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ICANN

International Civil Society Coalition To Discuss Global Privacy Standards

Urdu Translation of The Public Voice Press Release: International Civil Society Coalition To Discuss Global Privacy Standards

ICANN Issues Affirmation of Commitment, Seeks Comments on WHOIS

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the corporation that coordinates the assignment of domain names to Internet Protocol addresses, has signed an affirmation of commitment with the Department of Commerce. ICANN also commits to enforcing its existing WHOIS policy, subject to applicable laws. The WHOIS database, originally intended to allow network administrators to find and fix problems with minimal hassle to maintain the stability of the Internet, now exposes domain name registrants' personally identifiable information to spammers, stalkers, criminal investigators, and copyright enforcers. ICANN's preliminary report shows that about 15 to 25 percent of domain names have been registered in a manner that limits the amount of personal information available to the public through WHOIS queries. A call for public comments on WHOIS is open until November 6, 2009.

Top Ten Myths About Civil Society Participation in ICANN

The Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) at ICANN released the following campaign:

Top Ten Myths About Civil Society Participation in ICANN

Myth 1
“Civil Society won’t participate in ICANN under NCUC’s charter proposal.”
False. ICANN staffers and others claim that civil society is discouraged from engaging at ICANN because NCUC’s charter proposal does not guarantee GNSO Council seats to constituencies. The facts could not be further from the truth. NCUC’s membership includes 143 noncommercial organizations and individuals. Since 2008 NCUC’s membership has increased by more 215% - largely in direct response to civil society’s support for the NCUC charter. Not a single noncommercial organization commented in the public comment forum that hard-wiring council seats to constituencies will induce their participation in ICANN. None of the noncommercial organizations that commented on the NCSG Charter said they would participate to ICANN only if NCSG's Charter secured the constituencies a guaranteed seat on the GNSO.

Civil Society Letter regarding non commercial involvement in ICANN policy process

The Non Commercial Constituency at ICANN called for the ICANN Board to correct problems regarding the restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and the involvement of non commercial organizations in ICANN.

Africa Electronic Privacy and Public Voice Symposium (2007)

On December 4, 2007, The Public Voice coalition organized the conference "Africa Electronic Privacy and Public Voice Symposium" in Cape Town, South Africa.

The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together African NGOs, technical experts and policy makers to discuss Privacy, the World Summit on the Information Society and the policy development of Information and Communication Technologies. It was an opportunity for the public voice to be heard on issues such as safeguarding electronic privacy and protecting online speech, as well as African perspectives on Internet governance and the World Summit on the Information Society. The Symposium was held in Cape Town, South Africa at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island, on December 6, 2004 in conjunction with the ICANN meeting.

The members of the Organizing Committee were: The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the WSIS Civil Society African Caucus, the Association for Progressive Communications and the Non-Commercial Users Constituency of ICANN (NCUC).

PIR launches campaign to help .org domain name holders protect the value of their .org domains


The Public Interest Registry (PIR) has announced a new international public awareness campaign aimed at protecting .ORG domain name holders from the potentially damaging consequences of allowing their .ORG domain names to expire. The campaign, called "protectyour.ORG: Preserving the Value of Your .ORG Domain", seeks to educate registrants about the value of .ORG domains˜, even those that are not currently being used as Web sites. It offers steps for locating, managing, consolidating, and securing domain names in order to reduce the potential for problems that may occur when domain names lapse either intentionally or because the registrant was unaware that a name had expired. More information»

 
 

Take Action

PARTICIPATE NOW

European Commission: Consultation on Personal Data Protection

Consultation due on December 31, 2009

 

Events

CALENDAR FOR CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORKING

This is a listing of events which may be useful for civil society to participate, connect and network on issues relating to information and communication technologies and policies.

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Past Events

Seoul logo

OECD 2008 Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy

Terra Incognita logo

Civil Society Privacy Conference
Montreal
Sept. 25, 2007

OECD Participative Web Forum
Ottawa
Oct. 3, 2007

Past Public Events

Cape Town Conference »

Wroclaw Conference »

Buenos Aires Conference »

Participation in the World Summit on the Information Society Internet Governance Caucus »

Civil Society Background Paper


Background paper logo