 14.
Guiding and governing the Internet |
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Emerging as it did from the US
defence establishment – and depending for its development
on highly technical skills – it is not surprising that
the internet was governed for years by a small group of relatively
invisible men. Today decisions taken on internet standards have
political, economic and social ramifications as well as technical
ones. Governments, business and civil society organisations alike
recognise that internet decisions carry high stakes. Opening
up decision-making processes is imperative.
Four organisations have particular roles to play:
• The Internet Society (ISOC) is an open, inclusive global
internet movement
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the most controversial, because its responsibility
for managing domain names globally touches national sovereignty
and calls for broader participation in decision-making
• The Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) looks after
standards for internet connectivity
• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) looks after standards
for accessing web-based content. The Internet Society (ISOC) is a professional membership society
with 14,000 individual members and 150 organisational members
in over 180 countries. It provides leadership in addressing issues
related to the future of the internet. It fosters an environment
of international collaboration within which to support the development
of standards, create educational and training opportunities and
promote professional development and leadership.
Members are the companies,
government agencies, and foundations that have
created the Internet and its technologies as well as innovative
and entrepreneurial organizations contributing to the maintenance
of that dynamic.1
Membership
is free to individuals; organisations pay between US$2,500 and
US$100,000 annually. Fees for non-governmental organisations
are discounted by 50%. Members can work through local chapters – or
create them when none exist.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) is a global, non-profit, private sector initiative that was formed
when the USA realised that management of the domain name system
from a narrow, technocratic base was no longer feasible. ICANN’s
main function is to coordinate the assignment of domain names,
Internet Protocol addresses, protocol parameters, and port numbers
that must be unique in order to achieve a functioning, secure
and stable internet.
ICANN has no statutory or other governmental power – its
authority derives entirely from voluntary contract and compliance
with its consensus policies by the global internet community.2 Its
survival depends on reinventing itself in a more truly global
mode.
As
a result of lobbying by a number of civil society bodies the
ICANN Board opened up its membership to on-line election by individual
members ‘at large’, who registered on-line; they
were entitled to vote in the last Board election. Five members
were elected under this new arrangement. The elections have proved
controversial within the ICANN Board and within the broader internet
constituency; rules have been changed so that the ‘at large’ community
of individual users can no longer vote in ICANN Board elections. 3 Some
alternative ways of expanding participation in ICANN are
discussed in chapter 18.
The Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF)is
a network of individuals hosted by ISOC and engaged in
the development of new internet standard specifications.
It is the ultimate consultative mechanism of the internet
age. It has no corporate identity, board of directors,
members or dues.4It
deals nevertheless with the pressing operational and technical
problems by specifying standards or protocols; it moves
technology innovations from its research group to the broader
internet community; and it acts as a forum for the exchange
of information between vendors, users, researchers, contractors
and network managers.
The World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created to realise the
full potential of the web by promoting interoperability
and encouraging an open forum for discussion.5It
groups 74 people working from locations around the world
and is hosted in the USA, France and Japan. W3C has a truly
global vision of a web that accommodates differences and
limitations across continents, is user-friendly and trustworthy.
It aims to match the web to the ever-changing expectations
of users and the ever-expanding power of computers. In
a recent battle over patenting web standards, the Consortium
demonstrated a willingness to listen to free software voices
within civil society and came down firmly in support of
a Web maintained clearly within the public domain, and
gave an example of how to respond to civil society pressure
that other such bodies could follow.6
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