The briefing featured experts on the relationship between the U.S. and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit body that manages the Internet’s domain name system, including IP address space allocation. The main topic of discussion was the newly released “Affirmation of Commitments” agreement between ICANN and the U.S. Government. The predecessor to that agreement, the Joint Project Agreement (JPA), would have expired at midnight on September 30, 2009. Our esteemed panel discussed the implications for the new agreement.

Panelists included:

• Steve DelBianco, NetChoice

• John Kneur, JKC LLC, Former Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of National Telecommunications & Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

• Brenden Kuerbis, Syracuse University, Internet Governance Project

• Steven Metalitz, Partner, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP

“This new Affirmation marks an exciting new stage in ICANN’s development as a truly international entity and it confirms once and for all, that the ICANN model of public participation works, and works effectively” said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN Chief Executive Officer. “One world, one Internet, everyone connected – this is our goal at ICANN. This agreement gives international stakeholders an even more powerful voice in our activities moving forward.”

More than a decade ago it was envisioned that the Internet’s addressing system would be coordinated by a private, multi-stakeholder, non-profit corporation, specifically ICANN. The rationale was that the Internet not be controlled by any single government, group of governments or special interest.

“A decade ago the US government was a catalyst for a global discussion on how to coordinate the vital resource that is the Internet’s unique identifiers,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN’s Chairman of the Board. “They understood that it needed to be coordinated not controlled.  That vision has been affirmed in the model of private sector leadership that ICANN represents.”

Under the Affirmation agreement, the U.S. will remain committed to participation in ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which is one of the bodies that advises the corporation in its crucial mission of assuring that one human being can contact another anywhere on the planet.

The agreement also mandates that ICANN’s accountability to the Internet community must be reviewed at least every 3 years by a committee made up of representatives of the community, which will include the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce.

Global business and Internet leaders welcomed news of the Affirmation agreement.

· “The Affirmation of Commitments by ICANN and DOC fulfills a long- standing objective of the original formation of ICANN: to create an organization that can serve the world’s interest in a robust, reliable and interoperable Internet.” – Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet.

· “Google and its users depend every day on a vibrant and expanding Internet; we endorse this Affirmation and applaud the maturing of ICANN’s role in the provision of Internet stability.” – Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google, Inc.

· “ICANN”s assurances on openness, stability and competition are remarkable, particularly as they are backed up by a strong oversight process that involves the global community. This is what we needed for moving ahead into the next phase of the internet.” – Jim Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

· “VeriSign commends the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Department of Commerce the ten years of work by both parties towards the evolution of governance around the Domain Name Addressing System. We are encouraged that the new agreement by ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce will allow for more international participation in the policy creation at ICANN and expand ICANN’s efforts as technical coordinator of the domain name addressing system to ensure a robust and secure Internet.” – Mark McLaughlin, President and CEO of Verisign.

To read additional reaction to the Affirmation Agreement go here: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#reaction

To read the Joint Affirmation Agreement go here: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirmation .

To see a videotaped interview with CEO Rod Beckstrom discussing the Affirmation Agreement go here: : http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#video .

About ICANN:

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type a domain name or IP address into your computer. It has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn’t have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers. ICANN doesn’t control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn’t deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet’s naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. For more information please visit: www.icann.org .

At a meeting schedule for Oct. 22, the staff is slated to propose incorporating two new principles into four existing principles the FCC issued several years ago. Analysts widely expect a 3-2 vote with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the other two Democrats on the FCC panel in favor of issuing the rules for public comment.

The net neutrality rule would prevent network operators from blocking consumer access to any lawful Internet content, applications and services. Users would also be able to use any nonharmful devices.

Genachowski said on Monday that the two new principles would prohibit operators from discriminating against any Internet applications or content and would require operators to disclose their management practices for Web traffic.

The rule would probably force U.S. phone companies to open their wireless networks to rival Internet services like eBay Inc’s (EBAY.O) Skype and Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) voice services.

That could result in mobile customers cutting their phone bills by opting for minimum voice plans and doing without text-messaging plans if they use mobile voice and text services from Skype and Google.

The new rule is being considered as the FCC examines why Apple Inc (AAPL.O) rejected the Google Voice application for use on its popular iPhone, sold by AT&T Inc (T.N).

The proposal, if adopted, would be a victory for consumer advocates and big Internet companies like Google at the expense of telecom operators like AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N). (Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

]]> http://meerkatsrule.org/wordpress01/?feed=rss2&p=814 0 http://meerkatsrule.org/wordpress01/?p=816 http://meerkatsrule.org/wordpress01/?p=816#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:11:05 +0000 admin http://isoc-dc.org/wordpress/?p=816 Sep. 21, 2009 | FCC | Washington:  Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined the concrete actions he believes the Commission must take to preserve the free and open Internet at a speech today at The Brookings Institution.

