[Fwd: OII News [2007.11.05]: News and events for November (and the IGF 2007)]

[Michael Bimmler (Wikimedia CH)]

Especially the first item (Internet Governance Forum) might be quite
interesting to read...

---Forwarded Message---



Dear friends and colleagues,

As the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2007 will be taking place shortly in Rio de Janeiro, we thought it might be timely for a newsletter that highlights some of the OII's efforts to inform and stimulate debate on issues of Internet Governance. These include: a new working paper, OII involvement in the IGF 2007, and two key events to be held in London. These forthcoming activities add to our ongoing programme of seminars, forums and conferences on this topic, which we regard as central to ensuring that the Internet realises its full potential.

Best wishes,
Bill Dutton, Director


1. The IGF 2007: The OII at Rio
2. New Working Paper on Internet Governance
3. Webcasts on Internet Governance
4. Events Diary


--------------------------------------------------
1. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2007: The OII at Rio
--------------------------------------------------

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum set up after the UN's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to facilitate the international discussion of governance issues relating to the Internet. The first IGF was held in Athens in 2006, and the second will take place shortly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (12-15 November 2007).
IGF: http://www.intgovforum.org/

DPhil student Marcelo Thompson's proposal for a workshop 'Human Rights and Neutrality in the Internet' at the IGF has been welcomed by the IGF Secretariat. The workshop (13 Nov, 16:30-18:00) will seek to address the question: 'In which sense are technologically neutral laws and policies suitable to harness the development of a people-centred Information Society and to protect and fulfil the human right of access to knowledge and technology?' The workshop is being co-organized by the Center for Technology and Society (CTS) at the FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro. Speakers: Michael Geist (University of Ottawa), Ronaldo Lemos (CTS/FGV, iCommons), Andrew McLaughlin (Google, Berkman Center), Claudio Prado (Brazilian Ministry of Culture), Marcelo Thompson (OII), Moderator: Pedro Paranagua (CTS/FGV).

The proposal is at:
http://info.intgovforum.org/yoppy.php?poj=86

OII Research Fellow Dr Ian Brown has also co-organised a workshop: 'Managing security issues: authentication at the transaction level'. Download the flyer (pdf, 74kb):
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/IGF2007_IanBrown_Flyer.pdf

Marcelo will represent Ian on this panel, and OII Visiting Fellow Mary Rundle on two other panels:

'Privacy in Internet Identity Management: Emerging Issues and New Approaches'
http://info.intgovforum.org/yoppy.php?poj=42

'Fundamental Freedoms in the IGF: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Assembly and Association, and Privacy in the Information Society'
http://info.intgovforum.org/yoppy.php?poj=20

Ian Brown will also give a paper on 'Co-regulating Internet Security: The London Action Plan' at the Global Internet Governance Academic Network's (GigaNet) second annual symposium. This takes place the day before the IGF in Rio. Download the paper (pdf, 1mb):
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/GigaNet_IanBrown_LondonActionPlan.pdf

Vicki Nash supported the UK's contributions to the IGF by acting as a judge for the BERR/Nominet Best Practice Challenge. This joint initiative between Nominet and the Dept for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform sought to identify UK organisations, groups or individuals that have delivered a safer, more accessible, diverse Internet experience and who will be showcased as examples of best practice in Rio. Details:
http://www.nominet.org.uk/about/bestpracticechallenge/

Two other events coming up are:

1. The first of what we hope to be an annual 'Global Status of the Net' conference (30 November)
We will be working with the US Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC) to provide a neutral platform for a policy dialogue on challenging technology policy issues, including Internet Governance. The conference will feature parliamentary leaders from across Europe, Members of the US Cogressional Internet Caucus and other government officials, leading tech policy academics, industry executives and representatives from NGOs.

2. What's in a name? (28 January)
A lecture and discussion to provide an oportunity to commemorate Jon Postel by looking back at the history of the Domain Name System (DNS), explain its management and its significance to different actors, and discuss the merits of alternative scenarios in the future, including proposals for such innovations as Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) (more details to follow). This event will be sponsored primarily by Afilias, a global leader in advanced registry services.
Jon Postel: http://www.postel.org/postel.html


--------------------------------------------------
2. New Working Paper on Internet Governance
--------------------------------------------------

We have a new working paper on Internet Governance by Terje Rasmussen (OII Visitor in 2007): 'Techno-politics, Internet Governance and some challenges facing the Internet'. It addresses the Internet as a terrain of 'techno-political controversies' which have influenced the development of the Internet since the start. Download the paper (pdf, 125kb):
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/RR15.pdf

Fragments: 'We have entered the fourth phase of the Net's history, characterised by several opposing tendencies: increasingly advanced technical solutions that bring new terminals and platforms and a greater awareness of what the Net represents in a social sense, but also a closer legal and political intervention in the Net by the IT bureaucrats.'

'The Net's architecture assumed moral surroundings – which the same architecture's success is now in the process of weakening. An increasing number of functions are being installed on the Net to protect users against breakdowns, sabotage and contamination of information, but such measures distance the Net from its original principle.'

