Category Information and Communications Technology/ Broadcasting

Experts Debate IANA Transition: “Designing In A Straitjacket” Or Securing Stability?

Internet expert groups this week are being asked if they agree to a proposal prepared in thousands of hours of voluntary work to transition key elements of internet control away from the United States government. Meanwhile, the US confirmed that the process of transition will extend well beyond the target of September of this year, and some countries are deploring that the transition was not started with a “clean slate.”

IANA Transition Slipping; Technical Communities Ask For Phases

Preparations for transitioning the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – with core elements of the global internet - out of United States oversight do not appear to on track for the 30 September deadline. As a result, cautious pressure is mounting from the internet protocol numbers administration and protocol standardisation bodies to consider at least a “phased implementation” of the transition.

UN Expert Urges Encryption, Anonymity Online To Preserve Freedom Of Expression

A United Nations expert on freedom of expression this week has brought international attention to the need for individuals to be able to share completely encrypted, anonymous communications on the internet in order to preserve rights related to freedom of expression and opinion worldwide.

News Portals Have Some Liability For Unlawful Content, European Court Of Human Rights Finds

In the landmark case of Delfi v. Estonia, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights today decided that news portals could be held liable for clearly unlawful content in third party postings.

ICANN Is Not The Internet Content Police

ICANN's Allen Grogan writes: Allow me to say this clearly and succinctly – ICANN is not a global regulator of Internet content, nor should the 2013 Registry Accreditation Agreement (RAA) be interpreted in such a way as to put us in that role. Our mission is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular, to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN was never granted, nor was it ever intended that ICANN be granted, the authority to act as a regulator of Internet content.

Digital Migration Brings New Intellectual Property Challenges

The era of analogue television broadcasting is coming to an end in different parts of the world and is being replaced with digital terrestrial broadcasting. The transaction deadline day widely known as the ‘Digital Switchover Date’ is tomorrow, 17 June.

World Summit On Information Society (WSIS) Review Roadmap Taking Shape

The United Nations is leading a mandated review of the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) this year, culminating in a high-level meeting in December. This week, UN member states discussed the roadmap to December in a “stock-taking” exercise.

WIPO Marrakesh Treaty In Force By Early 2016? Now Part Of Bigger UN Process

The 2013 World Intellectual Property Organization treaty on access to published works for print-disabled readers may go into effect by early 2016. And the treaty has become part of a bigger process at the United Nations on the rights of persons with disabilities, speakers at UN headquarters in New York said this week.

US Approves New Loophole In Patent Protection

The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals clearly likes patents. Over the years, the court has issued a long string of rulings that greatly strengthened the rights of patent owners. But several weeks ago, in Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks, the court reluctantly created a major loophole in patent protection.

UN Review Of WSIS Intensifies; Questions About ICANN Board Role In IANA Handover

This year’s United Nations review of implementation of the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is picking up pace. Meanwhile, intensive efforts continue to meet a September target for the handover from the United States of key underlying functions of the internet.