“The Internet is an extraordinary platform for innovation, job creation, investment, and opportunity. It has unleashed the potential of entrepreneurs and enabled the launch and growth of small businesses across America,” said Chairman Genachowski.  “It is vital that we safeguard the free and open Internet.”

The Commission previously embraced four open Internet principles affirming that consumers must be able to access the lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, and attach non-harmful devices to the network. These four principles guide the FCC’s existing case-by-case enforcement of communications law.

In today’s speech, Chairman Genachowski proposed the addition of two new principles. The first would prevent Internet access providers from discriminating against particular Internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management. The second principle would ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement. The Chairman also proposed clarifying that all six principles apply to all platforms that access the Internet.

Chairman Genachowski will seek to begin the process of codifying the Commission’s existing four open Internet principles, along with the two additional principles, through a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) at the October meeting. The NPRM will ask for input and feedback on the proposed rules and their application, such as how to determine whether network management practices are reasonable, what information broadband providers should disclose about their network management practices and how the rules apply to differing platforms, including mobile Internet access services.

“I look forward to working with my Commission colleagues on this important initiative,” Chairman Genachowski said.  “Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn, and Baker each bring a unique and important perspective to the complex issues at stake and I look forward to getting their input and insight when we kick-off the rulemaking process next month.”

As part of Chairman Genachowski’s commitment to openness and transparency, the FCC launched a new website, www.openInternet.gov to encourage public participation.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

The Internet is forty years old but still evolving–at an accelerating pace. According to some forecasters, in the next ten years we will see even more growth and new applications than we’ve seen in the last forty. Entire industries will be transformed. The Internet of Things connecting hundreds of billions of devices and sensors, new mobile applications, Cloud computing, and virtual worlds are just a few of the “game changers” that ubiquitous, high-speed networks will enable.

But with these opportunities come new challenges. Will competing companies work together on critical standards or try to lock in customers using proprietary software? Will efforts to address Internet security vulnerabilities be more successful than the hackers who seek to exploit them?

Join us for an informal, wide-ranging discussion of where the Internet is headed.

Discussion Leaders:

+ Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer, Internet Society
+ Eric Burger, Chief Technology Officer, Neustar
+ Steve Crocker, Internet pioneer and CEO, Shinkuro, Inc.

Moderator:

+ Michael R. Nelson, Visiting Professor, Internet Studies, CCT Georgetown University

For more details, visit www.isoc-dc.org and www.isoc.org.

To be added to the ISOC-DC mailing list and receive notices
of future ISOC-DC events, email chapter@isoc-dc.org.

Instructions for getting to the Capitol follow.

For information on getting to the Capitol, go to:

www.visitthecapitol.gov/Visit/Getting%20to%20the%20Capitol

If coming by car, most offices in the Capitol close about 5:00 – 6:00 PM, and therefore you likely will be able to find street or meter parking 1 or 2 blocks north of the Capitol.

For a map of the Capitol Building area:

www.visitthecapitol.gov/Visit/Capitol%20Complex%20Map

The Capitol South Metro station is 3 blocks south of the entrance to the Capitol Visitors Center, on First Street. Referring to the map above, the Visitors Center main entrance is shown with 2 small red triangles; that is where you will enter.

If you have not toured the Capitol Building since the Visitors Center opened less than a year ago, you are in for a rare treat. The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is the newest addition to this historic complex. At nearly 580,000 square feet, the Visitor Center is the largest project in the Capitol’s more than two-century history and is approximately three quarters the size of the Capitol itself. The entire facility is located underground on the east side of the Capitol so as not to detract from the appearance of the Capitol and the grounds.

Visiting the new Visitors Center after-hours provides an exceptional opportunity to take in the architectural beauty of this new structure, and walk past a new generation of historic exhibits that tell the story of Congress, the Capitol building, and the history of our company.

These reforms will drive future growth, productivity and innovation across all sectors of the economy by:

• addressing Telstra’s high level of integration to promote greater competition and consumer benefits;
• streamlining and simplifying the competition regime to provide more certain and quicker outcomes for telecommunications companies;
• strengthening consumer safeguards to ensure services standards are maintained at a high level; and
• removing redundant and inefficient regulatory red-tape.

“For years industry has been calling for fundamental and historic micro-economic reform in telecommunications. Today we are delivering this outcome in Australia’s long term national interest,” Senator Conroy said.