Other OII working papers that address Internet Governance:

Dutton / Palfrey / Peltu: 'Deciphering the Codes of Internet Governance: Understanding the Hard Issues at Stake' Summary of an event organised around the topics of openness, security, diversity and access and providing an overview of the IGF and the issues it plans to address (Sept 2006).
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/FD8.pdf

Dutton / Peltu: 'The emerging Internet governance mosaic: connecting the pieces' Summary of a forum attended by members of the WGIG Secretariat (May 2005).
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/resources/publications/FD5.pdf

You can see more governance work at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/project.cfm?id=35

Our working papers can be found at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/publications.cfm


--------------------------------------------------
3. Webcasts on Internet Governance
--------------------------------------------------

Much of our research on Internet Governance has centred on a programme of seminars, forums and conferences. Resulting webcasts are listed below:  

Internet Governance for Development: Focusing on the Issues
Focus: Summary of an event organised around the topics of openness, security, diversity and access and providing an overview of the IGF and the issues it plans to address. Open discussion (rec. 31 Aug-1 Sept 2006)
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20060831_157

Recent Developments in FCC Internet Regulation
Focus: Summarising the swift move of the US Federal Commmunications Commission in removing old rules (common carriage) and imposing new ones (E911, CALEA), and assessing the current US debate about network owners' provision of a 'prioritized Internet' (rec. 18 April 2006)
Speaker: Susan Crawford (a member of the ICANN board of directors)
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20060418_142

Internet Governance for Dummies
Focus: What aspects of the Internet need to be governed, and how effectively are ICANN, the IETF, and the ITU dealing with the key issues of Internet governance? (rec. 4 July 2005)
Speaker: John Levine (a member of ICANN's At Large Advisory Committee)
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20050704_77

The Future of the Internet - and How to Stop It
Focus: What lies around the corner for the Internet, how to avoid it, and how to study and affect the future of the Internet using the distributed power of the network itself, using privacy as a signal example (rec. 25 April 2005)
Speaker: Professor Jonathan Zittrain
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20060411_141

Webcast site:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/


--------------------------------------------------
4. Events Diary
--------------------------------------------------

Exploring the distributed development of Grid infrastructure for Particle Physics at the LHC: A case of Scaled Agility?
Speaker: Will Venters, Dept of Information Systems, LSE
Focus: Describing research undertaken within the EPSRC-funded Pegasus project to explore the working practices of the UK particle physics community in their development of Grid infrastructure to support their research at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Date: Tues 6 November (15:00 - 17:00)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=163

Digital Diplomacy: the impact of the Internet on international relations
Speaker: Dr Nicholas Westcott, CMG (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
Focus: Exploring how the Internet contributes to the fraying of the power of the state in international relations, how non-state actors exert influence, and how the Internet changes both the dynamic of traditional diplomatic negotiations, and the way foreign ministries and embassies operate.
Date: Wed 14 November (12:15 - 13:30)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=162

The Internet and the Delegalization of Law
Speaker: Professor Fred Schauer, Harvard University
Focus: Technological changes, such as the Internet, have made access to nonlegal information, such as newspaper reports and general interest books far less costly. Professor Schauer discusses the issues raised by this trend, such as whether it foreshadows the decreased dominance of traditional canon of legal information within the courts.
Date: Thurs 15 November (15:00 - 16:30)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=166

The 2008 Democratic Global Primary: How Democrats Abroad will use the Internet to encourage political participation and increase overseas voting  
Speakers: Jon Cooper and Meredith A. Gowan Le Goff (American Democrats Abroad)
Focus: In June of 2007, Democrats Abroad voted to kick-off the 2008 delegate selection process with a global primary, so that Democrats around the world can easily participate. It is the first time that Internet-based voting is going to be used on such a large scale for a primary election: according to Democrats Abroad, e-voting will make voting easier and increase participation in the Democratic primary and in the general election in 2008, especially amongst overseas Americans living in remote rural areas.
Date: Wed 28 November (15:00 - 17:00)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=167

Networked Information Processing and Changing Attitudes to Privacy in Japan
Speaker: Dr Andrew A. Adams, School of Systems Engineering, Reading University
Focus: There is a myth amongst researchers that there is no such thing as 'Privacy' in Japan. Dr Adams refutes that and shows that the advent of networked information processing of personal data has brought Japanese attitudes to information privacy to a highly similar position to Western attitudes.
Date: Thurs 14 February (15:30 - 17:00)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=165

Please register for any of these events by sending your name and affiliation to:
mailto:events@...


[Editor: David Sutcliffe]

Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford
1 St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: enquiries@...
Web: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk


------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe, change email address or unsubscribe from the OII News mailing list, please visit:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/mailinglist/

FAQs are available at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/mailinglist/faqs.cfm

To keep improving the content of the newsletters we need to know what you think! You can provide feedback by emailing:
mailto:newsletter@...





_______________________________________________
http://wikimedia.ch Wikimedia CH website
Wikimediach-l mailing list
http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediach-l