IGP Blog

ICANN hires superhero to resolve its political problems

Brenden Kuerbis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:54:55 -0400

ICANN was formed as an innovative governance organization and today it lived up to that reputation, announcing that it had hired a superhero as its new CEO.

Although it claimed that its new leader was an ordinary man named Rod Beckstrom, those in the know realize that the new CEO is really Aquaman, the Super Friend who frequents the Hall of Justice. These side-by-side photos of Aquaman and the purported "Mr. Beckstrom" make the connection clear...

Aquaman, who under the guise of his secret human identity has co-authored the widely read book, "The Starfish and the Spider" on decentralized, leaderless organizations as well as served as the first director of National Cyber Security Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will be ICANN's third CEO, and first executive officer able to breathe underwater.

Second thoughts about that Wall St. Journal article on Iran and DPI

Milton Mueller — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:25:14 -0400

The censorship of Internet communications by the Iranian theocracy has been known for years. Months ago, a Freedom House study singled out Iran as one of the four worst enemies of Internet freedom. Yet a 22 June Wall Street Journal article got about 100 times more publicity than the Freedom House report, by making what turns out to be a spurious claim. Nokia-Siemens Networks is alleged to have sold the theocrats deep packet inspection (DPI) equipment that made it possible for them to, in the reporter’s words, “not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes.”

The story was eaten up because it pushes hot buttons on both sides of the American political spectrum. For liberals and the left, the article fingered DPI technology, which many fear will be used to undermine if not destroy net neutrality. And to many in that camp, nothing could be more ideologically simpatico than to place some of the blame for the Iranian debacle on greedy capitalists. For conservative nationalists, on the other hand, the story hit an equally strong nerve. They tend to favor a hard-line foreign policy toward Iran, a charter member of the “axis of evil.” Their agenda is to isolate and demonize the Iranian government and, in a replay of the Cold War, push to cut off all trade and dialogue – if not to invade it outright. DPI becomes a proxy for nuclear weapons and a new kind of nonproliferation is advocated.

But even as the story was rippling through numerous email lists and blogs, I smelled something fishy about it.

Call for Papers: 4th Annual Symposium of Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet)

Brenden Kuerbis — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:27:14 -0400

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNET) is a scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet Governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society. On behalf of the Program Committee, we are pleased to announce the Call for Papers to the IV Annual Giganet Sympoium which will take place on November 14, 2009 - one day before the fourth UN Internet Governance Forum, in Sharm-El Sheik, Egypt.

The EU officially weighs in on the ICANN transition

Milton Mueller — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:48:17 -0400

The EU today issued a "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and Council" that addressed the internationalization of ICANN and related Internet governance issues. We found this statement encouraging in part, but mostly disappointing. While its analysis of the problems of U.S. unilateralism and of ICANN are often valid, it makes no concrete proposals that move the debate forward, except that EU and US should negotiate (privately).

Ex parte communications: for everyone, except us say governments

Brenden Kuerbis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:53:27 -0400

One of the more refreshing aspects of the NTIA's ongoing NOI regarding the expiration of the Joint Project Agreement with ICANN was the inclusion of an ex parte reporting requirement. It presumably added a level of transparency to Internet governance matters and their relationship to the United States government which had not been seen before. Unfortunately, it was too good to be true. From yesterday's Federal Register, comes a clarification regarding ex parte procedures associated with NTIA's NOI.

Former Principal Scientist at VeriSign blasts US control of DNSSEC root signing

Brenden Kuerbis — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:18:18 -0400

Phillip Hallam-Baker, an Internet security pioneer and most recently Principal Scientist at VeriSign, has criticized current DNSSEC root signing arrangements in his comments to the Dept of Commerce as a "profoundly destabilizing technology" for the Internet. He recommends that NTIA "require that ICANN propose a technical solution for signing the DNS root zone that is endorsed by a clear majority of the national stakeholders."

Will Rod Beckstrom replace Twomey?

Milton Mueller — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:43:07 -0400

Rumors are flying that Rod Beckstrom, former director of the US Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity Center, is the new CEO of ICANN. This is still unconfirmed by ICANN but comes from well-informed sources. We also hear that David Eisner, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service under G.W. Bush and former VP at AOL, was also in the running. Perhaps someone familiar with DC is a prudent choice, given ICANN's recent performance there. Beckstrom is best known for his dramatic resignation from his post earlier this year to protest the "takeover" of cybersecurity policy by the National Security Agency, an act of principle. Beckstrom has his own .com domain and is based in California. The link to cybersecurity issues could be a strength or a weakness, depending on the way the U.S. government handles its still-controversial supervisory role. Stay tuned.