Telstra is one of the most highly integrated telecommunications companies in the world across the fixed-line copper, cable and mobile platforms.

“The reforms address the structure of the telecommunications market and provide Telstra with the flexibility to choose its future path.”

“It is the Government’s clear desire for Telstra to structurally separate, on a voluntary and cooperative basis.”

“The Government believes it is possible to achieve a win-win outcome in the interests of Telstra, its shareholders and, more broadly, all Australians,” Senator Conroy said.

The reforms will also promote competition and strengthen consumer safeguards.

“The existing telecommunications anti-competitive conduct and access regimes have been widely criticised as being cumbersome, open to gaming and abuse, and provide insufficient certainty for investment,” Senator Conroy said.

Since the commencement of the regime in 1997 there have been more than 150 telecommunications access disputes compared to only three access disputes in other regulated sectors, including airports and energy sectors.

The Government will strengthen consumer safeguards including the Universal Service Obligation, Customer Service Guarantee and the Priority Assistance arrangements to ensure consumers are protected and service standards are maintained at a high level.

In line with the Government’s commitments to address impediments to Australia’s long-term productivity growth, it will remove unnecessary regulatory burden on the industry.

“These fundamental reforms address the long-standing inadequacies of the existing telecommunications regulatory regime. They will drive lower prices, better quality and more innovative services,” Senator Conroy said.

The reforms are supported by the overwhelming majority of the submissions received in response to the National Broadband Network: Regulatory Reform for 21st Century Broadband Discussion Paper released by the Government on 7 April 2009.

The legislative package is available online: www.dbcde.gov.au

Date: 15 September 2009
Contact: Tim Marshall 0408 258 457

BACKGROUND

Addressing Telstra’s vertical integration

The legislation will allow Telstra to voluntarily submit an enforceable undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to structurally separate. The Minister can provide guidance to the ACCC on the matters it would take into account when considering whether to accept the structural separation undertaking.

If Telstra chooses not to structurally separate, the legislation provides for the Government to impose a strong functional separation framework on Telstra. This Bill proposes implementing a functional separation regime by altering theTelecommunications Act 1997 to require that:

• Telstra conduct its network operations and wholesale functions at arm’s length from the rest of Telstra;
• Telstra provides equivalent price and non-price terms to its retail business and non-Telstra wholesale customers; and
• this equivalence of treatment is made transparent to the regulator and competitors via strong internal governance structures.

Addressing Telstra’s horizontal integration

The legislation will seek to promote competition across telecommunications platforms while allowing Telstra the flexibility to choose its future path.

Telstra will be prevented from acquiring additional spectrum for advanced wireless broadband while it:

• remains vertically integrated; and
• owns a hybrid fibre coaxial cable network; and
• maintains its interest in Foxtel.

The legislation provides scope for the Minister to remove either or both of the second and third requirements in the event that Telstra submits to the ACCC an acceptable undertaking to structurally separate.

Reforms to the Competition Regime

• The legislation will streamline the arrangements in Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) which allow parties to access regulated services so that:
• the ACCC will determine up-front terms and conditions for a three to five year period, following consultation with industry;
• the ACCC can determine principles to apply for longer periods; and
• the ACCC can make binding rules of conduct to immediately address problems with the supply of regulated wholesale services

The legislation will also reform the arrangements in Part XIB of the TPA so that the ACCC can address breaches of competition law and conduct damaging to the market. The ACCC will no longer have to consult with a party before issuing a competition notice; a process previously prone to delay and obstruction.
In addition, the reforms include clarification that the competition notice regime applies to content services – such as subscription television services – delivered by carriers and carriage service providers.

Strengthening consumer safeguards

Universal Service Obligation (USO)
The USO requires Telstra, as the universal service provider, to enable all people in Australia to have reasonable access on an equitable basis to standard telephone services, including payphones. The legislation will strengthen the USO by enabling Minister to specify the standards, terms and conditions of services, connection and repair periods, and reliability requirements of the standard telephone service. Telstra will be required to meet new minimum performance benchmarks. Failure by Telstra to meet the requirements will expose Telstra to a civil penalty of up to $10 million.

The legislation also includes more stringent rules on the removal of payphones and new provisions to allow people concerned about a payphone removal to apply to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to direct Telstra not to remove a payphone. Failure to comply with the new rules will expose Telstra to civil penalties or on-the-spot fines.

Once the detailed operating arrangements for the National Broadband Network (NBN) have been settled, the Government will consider the broader range of issues associated with the delivery of universal access. Meanwhile the Government will maintain the USO levy at the same rate for this financial year.

