ICM registry to create a triple X domain has been rejected by the ICANN board.

Votes are as follows - 8 to reject, 5 to accept, 1 abstention

Technorati Tags: ICANN, icm, netgovernance

Source: ICANN

I am writing to express the Australian Government's strong concerns over the decision by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board to reconsider the application from ICM Registry, Inc (ICM) proposing the creation of a new .XXX sponsored top level domain (sTLD).

The Australian Government remains strongly opposed to any measures that may result in an increase in the amount of illegal and offensive content on the Internet.

[snipped]

Technorati Tags: australia, gtld, ICANN, netgovernance, icm, registry

Source: AlterNet: Web Censorship for Dummies

Given all the bad porn on the Internet, I guess it's only fair that there should be some truly terrible ideas about stopping porn on the Internet too.

Technorati Tags: censorship, ICANN, netgovernance

Source: Pacific McGeorge School of Law

On Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24, 2007, the Center for Global Business and Development’s Institute for Development of Legal Infrastructure will sponsor a symposium, “ I Think I Can, I Think ICANN: Regulating the Internet . . . or Not.” It will examine the structure and supervision of the Internet. Topics include assessment of the work of ICANN; the results and impact of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) that has raised radically different alternative approaches to regulating the Internet; possible East-West and North-South tensions over Internet access and governance; the significance of the Internet for human rights and for economic development; and, the future of Internet governance post-WSIS.

Technorati Tags: conferences, ICANN, netgovernance, california

The Cibervolunteers Foundation invites you to attend e-STAS, Technologies for the Social Action Symposium. An international and multi-stakeholder event whose main objective it is to promote the use of new technologies for social action.

The event will feature key international speakers such as: Mari Kuraishi President of Global Giving Foundation, Stuart Gannes Director of the Digital Vision Program at Stanford University, Allen Gunn of Aspiration Tech, Carlos Alfonso of RITs, Raoul Weiler European President of the Club of Rome and Bill Lester of Engender Health, among others.

The Symposium will be held from the 22nd to 23rd of March 2007, in Seville, Spain. Come join us, we would like you to share your experiences with us.

Technorati Tags: cibervoluntarios, e-stas, seville, socialaction, spain

Source: Yahoo News

WARSAW (AFP) - Google has launched legal action against a group of Polish poets, demanding that they give up their Internet domain name gmail.pl, a member of the cultural collective said.

[snipped]

Curious what position, if any, ICANN's At-Large group will take on the matter. Will they care to make a statement and defend the voice of polish poets, or stay silent. Time will tell...

Technorati Tags: ALAC, gmail, google, ICANN

Source: csonline.com

When it comes to the Web's domain name system (DNS), many otherwise vigilant CSOs heed the adage of leaving well enough alone. It's understandable, as DNS has for years reliably allowed people to use domain names with their Web browsers rather than having to remember remarkably non-mnemonic IP addresses .

Unfortunately, for all its success, DNS is one area in which what you don't know can hurt you-badly. Despite well-publicized attacks on domain name servers in 2000 and 2001, evidence suggests that many companies simply have not taken the steps necessary to protect this vital part of their networks. Experts differ on just how much danger companies generally face. However, they seem to agree that, depending on the circumstances and the company, the results could include electronic attacks and unknowingly providing confidential information to competitors. Some companies aren't just leaving the back door unlocked-they're taking out the hinge pins and removing the door entirely.

"There is a lack of appreciation of just how damned vulnerable DNS is," says Lloyd Hession, CSO for BT Radianz. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has recently reported a rise in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using DNS. No matter how safe DNS may seem, companies need to stay alert. Here's a quick roundup of DNS vulnerabilities and attack methods CISOs should understand.

Technorati Tags: ICANN, netgovernance, dns

Below are the comments the Government of Canada has recently submitted to ICANN regarding the revised proposed agreement with ICM providing for designation of a .XXX sTLD registry.   more »

The internet world was shocked today to learn that GoDaddy suspended a domain name, seclists.org, based on the content on that site. MySpace contacted GoDaddy to suspend the registration because the site had information about MySpace users including their usernames and passwords. GoDaddy complied. See nodaddy.com for an explanation of what happened.