Dissenting opinion: ICANN and the JPA as "shadow of hierarchy"

Jeanette Hofmann — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:13:47 -0400

[Editors note: One factor which distinguishes the Internet Governance Project from the din of voices in the Internet governance policy world is the vigorous theoretically informed debate that occurs within our Scientific Committee. The fact is, we don't always agree as IGP forms consensus opinion, represented by our submitted comments. Below is one committee member's take on the JPA and its relationship to ICANN.]

The future of the JPA has been subject to a lot of debate. Some people argue that the JPA should end in September, others think it should be extended once again. It is striking that the disagreement on the future of the JPA cuts across stakeholders and nationalities. This also true for civil society groups who have come down on both sides of the issue. They associate the JPA with the unilateral control over critical Internet resources, which they would like to see terminated rather now than any time in the future. Yet they understand the JPA also as "the shadow of hierarchy" looming over ICANN and thereby keeping it in check.

IGP calls for US led international agreement on ICANN

Brenden Kuerbis — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:40:12 -0400

The IGP has filed comments in the Department of Commerce proceeding on the “Assessment of the Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet’s Domain Name and Addressing System” (Docket No. 090420688-9689-01). An excerpt from the summary is below:

"The global challenges we face demand global institutions that work." - President Barack Obama, 2008
ICANN lacks accountability and its processes are full of problems, but the JPA is not the right tool to use to fix them. The JPA contributes to ICANN's failings. ...it does nothing but invite the stakeholders in one privileged country to complain to their own government about policy outcomes they don't like. The U.S. government needs to let the JPA expire, and immediately initiate an international agreement that formalizes and completes the transition of ICANN to a stable form of multi-stakeholder global governance rooted in a nonprofit corporation.

Appeals court puts VeriSign and ICANN back on the antitrust hook

Brenden Kuerbis — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:35:08 -0400

One of the better side stories of yesterday's Congressional hearing on ICANN concerned Congressman Dingell's 5-minute intervention (see ~1:49:00 into the video) during witness questioning. In addition to raising the expected inquires into the expiration of the JPA, he also asked the witnesses their opinions concerning the 2006 ICANN-VeriSign negotiation of the .com contract.

When the witnesses were asked if the contract "suffered from a lack of transparency," he got the expected answers. ICANN's CEO Paul Twomey, pointing out the contract was publicly available, said "no." Ken Silva of VeriSign agreed. Go Daddy, VeriSign's largest customer, argued to the contrary. Yes, Christine Jones said, the contract was publicly available, but it was the secrecy-shrouded process that led up to it that was cause for concern, and that Go Daddy didn't agree with the outcome.

Apparently this concern is justified. Today, a 9th Circuit Appeals Court ruling indirectly supported Go Daddy's suspicions in its reversal of an earlier decision made in Plaintiff Coalition for ICANN Transparency (“CFIT”) vs. VeriSign.

ICANN makes new "tribunal" proposal

Brenden Kuerbis — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:22:56 -0400

On Jun 1, timed for the NTIA proceeding and Thursday's hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, ICANN released a report of the President's Strategy Commission (PSC), "Improving Institutional Confidence: The Way Forward," that discusses some of the new accountability measures PSC has been considering, and makes some specific proposals. Three of note:

1. A new mechanism for the community to require the Board to re-examine a Board decision (see Appendix B). As proposed this mechanism would have a high hurdle: it would be invoked by a two-thirds majority vote of two-thirds of the Supporting Organization Councils and two-thirds of members of all the Advisory Committees. For the Governmental Advisory Committee, a consensus statement from all the members present at a physical meeting shall suffice for the purpose of this vote.

2. Rejection of the "nuclear option" of unseating the entire Board (Recommendation 2.9)

3. A slightly strengthened Independent Review Tribunal (see Appendix C). The standards for review of decisions would be improved, but ICANN makes an argument that according to California nonprofit public benefit law, the decision of the review panel cannot be binding on the Board.

IGP will comment in more detail on these proposals when it submits comments to the Commerce Department NOI.

