Internet Committee Update: INTA Intensifies Engagement on Internet Governance and Jurisdiction

INTA’s Internet Committee has voiced its concerns about trust and safety on the Internet by submitting comments on a key United Nations High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (UNHLP) report. This work is part of the Committee’s intensified collaboration with numerous key stakeholders to expand INTA’s scope of Internet governance engagement.

Background

The rapid advances to the Internet’s infrastructure and the domain name system (DNS), coupled with the evolution of Internet governance around the world has led to a proliferation of new conferences and networks discussing next steps for legal frameworks that would ensure the trust, security and stability of the entire system.

An example of this has been the UNHLP on Digital Cooperation, which concluded its final report in June of this year. The report outlines recommendations to enhance Internet governance ahead of the 75th anniversary of the UN in 2020. This report, as well as reports from other organizations, such as the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network, the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), and the IGF-USA will be presented at the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Berlin, Germany, in late November. IGF is a multi-stakeholder program created by the UN in 2005 that has been a discussion forum with little direct influence on policy-though this has been changing. This year, the German government is hoping to produce tangible outcomes from the meeting, indicating that the IGF may be a more influential body in the future.

INTA’s Internet Committee has been observing and participating in this process for several years, and has stepped up its engagement with these groups during the 2018‒2019 Committee Term. Notably, the Committee has weighed in by submitting comments early this year on the UNHLP report, lodging its concerns about trust and safety on the Internet. The Committee will contribute further comments on the final report this month. INTA also commented on the Zimbabwe government’s plans to improve their country code top-level domain (ccTLD) and DNS policies. This reflects the increasingly global reach of INTA’s advocacy efforts.

Continued Engagement

Additionally, the Committee provided input to the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network’s Global Report on cross-jurisdictional developments, cases, and laws that add context to issues of jurisprudence on the Internet, highlighting the territoriality of trademark law, for example.The Internet Committee released a report highlighting some additional case law describing cross-jurisdictional issues on the Internet, which can be found in the Advocacy Group Reports section on INTA’s website.

INTA’s Internet Committee also participated in ICANN 66, which was held from November 2 to 6 in Montreal, Canada. There, the Committee engaged with Internet stakeholders on such issues as DNS abuse, privacy and proxy services in domain registration, and ongoing issues related to the masking of domain registration data in the WHOIS system.The Expedited Policy Development Process in particular continued its deliberations on an access and accreditation model for WHOIS domain registration data.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.