Original news and analysis on international IP policy
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht today (27 November) defended the inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement provision in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). De Gucht argued the out-of-court settlements allowing private sector to sue governments were necessary because the TTIP would not per se give EU companies a standing in US courts.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), celebrating its 15th birthday during its 48th meeting in Buenos Aires this week is not only busy pushing forward the introduction of new top-level domains. ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé also inserted the organisation into the middle of preparations for a conference on the future of internet governance to be held in Sao Paolo on 23-24 April. ICANN is the overseer of the internet domain name system.
The original 10 internet governance principles that formed the basis for Brazil's Marco Civil legislation were presented proudly by the Brazilian delegation to the Internet Governance Forum in Vilnius. That was in 2010. In 2012, civil society organisations warned that an amended Marco Civil could erode freedom of the internet. It took yet another year and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to bring the original ideas, developed in a forward-looking broad public consultation process, back to the floor of the Brazilian Parliament – and there the fight was going on tonight (14 November).
Cypto-guru Bruce Schneier, who has analysed thousands of documents provided by Edward Snowden on the secret surveillance programmes of the US National Security Agency, has called on the technical community to add encryption to the network and also come up with a new model for internet governance.
Away from traditional free trade agreement negotiations with secret chapters on stricter intellectual property protection, perceptions are slowly evolving about the need to make IP systems work better. One of 100+ sessions at the 8th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Bali, Indonesia last week featured “intellectual property exchanges” as marketplaces for knowledge. But IP policy did not take centre stage and neither did other access topics in Bali, which instead was overshadowed by the recent revelations of mass surveillance by US intelligence services.
The European Parliament is showing some teeth again. Following the ongoing revelations of mass surveillance by US intelligence agencies, the Parliament plenary today passed a resolution calling on the EU Commission to temporarily suspend all data transfers according to the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) with the United States Treasury Department.
Brazilian Minister of Communications Paolo Bernado Silva, during the opening session of this week's 8th Internet Governance Forum in Bali, Indonesia, announced that the goal of the Internet Governance Summit in Brazil next spring will be to find a new model for internet governance.
The revelations of mass surveillance by the US and other intelligence services are expected to considerably influence the 8th Internet Governance Forum in Bali, Indonesia this week.
Former US National Security Agency and British MI5 employees urged the European Parliament yesterday to push for better better democratic oversight over secret services and better protection of whistleblowers. Nothing less than the sovereignty of states and of citizens are at stake, warned former NSA official Thomas Drake.
Brazilian President Dilma Roussef yesterday sent a stern warning to the United States over ongoing revelations of state espionage during the opening of the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York and at the same time called for a multilateral framework for internet governance.
A coalition of civil society organisations yesterday officially launched a set of 13 principles on the application of human rights to communication surveillance during a side event at the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Governments met recently to try to decide: Should special protection be provided online for geographical indications, in addition to trademark rights, geographical names and names of international organisations?