Perfect Storm: Part 2
(9 votes, average: 3.11 out of 5)
Loading ...Back in February I wrote about the ‘Perfect Storm’ developing in the area of international and national Internet Governance. Whilst weather prediction is a notoriously difficult and sometimes dangerous business, recent developments suggest there may be a calmer period with a few sunny intervals ahead.
What has provoked this unseasonal optimism, you may ask? It’s mainly due to the announcement that the Joint Project Agreement between the US Department of Commerce and ICANN has come to an end. In its place are a series of commitments such as ensuring that decisions are made in the public interest, preserving the security and stability of the Domain Name System and promoting consumer trust and choice. A series of ongoing regular reviews will also be introduced with the aim of ensuring ICANN’s accountability to the wider Internet community, and Internet users in particular.
Nominet strongly supports the private-sector led, bottom-up model for the technical co-ordination of the domain name system, and we believe the end of the JPA confirms that this model is the right one for such a fast-moving, innovative sector.
There’s clearly an interesting parallel here with what’s happening in the UK Internet industry. The outcomes of Nominet’s Independent Governance Review and the Digital Britain Report, suggest that there is strong support for Nominet to commit to a ‘public purpose’ role. So, I guess my forecast that representation and protection of end-users would become a major Government focus appears to have been quite accurate (albeit that was rather easy to predict).
I’m clear that this is the right way forward, but this approach will certainly bring its own challenges. Working for a public purpose means balancing an even wider range of conflicting interests from the many different groups involved in the Internet and the Internet governance process. In particular, it will mean balancing commercial pressures and end user interests - always tricky on a national scale, even more so when these are on a global scale. However, responding responsibly to the dynamic and ever changing demands of Internet stakeholders is essential to both keep pace with developments and to make the Internet a trusted and safe place going forward.
The Internet governance landscape is changing and there are some bright patches appearing over the horizon, but the many challenges of engaging with and seeking to satisfy such a wide range of users suggests that there may be some cloudy patches on the way too!
(4.71 out of 5)
October 1st, 2009 at 11:39 am
Let’s hope Nominet doesn’t forget to apply that support for a bottom-up approach to the UK domain registry.
There are now multiple vacancies on the PAB and there’s been no hint of elections to fill them.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 am
The PAB rules do not provide for any clear way of filling the elected member vacancies. The PAB itself has decided that it wants to reassess its role and approach and to look carefully at how the policy advisory function is addressed: this has been a major part of the work of the July and September meetings and the discussion will continue at the November meeting. The focus is on how to engage effectively with stakeholders as part of the bottom-up policy development process.