Technorati Tags: godaddy, ICANN, nodaddy

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DiploFoundation is currently accepting applications for the 2007 Internet Governance Capacity Building Training Programme. This programme is primarily designed to improve Internet Governance related knowledge and skills for participants from developing countries and to facilitate community building among individuals with different national, cultural, and professional backgrounds.

Technorati Tags: diplofoundation, netgovernance

Dewayne Hendricks recently posted a message on Dave Farber's Interesting People (IP) list that could be of interest to readers who follow Internet governance policy.

Who Controls the Internet?

The Internet began as a digital Wild West, lawless and immune from market or government control. Columbia law professor Tim Wu explains not only how important national borders have proven to be, but also why policing them might not be so bad.

mp3: http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram?file=/otm/otm010507d.mp3

Transcript: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/01/05/04

Technorati Tags: ICANN, netgovernance

Adam Peake from the IGF advisory committee just posted a comment on the Internet Governance Caucus list news that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has just posted their feedback on the Nov 06 Athens IGF meeting. It is worth a read. You can find it here - Here

Technorati Tags: icc, igf, netgovernance

From November 26th to December 16th, join us as we demystify the terms of Internet governance, decode acronyms like IGF, and discuss a proposal for meaningful participation of young people in the next IGF meeting in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007.   more »

CIVICUS aims to help civil society organisations to build their capacity and achieve their goals. Based on requests from members, CIVICUS has produced several toolkits to enable organisations to improve their capacity in a number of areas. From communications and planning skills to writing funding proposals, we hope that you will be able to get many useful tips, tools, and ideas to help strengthen your organisation.

The toolkits are available in English, French, Spanish and Russian in MS Word and PDF formats.

Technorati Tags: civil_society, civicus

ISOC Québec organise le 23 novembre 2006 une rencontre entre les internautes québécois et un représentant de l'ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Organisée avec le soutien du groupe ALAC (At-Large Advisory Committee) de l’ICANN, cette rencontre d’une journée, une première au Québec, fournira aux représentants d’associations oeuvrant autour de l’Internet et aux internautes québécois l’occasion de mieux comprendre les fonctions de l’ICANN, son processus décisionnel ainsi que les modes de participation au sein de l’ICANN.

Pour consulter le programme de la journée, cliquez ici.
MM. Bernard Turcotte (président de l'ACEI), Marc Blanchet (Viagénie) et Philippe Le Roux (Médiafusion) seront parmi nos conférenciers.

La rencontre se tiendra simultanément à la TÉLUQ de Montréal (100, Sherbrooke Ouest) et de Québec (455, rue du Parvis).
Jeudi le 23 novembre 2006, de 08h30 à 15h45.

R.S.V.P. à ISOC Québec en précisant la ville d'où vous comptez assister à la rencontre.

Technorati Tags: ALAC, ICANN, ISOC

I had the pleasure of chairing all of the sessions of the alt.telecom policy forum held in Ottawa this past weekend.  

It was a great meeting, and a multi-stakeholder meeting at that - having key people from Academia, civil society, Government, as well as the internet business sector. The conference proceedings were webcast and archived using KNET's Breeze application.

Michael Lenczner , Alison Powell, Stephane Couture, Sascha Meinrath and Ross Rader blogged from the event. I do recommend reading their comments.

The timing of the event couldn't have been better, coming days before the IGF. I will look for ways to bring ideas from the Ottawa event to Athens, and see what collaborations can be developed with key players such as DiploFoundation, ICANN and others.

So all in all a great event, one that I hope people reading this blog will want to know more about.

Want to serve the internet community?:

The ICANN 2006 Nominations (read Selection) Committee extended its call for Nominations for various positions within ICANN. More than ever, ICANN needs good Board, GNSO, ALAC and ccNSO members to take the organisation into a new post MOU era...

If you stumbled upon this, please nominate people who you think may help steer the organisation.

To honor the life and work of Liz Dengate-Thrush, InternetNZ has established the Liz Dengate Thrush Internet Entrepreneurship Foundation and seeded it with a substantial gift. A form allows online pledges.

On Saturday 1st July, The LSE Department of Information Systems and the APC will host a Public forum on Freedom of Expression and Privacy

A series of lively discussions on:

- rights, development and the internet: is access to the internet a human rights issue?
- privacy: what are our rights in an age of anti-terrorism and cybercrime?
- freedom of expression: can we engage with industry and governments to secure an 'irrepressible internet'?
- your right to be involved: how can we have a voice in the policy processes?