ICANN sings a different tune about accountability in .xxx appeal

Brenden Kuerbis — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:21:48 -0400

As we approach the deadline for filing comments on the expiration of ICANN's Joint Projects Agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department, do not forget about the .xxx Independent Review Process. In that proceeding, ICANN directly confronts issues related to its accountability.

ICANN is all for accountability and claims to be doing everything in its power to make itself accountable and responsive to YOU (it likes to use the second person). But in ICANN's official Response to the ICM's "Memorial on the Merits," which was just posted a few days ago, ICANN sings a different tune. There seems to be a bit of a gap between what ICANN says about accountability in the abstract (it is all for it) and what it says when accountability really threatens to alter its behavior.

ICANN and Trademark Maximalism (Again)

Milton Mueller — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:33:15 -0400

When ICANN passed a policy to create many new top level domains, both free expression advocates and trademark owners squawked (but for different reasons). ICANNs Board ignored the free expression advocates and rewarded the trademark owners by passing a resolution authorizing the formation of an Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT). IRT is an acronym for “second bite at the apple;” it gave one special interest group, ICANN's Intellectual Property Constituency, the exclusive right to draw up a wish list of their most fervently desired policies for protecting trademarks in an expanding domain name space. Today, the last day for public comment, ICANN veteran Kathy Kleiman, a lawyer who played a role in forging a multistakeholder agreement on the UDRP ten years ago, filed comments pointing out some alarming features of the IRT’s proposal.

What the ICANN Board needs to know about the new SG charters

Milton Mueller — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:29:36 -0400

ICANN’s Board meets tomorrow to discuss the charters of the new Stakeholder Groups that will make up the new, reformed GNSO. As we have explained in other posts, this reorganization is an important, long overdue reform. It has the potential to create a fairer, more balanced and more productive GNSO. It is still possible, however, for ICANN’s Board to fumble the ball. That is because there are groups who don’t want to fix the GNSO. Rather, they want to prolong or worsen its problems so that special interests can hang on to power and continue to play the obstructionist games that have made the GNSO an exercise in futility for so long.

Will Obama Re-nationalize ICANN?

Milton Mueller — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:32:45 -0400

Speaking at a Technology University of Delft conference on the internationalization of infrastructures, Professor Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger made some unique and provocative observations about the future of the ICANN tether to the U.S. government. Mayer-Schoenberger was trying to predict the position of the three main players: the EU, the US and China.

China ready to pull the plug on IGF

Milton Mueller — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:42:54 -0400

The Peoples Republic of China cast a pall over the consultations of the Internet Governance Forum yesterday by announcing that it opposes extending the life of the Forum for another 5 years. "When it comes to Internet governance, [developing country] points of view are not sufficiently reflected in [Internet Governance Forum] discussions," China's representative said, "which is why we don't agree that the IGF should continue its mandate after the five years are up. So we repeat that the delegation of China does not agree with extending the mission of the IGF beyond the five years. We feel that after the five years are up, we would need to look at the results that have been achieved. And we need, then, to launch into an intergovernmental discussion." China's preference for intergovernmental forums where it has a more prominent and exclusive role, such as the ITU, is well known, however up to now it has never publicly opposed extending the term of the IGF.

DHS requests funding to continue far-reaching secure Internet protocol work

Brenden Kuerbis — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:01:41 -0400

DHS will present its 2010 budget request before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today, including a reported $400 million to protect critical infrastructure and cyber networks from attack. $11 million of this was requested to fund DHS's Information Infrastructure Security (IIS) Program and Secure Protocol Project, including work on securing the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) and routing infrastructure. Despite the relatively small amount of funding, SPP work is intended to, and if successful could, have far reaching impact on the Internet.

The EU High-Level Internet Governance Group Hearing

Milton Mueller — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:06:40 -0400

Nearly 80 participants attended the EU-sponsored hearing on internet governance Wednesday. The hearing was held the day before a private meeting of the EC’s High Level Internet Governance Group (HLIGG), as a way of gathering opinions and ideas. Participants who came eager to discuss and explore Commissioner Viviane Reding’s call for new forms of accountability and oversight of ICANN quickly learned that her proposal was off-limits. Reding’s paper, we learned, was her own personal initiative, not an official or vetted product of the EC. Members of the HLIGG were as surprised by it as the rest of us and did not want discussion of it to dominate the hearing.

