Editorial by Constance Bommelaer  Senior Director, Global Policy Partnerships, and Nicolas Seidler, Policy Advisor, The Internet Society

Back in June 2008, the OECD Seoul Ministerial meeting articulated a collective vision of a future economy and society supported by the Internet.

Significantly, this vision was to be sustained and strengthened by the concerted action of diverse stakeholders; not only governments and business – which were originally part of the OECD processes – but also civil society and the Internet technical community.

By Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

William Gibson is reported to have said: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Whether this is an accurate quote or not, it captures precisely what we are (slowly) facing as IPv6 moves from its 15 year slumber from about 1996 to the June 6, 2011 world IPv6 day when many operators of Internet services turned on IPv6 for a day. It was turned on, again, permanently on June 6, 2012. Two years since that time, one is beginning to see growth in the use of this important protocol in support of an expanded address space.

By Kathy Brown, CEO & President, The Internet Society

We are in the midst of a very busy global policy dialogue on Internet governance and, in fact, 2014 could be an inflection point in shaping the future of the Internet and its governance. In an increasingly complex environment, stakeholders are seeking global guidelines and frameworks to address a wide range of local requirements.

By Jane Hamilton, Senior Policy Advisor, Industry Canada, Chair, OECD Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy

In 2013, the Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy Information Security and Privacy[1] launched its review of the 2002 OECD Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems and Networks by organizing an informal multistakeholder consultation of experts from its membership and beyond, to facilitate a discussion of the need for revisions to the Guidelines.  The scope of the discussion was broad and ambitious.  We explored how the core security principles should be modernized, identified what recommendations the OECD should make to governments, and shared ideas on how international co-operation should be addressed.

By Joni Brennan, ‎Executive Director,  Kantara Initiative

Introduction:

In the interest of supporting trust toward economic growth, the OECD Privacy Guidelines provide a tool for privacy best practices supporting European Union data protection legislation (and cultural expectations) as well appropriate transborder flow of personal data. The IEEE-SA and Kantara Initiative provide this article as participating members of the OECD-ITAC to discuss the changing nature of identity management with more focus toward relationships between people, entities, services, and things. The concepts provided are observations in development within the Kantara Initiative open and transparent community.

By:  Government Engagement Group, ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was formed in 1998. Then there were about 150 million global Internet users, and only 7 Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). Today there are more than 3 billion Internet users, with at least 300 gTLDs (many of them offering names in non-Latin scripts) by the end of 2014.

By Adiel Akplogan, CEO, AFRINIC

The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa and the Indian Ocean region. Aside from distributing IPv4, IPv6 and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) to 56 economies in its service region, AFRINIC plays a leading role in capacity building initiatives, including technical training, supporting infrastructure and technology development, community outreach and engagement activities.

By Robin Wilton, Technical Outreach for Identity and Privacy, The Internet Society

Subject Access Requests

What is the data controller’s perspective on subject access requests (SARs)? The bottom line is that, for data controllers, responding to subject access requests requires preparation, investment and effort.

Table of Contents

Editorial By Constance Bommelaer and Nicolas Seidler , ISOC

ITAC –  An Important Contributor to the Work of OECD’s ICCP Committee By Jørgen Abild Andersen, ICCP Committee

The Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative: A Multi-stakeholder Approach to Capability Building to Combat Cybercrime  By Dave Piscitello, ICANN and Lara Pace, Commonwealth Secretariat 

New Internet Domains on the Way By Christine Willett, ICANN

Open Standards and Innovation Empowerment By Robert P. LaBelle, IEEE

The Web of Applications  By Robin Berjon, W3C 

IPv6 at The OECD By Geoff Huston, APNIC

The Evolving OECD Privacy Guidelines  By Christine Runnegar, ISOC

Experience of an ISOC fellow at the OECD: Big Data By Keisha Taylor, TechSoup 

Review of the OECD Security Guidelines: is the OECD Capable of Addressing Civil Society Concerns? By Roger Clarke, Xamax Consultancy

ITAC Member Spotlight: InternetNZ  By Jordan Carter, InternetNZ

By Constance Bommelaer, Senior Director, Global Policy Partnerships, Internet Society  and Nicolas Seidler, Policy Advisor,  Internet Society

 As we head towards the New Year, the issue of government surveillance continues to ignite intense debate among stakeholders across all regions of the globe. In this context, there could be a temptation for some governments to close their digital frontiers and seek to exercise greater control over their local Internet economies. This would have chilling effects on the global Internet and its ability to spur economic benefits and social progress.

In this regard, the work undertaken by the OECD’s Information, Computer and Communications Policy Committee (ICCP) is critical as it focuses on how to enable innovation and growth – based on a robust, stable and open Internet infrastructure – while preserving users’ privacy and security.

Over the past year, the Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) has been fully engaged in supporting this objective. Here are recent examples of the technical community’s successful cooperation with the ICCP Committee: the adoption of the Revised Privacy Guidelines, the finalization of the ITAC-sponsored study on “Cables, Gateways and IXPs”, and participation in a volunteer group on the implementation of the OECD Internet Policy Making Principles which will be instrumental in preparing for the next Ministerial meeting in 2016.

Also, in the spirit of openness and collaboration, the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) and the Internet Society (ISOC) co-chaired an IPv6 volunteer group, paving the way for future OECD work in support of the new Internet protocol – a key enabler for the development of the Internet economy.

These achievements were facilitated by the multistakeholder approach of the ICCP, in which groups from business, civil society and the technical community all bring their own special expertise and knowledge to the table.

In this newsletter, ICCP Chair Jorgen C. Abild Andersen testifies to the value of this open model by stating that “ITAC is now a regular and highly appreciated contributor to the work of the ICCP, weighing in on a range of issues that are essential to the healthy development of the Internet, to the benefit of our economy and society.”

Indeed, building bridges across different stakeholders is essential as we get closer to 2015 – an important milestone for both the review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

With this deadline in sight, it is now the international community’s collective responsibility to tackle an essential question: following the Digital Revolution, will the Information Age live up to its potential for inclusive growth and development?

There are often discussions at the OECD about the importance to maintain an Open Internet to reach this goal, while understandings of what it really means may differ. In our view, the various manifestations of openness have to be considered as interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Over the past 40 years, the Internet has become a multi-faceted reality: technical, economic, societal and political. These realities are closely intertwined and interrelated. For example, Open standards lay the foundation for an open and borderless economy, which in turn supports the development of a free and global society. As such, the Internet must remain unequivocally open in its universality and global reach.

More than ever, now is the time to lay these foundations and to continue working in a collaborative way towards a successful 2014!

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Constance Bommelaer is the Senior Director of Global Policy Partnerships and helps developing partnerships with international organizations as well as strategic positions on key Internet issues. In this role, she founded and now coordinates the Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) to the OECD. She also leads ISOC’s engagement with UNESCO, WIPO, the G8, the G20 and the IGF. In 2010 and 2011 she was responsible for the strategic development of the Internet Society’s Next Generation Leaders program, a youth program designed to help prepare young professionals from around the world to become the next generation of Internet technology, policy, and business leaders.

 

Nicolas Seidler is a Policy Advisor at the Internet Society. He joined the organization in February 2010. One of his current areas of work concerns Internet and Human Rights, in particular freedom of expression online.  Nicolas contributes to developing partnerships with international and regional organizations, engaging with global policy makers and non-governmental stakeholders on key Internet issues. In this role he contributes to ISOC’s engagement with a variety of organizations such as the ITU, the Human Rights Council or the Council of Europe. He also contributes to coordinating the Internet Technical Advisory Committee to the OECD.