We’ve been down a few days for technical problems. Sorry and welcome back.
Tomorrow (9/13/06), I’ll be speaking at an event sponsored by Americans for a Secure Internet on what to do about ICANN, the Internet Governance Forum and upcomming meeting in Athens, and what’s wrong with making the rest of the world dance “the macarena” or lose their ccTLD. (Although you can get more recent information from the Internet Governance Project, or ICANNWATCH, or Susan Crawford’s bog but none of them reference the macarena!)
The event is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the House Rayburn Building B-340. I append the information from the flyer below. Here are a few links to my other ICANN blog entries:
Tiering, It’s Not Just for Telcos Anymore
My Take on WSIS and DNS
The Verisign Lawsuit: More Than Just Sitefinder
If ICANN Regulated Cars (real old)
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AMERICAN FOR A SECURE INTERNET
Buffet Lunch and Panel Discussion
Does the U.N. Want to Govern the Internet?
Hosted by Americans for a Secure Internet
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
12:30-2 PM
Rayburn B-340
Last November, the Congress passed a Joint Resolution affirming that the current structure of Internet management—with U.S. oversight—was working well and should be maintained without interference from the United Nations.
But the UN is not so easily dissuaded. They’re meeting in Athens at the end of October to plan an array of new initiatives that could clash with ICANN’s management of the Internet.
Join Americans for a Secure Internet for a lunch buffet and panel discussion on Wednesday, September 13, to learn how changes to current Internet governance could compromise the integrity of its infrastructure, and the continued growth of eCommerce.
Topics include:
* The U.N.’s IGF and its plan for a prolonged campaign to gain control of the Internet and remove America from its dominant position
* How the IGF’s proposals create real barriers to eCommerce by turning the Internet over to a collection of foreign governments, including those that practice massive censorship like China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia
* How the Internet needs a “manager” and not a “governor”—and the difference between the two
* The current ICANN arrangement and how it allows for distributed control of the Internet
* The threat to technical development and improvement of the Internet by trapping its management inside a multitude of new agencies and programs
Get to know these issues that will be discussed at the IGF meeting and the potential effects. All Congressional staff involved in technology and eCommerce issues should attend.
Panelists include:
Ambassador David Gross
Ambassador, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Harold Feld
Senior Vice President
Media Access Project
Brian Cute
Vice President, Government Relations
VeriSign
Steve DelBianco (moderator)
Executive Director
NetChoice
RSVP
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Melissa Moskal at mailto:mmoskal@actonline.org or 202.420.7484.
About ASI
Americans for a Secure Internet is a coalition of trade associations, public policy think tanks, businesses and individuals who share a deep concern about the future of Internet security. Visit www.protectingthenet.org for more information.
There no hope nor intention of involving ICANN’s management of the Net at the IGF, Harold.
Certainly the Brazilians and the Russians and perhaps one or two others will attempt to raise the issue but the IGF is not a decision-making body – ask Ambassador Gross, he and the Europeans worked hard to get that wording through.
The developing countries want to talk access and interconnection costs. The Europeans want to talk spam. The Americans want to talk intellectual property. And that’s what they’ll do.
You’re way, way off the mark by viewing this as some kind of UN conspiracy.
Hopefully your meeting will cover what input and experience the US can offer. Try to persuade whoever is there to go to Athens and sit in the room. If not, try to persuade them to set up blogs to reply to what happens in the room.
If you want to know the structure of the IGF, I’ve written a story on it today – http://www.theregister.co.u…
Kieren McCarthy