Hey Washington! A leaderless Internet finds its way, again

Brenden Kuerbis — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:18:33 -0400

With Washington cyberbuzzing from Congressional hearings and report releases over the past week – on topics from the power struggle over who should be the USG’s cyber tsar to how best to prepare the nation for what seems to be imminent "cyberattacks" from Russia or China – you’d think lawmakers are convinced that, unless someone “owns the problem” and the US provides stronger leadership, the Internet as we know it is doomed.

Fortunately, the experts over at Renesys have again published data suggesting that this is not necessarily the case – that the Internet’s infrastructure (in this case routing) is remarkably resilient in the face of constantly changing threats. Furthermore, their data seemingly indicates that there are high levels of largely uncoordinated (that’s right, leaderless) organizational responses occurring when incidents transpire.

EU to Obama: Privatize ICANN, Internationalize Oversight

Milton Mueller — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:46:43 -0400

Saying that "A moment of truth will come on 30 September this year," European Commissioner Viviane Reding proposed a reformed model of global Internet governance. Release of the proposal was timed to enable discussion of it at the May 6th 2009 consultations in Brussels. In the statement, she expressed support for the basic model of a privatized, independent ICANN and pressed President Obama to complete the job. She also made two interesting proposals, one for an independent international tribunal to which ICANN decisions could be appealed, and the other for a forum of 12 governments that would meet twice a year to make recommendations to ICANN on public policy matters.

European Commission to hold Hearing on Internet Governance Arrangements, international dimensions of security and stability

Brenden Kuerbis — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:32:12 -0400

IGP's Milton Mueller and Jeanette Hofmann have been invited to attend a European Commission Hearing on Internet Governance Arrangements to be held in Brussels on May 6. The agenda focuses attention on the international dimension of "security and stability" as governments continue to use the "critical infrastructure" rubric to position themselves for a stronger role. For example, it asks whether "self-regulation for critical infrastructures and services [should] be more closely monitored by governments and relevant public authorities?"

Commerce Department: Headed toward ICANN 3.0?

Brenden Kuerbis — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:25:46 -0400

The NTIA has published a Notice of Inquiry, Assessment of the Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet's Domain Name and Addressing System, in advance of the expiration of the Joint Project Agreement in September 2009. The document outlines the history and evolution of the MOU between the DoC and ICANN, and the questions posed cover fairly standard territory. However, one caught our attention.

The simple solution to the .SU problem

Milton Mueller — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:26:07 -0400

Discussions within ICANN are underway about what to do with the .SU top level domain. The .SU TLD was a country code when the Soviet Union existed. Obviously, that political entity no longer exists. There is now a debate about whether to close down the TLD or not. In the meantime, the people who run it (in some place called "Russia," which already has its own TLD, .ru) are registering new domains like mad. ICANN is in a conundrum.

Upcoming Event: Congressional Seminar on "ICANN & Internet Governance: How Did We Get Here & Where Are We Heading?"

Brenden Kuerbis — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:55:17 -0400

IGP's Milton Mueller will be a panelist at a Congressional Seminar, "ICANN & Internet Governance: How Did We Get Here & Where Are We Heading?," hosted by the Progress & Freedom Foundation on April 24, 2009 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. You can register here.

As the Internet has become the backbone of our Digital Age economy, the issue of "governance" has taken on a new importance. What's next for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit corporation responsible for coordinating administration of the domain name system? New developments and possible policy implications will be discussed by a panel of recognized experts, who will cover the history and evolution of ICANN and debate such topics as the proposal for new top level domains, domain name system security, and ICANN's future after the expiration of its Joint Project Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding with the Commerce Department.

Other panelists include David Johnson (Visiting Professor of Law, Institute for Information Law and Policy), New York Law School and Mike Roberts (Internet Technology Policy Consultant and former President and CEO of ICANN), as well as panel moderator Michael Palage (Adjunct Fellow, The Progress & Freedom Foundation and former ICANN board member).

