Monika Ermert

Monika Ermert

EU Trade Commissioner Makes Last Appeal For Delay Of ACTA Vote

EU Trade Commissioner Karl De Gucht today made a last appeal to the European Parliament today to delay the decision on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in order to allow the European Court of Justice to give its opinion. But he met with strong indications that a rejection of the controversial agreement may be coming tomorrow.

UN Non-Takeover Of The Net: ITU’s Touré Calls For Documents To Be Public

UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary General Hamadoun Touré today in Geneva announced he would propose to the ITU Council later this month to make the draft documents for the much-debated International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR) publicly accessible. The effort could help diminish some of the hype in the United States about an effort by the UN to increase control of the internet.

EuroDIG: Will Governments Let Civil Society Rescue Net Governance?

The roles of governments, civil society and industry in ruling the internet - and other spaces - seems to be in a profound change. With governments in cross-border law enforcement situations increasingly unable to protect fundamental rights, as European Parliament Member Marietje Schaake said during a session of the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) in Stockholm last week, it seems to be civil society that can do something about it.

1,930 Applications For New Domains: .App More Desirable Than .Sex

It is not .sex (or .sexy) anymore, it is .app that companies investing in new domains on the internet think most desirable: 13 applications to operate a future .app registry have been filed with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which revealed a complete list of 1,930 new top level domain (TLD) applications at a press conference in London today.

At WSIS Forum, Divisions Arise Over Future Of Internet Governance

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2012 was hailed as a success at its closing ceremony today by the secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Yet sharp debates about the reluctance of the UN to hire an executive secretary for the Internet Governance Forum, the reluctance of the ITU to allow the global public to see and contribute to the coming International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), and the need for a new UN platform for enhanced cooperation clearly illustrated that the global internet governance ship is cruising through rough seas.