Feature • The Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2016) meets this week in Guadalajara, Mexico, December 5-9 (online participation is available). Links and more information here. Watch IGF 2016 LIVE: Live Webcasts from all sessions. Full schedule here (register via this link for online participation). All times on schedule are Guadalajara CST.
IGF 2016 Highlighted Sessions:
Monday, December 5:
- 11:00 - 12:30 ICANN - Reflections on the evolution of the multistakeholder model in the context of the IANA Stewardship Transition
- 09:00 - 10:00 OF13: INTERNET & JURISDICTION
- 09:00 - 10:30 WS173: Internet Fragmentation: net neutrality
- 09:00 - 10:30 WS162: The Role of Judiciary Systems and Internet Governance
- 10:15 - 11:45 WS63: ICANN New gTLD Program: Exploring Impact & Future Direction
- 10:45 - 11:30 FREEDOM HOUSE
- 12:00 - 13:00 OF27: FREEDOM ONLINE COALITION
- 15:00 - 16:00 OF14: ICANN Open Forum with Steve Crocker and Göran Marby
- 16:30 - 18:00 WS64: A Post IANA Transition ICANN
- 10:15 - 11:45 WS243: Accountability in Internet related policies
- 10:45 - 12:15 WS91: The power of the noncommercial users on the Internet
- 12:00 - 13:30 WS37: Internet Fragmentation: Getting next 4 billion online
- 15:00 - 16:30 WS189: Civil Society Experiences from the IANA Transition Process
- 11:30 - 13:00 Shaping the Future of Internet Governance
- 12:00 - 13:30 WS75: Domain Name System fragmentation? Risk and reality
- 11:30 - 13:00 WS262: VoIP Crackown: Implications for gov, telecom & civil society
- 13:25 - 13:45 [LIGHTNING SESSION] Trademark Systems Enable Sustainable Growth on the Internet
IGF 2016 Official booklet (pdf):
Other Internet Domain News:
• ICYMI this week on Domain Mondo:
- ICANN New gTLDs' Covenant Not To Sue Sinks Donuts, DCA Trust Next? Lawsuit filed by Donuts affiliate, Ruby Glen LLC, about the new gTLD .WEB last resort auction, dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Court, which found the ICANN applicant guidebook's Covenant Not To Sue "bars Plaintiff's entire action."
- GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff. New domain name transfer policy went into effect on December 1, 2016.
- TechReview | Looking Inside Russia’s Creepy Innovative Internet (video)
• China Pitches 'Orderly' Internet to Tech Companies:
Video above published November 18, 2016 by WSJ.com: China invited global tech executives for its World Internet Conference 2016 in Wuzhen where it pitched its version of the web. Jack Ma, founder of China's Internet giant Alibaba, and Fadi Chehade, former President and CEO of ICANN, act as co-chairmen of the World Internet Conference advisory committee, as Chehade proudly announced on his official ICANN President twitter account on December 18, 2015.
The World Internet Conference, also known as the Wuzhen Summit, is a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) project to challenge the prevailing multistakeholder internet governance model established by the U.S. and other liberal democracies.
China, the internet, and the World Internet Conference (WIC): "... First, China is basing its policy on the concept of cybersovereignty. It prefers the multilateral approach to the multistakeholder approach to international digital policy. A possible third approach, hinted at in Wuzhen by the adoption of a new term – ‘multiparty’ – will be discussed more in the forthcoming period. Secondly, China’s main focus is on economic digital diplomacy. China needs a stable and predictable digital economic space for its export-oriented industry. At the G20 Summit (4–5 September), China positioned e-commerce prominently. In fact, both the communique released at the end of the summit, and the adopted Blueprint on Innovative Growth (pdf), emphasise the role of the digital economy and the new industrial revolution. Alibaba’s Jack Ma’s proposal for an Electronic World Trade Platform, welcomed by G20 leaders, is another example ..."--Newsletter | digitalwatch.giplatform.org (pdf) (link and emphasis added)
See also: Putin brings China's Great Firewall to Russia in cybersecurity pact | TheGuardian.com: "The Kremlin has joined forces with Chinese authorities to bring the internet and its users under greater state control" and Maybe the Internet Isn’t a Tool for Democracy After All | nymag.com: "Powerful undemocratic states like China and Russia have for a while now put the internet to use to mislead the public, create the illusion of mass support, and either render opposition invisible or expose it to targeting. The paid bureaucrats in the Communist Party’s “50-cent army” flood debates on Chinese social media and message boards with nationalist propaganda ..." and Rights Groups Warn Tech Firms Over China's Harsh New Internet Regime | rfa.org.
• Internet Freedom Wanes As Governments Target Messaging, Social Apps : All Tech Considered: NPR.org
• Global Internet Report 2016 | InternetSociety.org: "The 2016 Global Internet Report takes a close look at data breaches through an economic lens and provides five clear recommendations for a path forward .... Recommendations:
1. Put users at the centre of solutions; and include the costs to both users and organisations when assessing the costs of data breaches.
2. Increase transparency through data breach notifications and disclosure.
3. Data security must be a priority. Better tools and approaches should be made available. Organisations should be held to best practice standards when it comes to data security.
4. Organisations should be accountable for their breaches. General rules regarding the assignment of liability and remediation of data breaches must be established up front.
5. Increase incentives to invest in security by catalysing a market for trusted, independent assessment of data security measures.
Underlying principles: data stewardship and collective responsibility."
• Is the Internet Fragmenting? Part 4: The Policy Lens on Livestream.com
• The Gig Economy: Work, Online Selling and Home Sharing | Pew Research Center | pewinternet.org: "24% of Americans report earning money from the digital ‘platform economy’ in the past year. The extra income they make is a luxury for some, but a necessity for others."
• Most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
- TechReview: Trump Election Victory Aftershocks Hit Silicon Valley
- News Review: ICANN, ccTLDs, and the Domain Name Marketplace (slides)
- Amazon Web Services: AWS re:Invent 2016, Las Vegas, Live Streaming
- GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff
- ICANN New gTLDs' Covenant Not To Sue Sinks Donuts, DCA Trust Next?
- MacroView | Trump Effect: U.S. Stock Markets & Consumer Confidence Rise
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