A side event organized by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO in co-operation with the United Nations Association of Uganda and the Danish United Nations Association.

November 15, 2005
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Kram Palexpo – Room Saint-Augustin

Consulting with civil society: UNA Uganda Experiences in the WSIS Process
Richard Baguma, General Secretary UNA Uganda

The Danish Network on WSIS
Jane Finnerup Johnsen, Project Co-ordinator, Danish United Nations Association
Consultation with Canadian Civil Society for the WSIS
François-Pierre Le Scouarnec, President of the Sectoral Commission on Culture, Communication & Information, Canadian Commission for UNESCO

Technorati Tags: WSIS

The issue of free wifi, free & uncensored internet access has been raised many, many times. NGOs and civil society organizations have , for almost a year now, repeadily asked for free Wifi and uncensored access. The ITU and WSIS executive secretariat have failed to deliver a clear answer on both these issues.

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La présentation officielle du Sommet des Villes et des Pouvoirs Locaux a été faite devant la presse internationale au palais des Congrès de Bilbao. Le programme de travail, les ateliers thématiques, les visites techniques et les contenus ont été dévoilés.   more »

It is possible, rather it is imperative, for the international community to use the summit to turn a spotlight on the problems that have afflicted Tunisian society and led to an all-time high in internal tensions. As the summit will be held in Tunisia, the international community must at least use that opportunity to apply its recommendations both to faraway countries and to the host country itself.

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A Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) will be held in Tunis, on November 16-18, 2005, coinciding with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

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The Telecentre Leaders Forum is a series of four 2-hour long participatory workshops for telecentre and network leaders, policy-makers, researchers and grassroots practitioners to share experiences, inspiring stories and practical ideas that they can use in their day-to-day work.

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Le président tunisien Zine El Abidine Ben Ali s'en est pris samedi à ses opposants qui sont en grève de la faim. Il les a accusé de tenter de porter préjudice à la Tunisie et à son image dans le monde. Tunis s'apprête à accueillir la deuxième phase du Sommet mondial sur la société de l'information (SMSI), du 16 au 18 novembre prochain.

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Below is a list i've compiled on events happening at the same time, or just before the WSIS. If you know of other events, please email me privately and i'll add to next revision.

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WSIS WIRE is an independent news service offering an updated survey of news and blog posts concerning the World Summit on the Information Society. The survey is categorized by language (English, French, German), topic, region and publication type.

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New 'i-Witness' website boosts journalists' ability to report on the information society

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On behalf of the WSIS Civil Society Human Rights Caucus and of the whole list of supporters, I would like to express our satisfaction to see, through the decision you made, that genuine civil society voices have been heard.

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I would like to share with you news of a campaign being organized to support the nomination of the Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Abadi as an opening speaker at the upcoming UN World Summit on the Information Society.

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Certain issues seem to be arising in regards to speaker selection , especially the nomination of Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate as opening speaker . This for me is puzzling and indeed shocking.

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With the help of Rik and others, the speakers nominating group is working hard to advance the work done in geneva to ready a list for the ITU. Numerous exchanges have taken place so far, which is great.

In the spirit of transparency and openness, i thought it best to share my position (as focal point on the CSB for North America & Europe) on and about nominations from Tunisia with the plenary list.

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Following the current discussion on the plenary list, regarding the fact that a Tunisian member of Parliament has been selected by ITU as WSIS speaker, and the concerns and protests expressed by some, here are the facts:

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I will be blunt. Let me be harsh. I know my comments will be controversial - but i need to express on this blog what I expressed verbally several times during the recent prepcom in Geneva.

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Copied from the written text made available at the Canada desk after the statement was read. The text below is an unofficial copy.

The authentic text will shortly be available on the WSIS/ITU site.

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The summit host country Tunisia has not tried to improve its human rights record, and the Tunisian authorities are actively obstructing the work of civil society groups – even in Geneva. Western governments are currently preparing a strong reaction, and independent activists are thinking about not going to the summit at all. They are also looking for signatures for an open letter to Kofi Annan.

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