OECD

The fight for an open Internet

by Emily Taylor | 21 Apr 2012 |

In 2005, I came across an article in the New York Times about a funny little battle that was going on in the Internet corner of the world that no one outside of the small circle of Internet geeks seemed to understand or care about.

This article was memorable for several reasons. First, it was cogent, humorous, it rose above the dirty, confused, detail and explained why this stuff was important for all of us. Secondly, it was written by a politician. That politician was Carl Bildt.

Fast forward to this week. I was asked to moderate a couple of sessions at the Stockholm Internet Forum, and to provide some reflections at the end of the conference. This article highlights some of the themes I picked up from the two days of discussion.


Taylor moderating one of the sessions. Credit: Swedish Internet Forum

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Legal questions hover over Red Cross / Olympic special protections

by Kieren McCarthy | 14 Mar 2012 |

ICANN's two most powerful bodies, the GNSO and GAC, are due to approve extraordinary special protections for the Red Cross and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the Internet. But is the decision based on shaky legal advice?

Update: The GNSO has deferred a vote on the issue until a special meeting of the Council in just under two weeks.

Under proposals put forward by the GNSO - ICANN's main policy body - and due to be agreed to by the GAC - the governmental advisory committee, the world-famous international organizations will be given permanent control over their names, as well as any names that are similar to their names, wherever they appear across the Internet.

The basis for this extraordinary level of protection is that both organizations stand apart globally since they have their names protected by treaty and within the laws of a number of countries.*

According to the GAC chair, Heather Dryden, it has carried out "legal research" that "confirms that only the IOC and Red Cross qualify for unique levels of protection". In a letter from Dryden to GNSO chair Stephane van Gelder, it was also noted that: "No other international not-for-profit or non-governmental organizations have been afforded this threshold of protection at both the international and national levels." A full list of the protections granted to both was then provided in a letter created by GAC members.

US data privacy: the hard work begins

by Kieren McCarthy | 26 Feb 2012 |

The US government unveiled its long-awaited data privacy plans Thursday and took a bold leap into what it hopes will be a new form of policy creation for Internet issues.

The headline topic was a new Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights that promises to give consumers control over what data is stored on them and the ways in which it is used.

In an era where the heads of two of the Internet's biggest companies, Facebook and Google, have both declared (to paraphrase) that "privacy is dead", the US government is keen to reflect its citizens' very real concerns about what is done with their data online.

The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights came complete with White House backing and, crucially, the buy-in of industry - in this case, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft.

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