Mueller wins 2009 ITERA Outstanding Researcher Award

Brenden Kuerbis — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:01:35 -0400

Mad props to IGP's Milton Mueller, who has been selected to receive the 2009 International Telecommunications Education and Research Association (ITERA) Outstanding Research Award. ITERA presents the award to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in academic research related to the telecommunications disciplines through publication, peer-review, and international recognition over time. And also a tip o' the hat to Milton's colleague, Martha Garcia-Murillo, director of the M.S. in Telecommunications and Network Management program at Syracuse's iSchool, who cited the founding of the Internet Governance Project, where "researchers can follow the discussion and decisions that are made at the international level on Internet governance," among the many reasons Milton deserved this special award. Way to go!

Field Guide to ICANN Reforms (Part 4): Results are in on Noncommercial Stakeholder Group charter proposals

Milton Mueller — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:13:08 -0400

[Editors Note: This is the fourth installment in our series looking at the ongoing ICANN reforms. If you haven't already, be sure to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3]

Public comments are in on the charter proposals that will shape the reformed GNSO. The politics of GNSO reform are now abundantly clear. Noncommercial organizations and individuals from a surprisingly broad swath of transnational civil society have participated in ICANN's GNSO reform proceeding, sending in comments. And virtually all of them are supporting the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) charter proposed by the NCUC.

GNSO Reform: Analysis of the two NCSG charter proposals

Brenden Kuerbis — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:15:36 -0400

The impending reform of the Generic Name Supporting Organization (GNSO) at ICANN, and specifically the approval of a charter for the new Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) is now in full swing. Last month, IP Justice's and current NCUC Chair, Robin Gross submitted the NCUC's proposed charter (and accompanying executive summary and chart) for the NCSG to the ICANN Board. According to Gross, the proposal was developed with the input of numerous noncommercial organizations (including IGP), as well as consultations with ICANN Board members and other stakeholders. In contrast, a small band of supporters of the censorship oriented group CP-80 sought to upset this consensus effort by submitting a competing charter proposal. Now IGP's Milton Mueller has submitted comments to ICANN analyzing the two charter proposals, identifying the shortcomings of the CP-80 proposal and addressing their critique of the NCUC proposal.

Crypto-politics creeps into DNSSEC

Brenden Kuerbis — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:06:55 -0400

While the fight over using cryptography to protect personal communications was allegedly "won" during the late 1990s, the battle over using it to protect critical Internet resources is just heating up. News from the recent IETF in San Francisco and RANS conference in Moscow suggests that national crypto laws are now complicating efforts to secure the DNS.

Specifically, supporters of .ru have noted that while they are interested in deploying DNSSEC, there are legal and operational constraints surrounding the current crypto specs in the standard (i.e., RSA signature and SHA digest algorithms) that could make it difficult for Russian based organizations to deploy the protocol. There are now efforts being made to introduce the Russian developed GOST family of algorithms into the protocol.

[Update: An Internet-Draft on producing GOST signature and hash algorithms DNSKEY and RRSIG resource records for use in the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) has been submitted for adoption by the DNSEXT Working Group.]

A more detailed look at the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009

Milton Mueller — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:04:30 -0400

The Rockefeller-Snowe bill emerges from an environment of blind hysteria around cyber-security problems that has developed in recent months. Section 2 contains 150 lines of silly hyperventilating that exaggerate the threats - but more importantly, misconceives the nature of Internet-based threats and the best way to respond to them. The bill succumbs to the tendency to take a national, hierarchical and centralized approach to problems that are best met through the organic evolution of decentralized, flexible, adapative and transnational, private sector-based cooperative solutions that leverage the peer production capabilities of the Internet.

Still, it is not as bad as it could have been. The bill does not turn over cybersecurity responsibilities to the NSA, nor does it completely centralize authority in a single government agency. Instead, it creates a multistakeholder Cyber-security Advisory panel appointed by the President. Here is a section-by-section review of the most outstanding parts of the proposed law...

ICANN gets "securitized"

Milton Mueller — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:58:55 -0400

This is no April Fool's joke: here is a bill that is almost a caricature of what the rest of the world fears about U.S. control of the Internet DNS root and ICANN. Legislation unveiled today by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would require a Presidentially appointed cybersecurity advisory panel to ensure that national security would not be compromised before approving the renewal or modification of the contract between the U.S. government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. According to a summary of the bill, it would "make sure that ICANN does not succumb to foreign pressure" to end its relationship with the U.S. government.

ICANN is only one part of a comprehensive and authoritarian approach to cybersecurity. According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, "The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would...give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds."

Read the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009.