Polinter08

Y490 Politics of the Internet October 29, 2009

Governance Governance is a service that governments and other authoritative bodies perform Defined by Oran Young as “The establishment and operation of social institutions…capable of resolving conflicts, facilitating cooperation, or, more generally, alleviating collective action problems.”

International Intergovernmental Regimes Defined as systems of rules, norms, procedures, and informal practices that constrain the behavior of governments of nation-states. International governance and international intergovernmental regimes are not the same because some international governance can occur with only minimal involvement of governments.

Theories about International Regimes Hegemonial stability theory Regimes change when the distribution of international power changes; regimes tend to favor hegemonial powers. Epistemic communities Regimes cannot emerge in the absence of consensus among activists and technical experts (e.g., environmental regimes) Constructivism Regimes are artificial social constructions that do not necessarily depend on power distributions or scientific/technical consensus

International Regimes for ICTs The Domain Name System E-Commerce Intellectual Property Rights The Digital Divide (e.g. the DOT Force) Internet Governance Forum

The Domain Name System Origins in the system administered by Jon Postel Postel regime generalized into the Internet Assigned Numbers Association ( IANA ) by the Internet Society IANA establishes ICANN in collusion with the US Department of Commerce ICANN comes under strong criticism for Commerce veto (EU; Milton Mueller )

DNS-Specific Issues Integrity of root server system Global Top-level domains vs. country domains Need to regulate registrar monopolies (Network Solutions/ Verisign ) or make registry industry more competitive Cyber squatting vs. trademark and brand-name protection of large firms ( UDRP ) .xxx domain dispute

E-Commerce Governance Issues Should there be policies to promote migration from bricks and mortar to bricks and clicks or just clicks? How is e-commerce to be regulated? Is there a geographic location where the transaction takes place (for taxation purposes) and if so what tax is to be charged?

History of Copyright Act 1790 Congress passes copyright act 1830 Act expanded to published music 1856 Act extended to published plays 1870 Act extended to works of art. Library of Congress become clearing house. 1897 Act extended to public performances 1909 Act extended to reproductions (piano rolls) 1912 Motion pictures added 1976 Sound recordings and unpublished works 1980 Computer programs 1992 Audio Home Recording Act 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act

Increased Focus on Protecting Intellectual Property RIAA , MPAA attacks on file sharing Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 Counterarguments by scholars about the negative aspects of overly ambitious “digital rights management”

Jar Jar Binks: The Phantom Edit Wikipedia story on it 2001 story in Salon.com NPR story (audio)

Intellectual Property Rights Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 The Broadcast Flag Decision of the FCC

DMCA authorized methods for digital rights management Licensing Watermarking Registerware Tethering Privacy tax

Other DMCA provisions Limits on caching Prohibits links to DMCA-illegal material ISPs told to act expeditiously to block illegal content or activity Special leeway for libraries Compulsory licensing to webcasters with terms regulated by Library of Congress

Okinawa Charter G8 agree to it in June-July 2000 at the Okinawa Summit Puts forth principal of inclusion : “ ..everyone everywhere should be enabled to participate in and no one should be excluded from the benefits of the global information society.” States G8 commitment to bridging the global digital divide Establishes the Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOTForce)

Four Areas of Action for DOTForce in Okinawa Charter Fostering policy, regulatory, and network readiness Improving connectivity, increasing access, and lowering costs Building human capacity Encouraging participation in global e-commerce and other e-Networks

7 DOTForce Teams National e-strategies Access and connectivity Human capacity building Entrepreneurship ICTs for health Local content and applications Global policy participation

DOT Force Results Final report, Report Card: Digital Opportunities for All , presented to the G8 in Canada at Kananaskis summit in June 2002 Variety of projects with a variety of funding sources begun (see Appendix II in paper) DOT Force formally ceased operations after the Kananaskis summit Hand off to UN ICT Task Force and the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003

Distinctive Features of DOT Force Multi-stakeholder representation G8 governments Private firms Non-profit 0rganizations International organizations Constitutes a response to criticisms voice in Seattle and elsewhere (G8 led by Japan and Canada in 2000 and 2001)

Internet Governance Forum a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. The establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the United Nations Secretary-General in July 2006 and it was first convened in October /November 2006.

Agenda for Dec. 2008 IGF Meeting in Hyderabad Reaching the Next Billion Access Multilingualism Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust Dimensions of cyber-security and cyber-crime Fostering security, privacy and openness Managing Critical Internet Resources Transition from IPv4 to IPv6 Global, regional and national arrangements Emerging issues: The Internet of tomorrow - Innovation and the evolution of the Internet

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