Category ITU/ICANN

Costa Rican President Tells ICANN Of Concern Over Internet Restrictions

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla opened the 43rd meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in San Jose with concern about “attempts to regulate the network among which we have the Stop Online Piracy Act seeking protection of intellectual property by restrictions on the addressing and the Protect intellectual Property Act seeking to extend some national jurisdiction towards the entire cyberspace.”

US Government Scuttles Plan To Share Control Of The Internet

The US Commerce Department National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has cancelled its request for proposal for the management of the internet root zone file, a core piece of infrastructure for the global domain name system (DNS) that helps users to navigate the net.

Internet Governance In 2012: Reaching New Heights Or Hitting A Wall

There will be more than 50 important meetings talking internet in 2012, and activists and government alike have started calling for streamlining or better cooperation and focus. Yet what might make 2012 a very notable year with regard to the politics of the net is not these meetings, but the rising storms blowing over the net regarding day to day internet politics. The preliminary stop of the un-beloved SOPA/PIPA legislation in the United States and the unexpected hesitation of Europe to sign the controversial ACTA agreement gave a first taste of a hot year in internet governance.

WIPO Offers Dispute Services For Objections To New TLDs At ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has embarked on a programme of allowing new generic top-level domains on the internet (like .com), an initiative that has worried trademark holders and international organisations. Now the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center is offering services for trademark holders who wish to challenge proposals for new gTLDs later this year.

New Internet Domain Process Off To Smooth Start, ICANN Says

The initial application period for the expansion of new generic top-level domains on the internet is going well after the first couple of weeks, but it is too soon to put the armoury of intellectual property protections to the test, the head of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said today.

ITU In “Urgent” Meeting On Global Spectrum As New Devices Gobble It Up

A high-level, highly technical UN meeting that occurs about once every four years at which key decisions are made about wireless communications opened today in Geneva. The meeting comes as devices such as smart phones and tablets are devouring many times more spectrum than mobile phones of the past.

ICANN Announces New TLD Program Start

On the eve of the start of the application period for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) on the internet, the chair of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Steve Crocker, described the program as a "major step in the globalisation of the internet." For the first time there will be equal access and an equal invitation to users from all over the world to have generic domain names, Crocker said at the National Press Club in Washington, DC today.

NTIA Supports New Domains – Phased In, With Protection

The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced its support for additional policies for new generic top-level domains on the internet, with conditions. The Commerce Department agency will stick to the 12 January start of the application period for new domains, but it has requested that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) take additional precautions when opening up the process.

UN, IMF, WTO, Other Organizations Raise Concern About New Domains

The United Nations, International Monetary Fund and over 20 other international organisations have expressed concerns over the opening up of the internet domain name system for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) like .nyc or .news.