Resource pages

CHAIR DRYDEN: Good afternoon, everyone. If you could take your seats. I know we are already running very late. Again, could you please take your seats.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. First, our apologies for running late this
afternoon. Thank you for your patience. And we do value our
exchanges with the GNSO, so we're glad here to be having this exchange
with you today.

Next to me is the chair of the GNSO, Stephane van Gelder. And we have a proposal for three agenda items perhaps to prioritize, starting with
the IOC and Red Cross, so an update on that; and then secondly the
Registrar Accreditation Agreement negotiations; and then time
permitting, the WHOIS review team final report.

I would note in the GAC's discussions earlier, that we saw that there
were issues that were common to the discussions we've had around the
RAA negotiations, for example, with compliance. This was also an area
that was highlighted by the WHOIS review team.

Regarding the IOC and Red Cross, I could look to the GAC leads to
introduce that or we could begin with the GNSO.

CHAIR – HEATHER DRYDEN: Good afternoon. We're going to start in about 10 minutes. We had a delay with identifying staff to brief us this afternoon unexpectedly. I'll explain later. So in about 10 minutes we'll begin. Okay?

CHAIR – HEATHER DRYDEN: Good afternoon, everyone, if we could begin our plenary session this afternoon. So apologies for the delay in beginning our session.

For those newcomers to the GAC, it is a bit of a tradition that we don't quite manage to start on time. But Kurt Pritz, who was going to be presenting to us a bit later, has fallen ill. So we've been trying to
identify staff that could provide us an update on new gTLDs. So a couple of staff will be coming to join us in about 15 minutes.

So let's take care of some business items before then. And then, when they arrive, we can move to that session.

So welcome, everybody, to Costa Rica. And, as usual, if we can begin with some introductions around the table. And then we will begin the proper session. So I'm looking to my right. If I can ask you to begin,
please.

(Introductions)

The following speech was given by US Assistant Commerce Secretary Larry Strickling at the Silicon Flatirons Center Conference in Boulder, Colorado on 12 February 2012. The conference was titled: "The Challenges of Internet Law and Governance".

[Read on the NTIA website]

Keynote Address by Assistant Secretary Strickling at Silicon Flatirons Center Conference

For the past two years, I have been the last speaker here at the Silicon Flatirons Conference. I would sit through all the panels and try to provide some overall synthesis of the conference as the closing speaker. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am unable to prepare remarks until the last minute—so it was fitting that I would be the speaker at the last minute.

The following op-ed was published in the Wall Street Journal on 21 February 2012.

Written by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell it outlines US government concerns about the WCIT conference in Dubai in December and the effort to change the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs). Read on the Wall Street Journal website.

The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom

Top-down, international regulation is antithetical to the Net, which has flourished under its current governance model.

Robert McDowell

On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year's end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish "international control over the Internet" through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices.