Mueller, who has been selected to receive the 2009 International Telecommunications Education and Research Association (ITERA) Outstanding Research Award. ITERA presents the award to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in academic research related to the telecommunications disciplines through publication, peer-review, and international recognition over time....
GNSO Reform: Analysis of the two NCSG charter proposals
The impending reform of the Generic Name Supporting Organization (GNSO) at ICANN, and specifically the approval of a charter for the new Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) is now in full swing. Last month, IP Justice's and current NCUC Chair, Robin Gross submitted the NCUC's proposed charter (and accompanying executive summary and chart) for the NCSG to the ICANN Board. According to Gross, the proposal was developed with the input of numerous noncommercial organizations (including IGP), as well as consultations with ICANN Board members and other stakeholders. In contrast, a small band of supporters of the censorship oriented group CP-80 sought to upset this consensus effort by submitting a competing charter proposal. Now IGP's Milton Mueller has submitted comments to ICANN analyzing the two charter proposals, identifying the shortcomings of the CP-80 proposal and addressing their critique of the NCUC proposal.
Crypto-politics creeps into DNSSEC
While the fight over using cryptography to protect personal communications was allegedly “won” during the late 1990s, the battle over using it to protect critical Internet resources is just heating up. News from the recent IETF in San Francisco and RANS conference in Moscow suggests that national crypto laws are now complicating efforts to secure the DNS.
Specifically, supporters of .ru have noted that while they are interested in deploying DNSSEC, there are legal and operational constraints surrounding the current crypto specs in the standard (i.e., RSA signature and SHA digest algorithms) that could make it difficult for Russian based organizations to deploy the protocol. There are now efforts being made to introduce the Russian developed GOST family of algorithms into the protocol.
[Update: An Internet-Draft on producing GOST signature and hash algorithms DNSKEY and RRSIG resource records for use in the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) has been submitted for adoption by the DNSEXT Working Group.]
RIPE: Existing Internet community policy channels and processes insufficient
RIPE's Enhanced Cooperation Task Force has released a report, calling for the establishment of a standing working group to discuss improving coordination and communication between the Internet community and public sectors on Internet policy matters. The report states it is “clear that the conventional channels and processes of the Internet community are not, of themselves, sufficient to meet the demands of enhanced cooperation.”
Non-Commercial Users File Petition to Form Stake-Holder Group at ICANN
UPDATE: ICANN is soliciting comments on the NCSG Charter Proposal. Comments are due by April 15, 2009 and can be submitted to: sg-petitions-charters@icann.org. Robin Gross, current Chair of the NCUC has issued a call for support with reasons for why the Charter Proposal should be approved.
Via IP Justice:
Participants from ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) filed a petition to form a new stake-holder group as ICANN’s structure transforms from a GNSO of 6 constituencies to 4 more broadly defined “stake-holder groups”. More info on this here.
The NCSG petition was sent to ICANN along with an Executive Summary and a supporting graphic chart on 28 February 2009 in anticipation of ICANN’s 34th Public Meeting, which will be held from 1-6 March 2009 in Mexico City.
This petition is by no means a final proposal, so feedback is welcome on how to improve the structure and operations of the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) to best serve the needs of non-commercial users of domain names.
The petition was submitted by NCUC’s Executive Committee and GNSO Councilors and other non-commercial participants. Non-commercial organizations and individuals are invited to join NCUC and participate in policy development at ICANN.
