IP numbers

ITU backs away from IP address provision

by Kieren McCarthy | 30 Nov 2012 |

Arab State push to become an RIR turned into working group

Efforts to make the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) into a supra-regional Internet registry have been ditched, at least for the time being.

Attendees at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) were surprised with a last-minute proposal, aggressively pushed by the Arab States, that the ITU become a provider of IP addresses.

Discussion within Committee 4 had been focused on the allocation of IP addresses and in particular the provision of IPv6 address blocks.

In the middle of discussions, however, draft text was introduced that argued "many countries believe that there are historical imbalances related to IPv4 allocation". It added: "Many developing countries want ITU-T to become an additional registry of IP addresses in order to give the developing countries the option of obtaining IP addresses directly from ITU."

WTSA Chairman's proposal re: ITU becoming an RIR

PLENARY MEETING

Document 117-E

29 November 2012

WTSA Chairman

Chairman’s proposal for draft Revised Resolution 64 regarding “[considering f]”

considering

[f)] that many developing countries want ITU-T to become a registry of IP addresses in order to give the developing countries the option of obtaining IP addresses directly from ITU, whilst other countries prefer to use the current system;

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau,

  1. to conduct a feasibility study on the necessary action that would enable ITU-T to become a registry of IPv6 addresses, in consultation with the relevant bodies, in order to assist those Member States which require support in the management and allocation of IPv6 resources.
  2. to present the report of this study to Council 2013

invites Council 2013

to consider the Director TSB report on this study and submit it for consideration by the Plenipotentiary Conference 2014;

invites Plenipotentiary Conference 2014

Syria disappears from Internet

The Internet technical community reported early on Thursday that Syria had started disappearing from the Internet. The story was quickly picked up and reported worldwide, leading to fears that the Syrian government was about to embark on a huge campaign against rebels who have been battling the Assad regime for nearly a year. In an eerie reminder of when Egypt's Internet was shutdown at the height of its revolution, the country's IP address blocks stopped responding. A Syrian government representative blamed terrorists for the action but such a swift and controlled collapse of the country's Internet had led observers to conclude it was a deliberate act on the part of the government.

IPv6 Day a success, comparatively speaking

Efforts to raise awareness of the need to move to the new Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) through "IPv6 Day" were broadly seen to be successful with a big jump in traffic as people were encouraged to make the transition from the old IPv4 system.

However, the amount of traffic of the Internet using IPv6 remains tiny overall, representing just 0.1 percent (although that is an improvement on last year's 0.02 percent). The move to IPv6 is becoming increasingly important, warn Internet engineers, as addresses on the old IPv4 system slowly run out.

However, due to the fact that IPv6 is not compatible with IPv4, many companies are putting off the additional expenditure of moving to IPv6 until they have no other choice.

Internet Governance Outlook 2012: Cold War or Constructive Dialogue?

by Wolfgang Kleinw... | 10 Jan 2012 |

In this first half of a two-part essay, professor for Internet Policy and Regulation at the University of Aarhus, Wolfgang Kleinwächter reviews the extraordinary year that faces the Internet and its governance, and asks: will 2012 see a cold war in cyberspace? Or will we see another spring of Internet freedom?

The Internet and the way it is governed may well become a big political controversy in 2012. Two billion people are now online. The network supports annual business transactions of several trillion dollars. And it has evolved into a strategic resource in national and international power struggles. High stakes indeed!

To make it simple, there are two options: either we continue with a free and open Internet that has historically enabled innovation, economic growth, social development and free communication. Or we take a U-turn towards a regulated, restricted, censored and fragmented Internet where national policies of governments and commercial interests of corporations reduce or strangulate individual rights and freedoms.

India formally proposes government takeover of Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 27 Oct 2011 |

The Indian government has formally proposed a government takeover of the Internet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement sent yesterday, India argued for the creation of a new body to be called the United Nations Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) which would develop Internet policies, oversee all Internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate Internet-related treaties, and act as an arbitrator in Internet-related disputes.

The CIRP would exist under the United Nations, comprise of 50 Member States, be funded by the United Nations, run by staff from the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) arm, and report directly to the UN General Assembly.

Despite the proposal representing an extraordinary shift from the status quo to a single, purely government-run Internet body, India’s spokesman, Mr Dushyant Singh, argued that the proposal “should not be viewed as an attempt by governments to ‘take over’ or ‘regulate and circumscribe’ the Internet.”

India's proposal for a United Nations Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP)

The following statement was presented to the UN General Assembly on 26 October 2011. It comes after a similar proposal received heavy criticism at the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi the previous month.

Statement by

Mr. Dushyant Singh
Hon'ble Member of Parliament, India

on

Agenda item 16:
Information and Communications Technologies for Development

Sixty Sixth Session of the UN General Assembly
New York

October 26, 2011

Mr. Chairman,

We thank the Secretary-General for his report on enhanced cooperation on public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, contained in document A/66/77, which provides a useful introduction to the discussions under this agenda item.

As a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and democratic society with an open economy and an abiding culture of pluralism, India emphasizes the importance that we attach to the strengthening of the Internet as a vehicle for openness, democracy, freedom of expression, human rights, diversity, inclusiveness, creativity, free and unhindered access to information and knowledge, global connectivity, innovation and socio-economic growth.

ITU Council decisions summary

by Kieren McCarthy | 21 Oct 2011 |

The ITU Council met between 11 and 21 October 2011 in Geneva. Its key decisions are outlined very briefly below.


Photo: ITU

The nine-day session reviewed 76 input documents, including 20 contributions from Member States. Twenty-seven formal texts were adopted. The most significant were:

  • The creation of the "Council Working group on International Internet-related Public Policy Issues." (previously a less formal 'dedicated group'). There was some controversy over the working group's approach and its member-state-only membership.
  • A decision to focus the 5th World Telecommunication Policy Forum in 2013 on the key Internet resolutions agreed at the 2010 Plenipotentiary (101, 102, and 133)

ITU Council edges slowly, painfully toward the Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 18 Oct 2011 |

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is continuing its difficult journey toward the 21st century in Geneva this week.

Picking up where the organization’s Plenipotentiary in Guadalajara a year ago left off, the ITU Council has been considering a number of proposals concerning the Internet and, not for the time, has hit the Internet’s culture of openness head on.

Following literally days of discussions spent trying to bridge the gap between a closed inter-governmental culture and the Internet’s open approach to policy, a series of odd compromises has been struck.

Key among them is future discussions of the “Dedicated Group on international Internet-related public policy issues”. The DGIRPPI (the worst acronym we’ve seen for a while) is transitioning to a more formal Working Group designation and is the hub of most of the work that emerges with respect to the Internet.

The ITU however finds itself stuck between two competing models and facing contradictory language over how to make that transition.

Global Internet governance fight looms

by Kieren McCarthy | 22 Sep 2011 |

The global fight between governments over control of the Internet is heating up amid a flurry of documents, the opening of the United Nations’ General Assembly (GA) and next week’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

On the eve of the opening day of the annual forum of world governments, the Chinese and Russian governments jointly submitted a letter to the General Assembly outlining a “code of conduct for information security” that called for “establishing a multilateral, transparent and democratic international Internet governance mechanism”.

At the same time, a summary of a meeting held earlier this month between India, Brazil and South Africa governments (with a few representatives of civil society) was published calling for Internet governance issues to be pulled into the United Nations.

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