Customer Service Guarantee (CSG)
The CSG currently provides that telephone companies must financially compensate customers where certain minimum performance requirements are not met. The legislation provides new minimum performance benchmarks to require telephone companies to meet or exceed the CSG time periods for a certain proportion of cases. Failure to comply may result in civil penalties or on-the-spot fines.

Priority Assistance (PA)
PA arrangements require the highest level of telephone service to residential consumers who have a diagnosed life-threatening medical condition. The legislation will require telephone companies to either offer PA services or inform the customer where they can purchase these services.

Effective Enforcement of Consumer Safeguards

The legislation will provide the ACMA with increased powers to issue infringement notices (on-the-spot) fines instead of commencing procedures in court.

Removal of Unnecessary Red Tape

The Government will exempt carriers with a revenue less than $25 million per annum from paying an annual Carrier Licence charge and reporting to the ACMA, as costs of compliance is often considerably higher than their monetary contribution.

The ACMA will reduce reporting requirements under the CSG, PA and the Network Reliability Framework, so long as performance benchmarks are being met.

The legislation includes measures to repeal unnecessary accounting and operational separation requirements once functional separation is in place or Telstra has submitted an enforceable undertaking to structurally separate that is acceptable to the ACCC.

The Government will remove the requirement on Telstra to provide technical assistance to enable customers to achieve 19.2 kilobits per second internet services, as the Australian Broadband Guarantee offers broadband speeds of 512 kilobits per second or higher to Australians who cannot access metro-comparable broadband services.

Source www.minister.dbcde.gov.au

Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy

MINISTER FOR BROADBAND, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SENATE

For a meeting report and continuing discussion, go to our ISOC-DC chapter discussion group www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2117168&, or click “Continue Reading…” to read Mike Nelson’s meeting report here.

We’ve made a lot of progress since our first meeting to restart the ISOC-DC chapter in June.

A number of continuing discussions, new interest subgroups, new ideas are showing up on our chapter LinkedIn discussion group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2117168&.  We urge you to go there, sign in to our group, and add your thoughts to our discussions.

We want to hear from you!

Our third organizing meeting the restart the ISOC-DC chapter was Monday, Aug 17,  6:30-8:30 PM, at the Verizon DC Office, 1300 I Street NW, Suite 400W, DC 20005.

MEETING REPORT

Results of the August 17 ISOC-DC meeting

I want to thank all of you who were able to attend Monday night’s meeting despite vacations and other distractions. We had a very lively and productive discussion.

Here’s a short list of highlights:

We agreed to:
1) Hold another Brainstorming Breakfast on next steps for ISOC-DC, Tue. Sep. 8, 8:30-9:30 am at the Teaism coffeehouse in Dupont Circle

2) Convene a discussion on “Internet 2020″ on Monday night, September 14, location TBA

Leslie Daigle from ISOC and Steve Crocker will be among the discussion leaders.

3) Get comments and suggestions on the draft chapter application to chapter@isoc-dc.org by September 1. The almost-final chapter application can be found at
www.isoc-dc.org/docs/ Once we have consensus on that document we can start work on the chapter’s by-laws.

4) Let Mike Nelson serve as Interim President until October.

5) Solicit ideas and organizers for the October and November meetings (via the LinkedIn discussion)

6) Have volunteers interested in organizing or leading events or projects post their ideas under the “What I Can Do for ISOC-DC thread?”

If you want to see the slides I used at the meeting and read more about future plans, visit the ISOC-DC LinkedIn discussion group. (It’s free and easy to join.) Details at http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=2117168&sharedKey=6776211D6E1D

Thanks again for your interest in and support of ISOC-DC.

_______________________________________________________

This was the draft agenda sent out several days before the meeting:

DRAFT AGENDA

1)  Introductions (All)

2)  Agenda Bashing (All)

3)  Sharing news items (e.g. upcoming Internet -related conferences in DC)

4)  Review of discussions at Brainstorming Breakfasts and online (Nelson and others)

5)  Other thoughts on vision and mission for ISOC-DC (All)

6)  Input from other ISOC chapters (representatives from Australian, Pacific Is. chapters)

7)  Presentation of 3-minute “elevator pitch” (Nelson)

This is my attempt to develop a quick description of what ISOC-DC is.

8)  Discussion of September meetings/events (All)

9)  Discussion of Organizational/Leadership Issues (Nelson)

10)  Discussion of online collaboration (LinkedIn, Twitter, Web site, etc.)  (All)

11)  Discussion of and signing of Chapter Application (All)