Internet

Francisco Javier Vera Hott, Chilean Lawyer for Digital Rights, speaks about Domain Take-Downs in Chile

www.derechosdigitales.org/

This is an interview with one of the ICCANN conference attendees from Chile on the question of domain "take-downs"

 

Top Civil Society Leaders Converge in Toronto for “ICANN & Internet Governance: Security and Freedom in a Connected World”

Top Civil Society Leaders Converge in Toronto for "ICANN & Internet Governance: Security and Freedom in a Connected World"

Cyber-Security Expert Ron Deibert and new ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Address Non-Commercial Users Policy Conference on Eve of ICANN #45
 
   - Public interest groups involved in ICANN will gather for the event, "ICANN & Internet Governance: Security & Freedom in a Connected World" on Friday 12 October at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada. Sponsored by the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC), the voice of civil society inICANN, the policy conference will focus on key ICANN policy issues like the need to promote both cyber-security and human rights in the development of global Internet policies.   The event kicks-off with a morning address from cyber-security expert Ron Deibert, Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and The Citizen Lab, an inter-disciplinary research and development hothouse at the University of Toronto.  Deibert will address the need to establish a cyber-security strategy for global civil society.  

"Cyberspace is at a watershed moment.  Global civil society, now increasingly recognised as an important stakeholder in cyberspace governance, needs to step up to the challenge," said Deibert.  "What is required is nothing less than a serious and comprehensive  security strategy for cyberspace that addresses  the very real threats that plague governments and corporations, addresses national and other security  concerns in a forthright manner, while protecting  and preserving open networks of information and communication."
 
The afternoon sessions begin with welcoming remarks from Fadi Chehade, ICANN’s new Chief Executive Officer, a Lebanese-Egyptian IT entrepreneur, who took the helm of ICANN last month and pronounced he was committed to strengthening the multi-stakeholder process of Internet governance.  Additional speakers at NCUC’s policy conference include Fiona Alexander from the U.S. Commerce Department and other governmental representatives.  The all-day event’s four panel sessions include participation from ICANN board members and senior staff, civil society and Internet business leaders.  
 
The conference will explore a broad range of ICANN policy issues including privacy concerns related to the whois policy that requires the publication of registrants’ personal data and discussion of ongoing negotiations with law enforcement agencies regarding a related policy that privacy authorities have called "unlawful".  The geopolitical landscape of Internet governance models and the shifting role of stakeholders will be addressed by experts from around the world.  NCUC’s conference will also explore policy issues related to controversial new domain names such as protection for freedom of expression in the face of cultural differences and sensitivities.   Concerns about intellectual property rights and new top-level domain names remains an area under rapid development and will be ripe for discussion as well as activities related to extra-territorial domain name seizures.  Including human rights principles in ICANN policy development will be considered, in addition to ways civil society can become involved in the development of ICANN policies, which impact Internet users worldwide.
 
NCUC represents more than 250 noncommercial organizations and individuals from around the world on ICANN policy matters and was formed in 1999 in Berlin at one of ICANN’s earliest meetings.   Currently NCUC represents a wide range of non-commercial interests in ICANN policy development including universities and educational institutions, human rights organizations, development, promotion of the arts, children’s welfare, scientific research, community networking, and many other non-commercial interests.  NCUC participates at ICANN as a constituency within the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) and the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), which makes ICANN policy recommendations and selects board members.     
 
"The conference subtitle recognizes our shared twin goals of security and freedom, and questions to what extent must we sacrifice one for the other," said meeting organizer Robin Gross of NCUC and IP Justice, a civil liberties organization based in San Francisco.  The constituency’s 2012 Toronto conference builds on the policy conference NCUC held in 2011 in which craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark addressed the ICANN community in San Francisco.
 
The 2012 conference concludes with an evening reception at the historic Fairmont Royal York overlooking the beautiful Canadian waterfront.  The event is free to attend and open the public, but advance registration is required because space is limited. 

NCUC’s conference is held with support from the Brazilian Internet Steering Registry CGI.br, the Public Interest Registry (PIR), and ICANN.   Civil Society event partners include The Citizen Lab, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) based at the University of Ottawa.  

Conference sessions will be audiocast live and archived for later downloading, and remote participation will be available from the event’s website via Adobe Connect for those not able to travel to Toronto on 12 October.  
 
For event details including conference schedule, speaker list, remote participation details, and to register to the event:
  http://www.amiando.com/NCUC-ICANN45
 
Contact for more information:
 
Robin Gross, IP Justice
  Email: Robin@ipjustice.org
 
Brenden Kuerbis, Internet Governance Project & University of Syracuse
  Email:  bnkuerbi@syr.edu

NCUC website: http://www.ncuc.org

A great panel at the conference organized by NCUC (Non-commercial Users Constituency) was on domain takedowns.

It was unusual for ICANN to have a panel with more women than men.  

The panel is streamed at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYFLRpJu7S0yDoudlRAe-QzB6ZXK47le-

These following are photos by DeeDee Halleck from the Toronto ICANN conference. 

                                        
Three of the organizers of the Non-Commercial Users Constituency sector of ICANN, Milton Mueller, Robin Gross and Rafik Dammak.  
 
                                             
 
 
                                             
 
This photo was taken in the Law Enforcement meeting. I walked in, not realizing it was a closed meeting. It was 99% male. The discussion was about data mining-- not how to stop it, but how domain registrants could do it more effectively. Also they discussed how to watch for certain types of spam and the various types of software that could show spikes in usage that would indicate something was going on.  
 
                                                
No more free coffee. In the past there were free snacks and coffee in the trade show room, but at this conference ICANN was trying to make a buck.
 
                                                 
 
On Sunday, at the GAC (the Government Advisory Committee) the African governments requested a meeting for themselves. Other participants were asked to leave. I took this photo before I left. 
                                                         
Despite being an "internet" organization, ICANN is still quite dependent on paper. This was the totally useless cache in my conference bag, photographed before I placed all this crap in Toronto's paper recycle.