There’s “very little daylight” between the U.S. and South Korea on their goals for the U.N.’s upcoming 10-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes (WSIS+10), said U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy Daniel Sepulveda during a Brookings Institution event Monday. WSIS+10, set for Dec. 15-16, will assess the world’s progress on meeting the WSIS outcomes and determine how to close remaining gaps, Sepulveda said. “We both share a common commitment to the multistakeholder process, we both share a common commitment to a people-centered innovation society where we’re working to both deliver and drive the benefits of the information community as deep into the economy and society as possible,” Sepulveda said. “We’ll be working together so that we can bring our colleagues together along those lines.”
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
Taylor Swift's recent role in getting Apple to modify its royalties policy for its new Apple Music service shows she could be an influential voice for artists in the ongoing debate over how to address performance royalties in the House Judiciary Committee's work on possible revisions to the Copyright Act, but all artists' power is limited, industry lawyers and lobbyists said during an event Friday. Swift wrote an open letter to Apple in late June protesting against Apple's original plan not to pay royalties on music streamed during three-monthslong free trials for Apple Music. The company then reversed course and agreed to pay out royalties for songs streamed during trial periods (see 1506220060).
An upcoming meeting of ICANN's Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability could signal whether CCWG-Accountability members can reach a consensus on important details of their proposal on changing ICANN accountability mechanisms, group members said Thursday during an Internet Governance Forum USA (IGF-USA) conference. CCWG-Accountability is set to meet in Paris Friday and Saturday. The working group failed during the June ICANN 53 meeting to reach consensus on a single enforcement model for its draft proposal, which it's set to reopen for public comment at the end of July (see 1506250059).
Collaborative governance involving all Internet stakeholders is the best way to maintain Internet openness and move away from the current “narrative of apprehension” about the Internet, Internet Society CEO Kathryn Brown said during a Hudson Institute event Wednesday. That openness has been threatened by receding trust in the Internet amid a rising tide of data breaches like the recent Office of Personnel Management breach and the government surveillance concerns raised by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about controversial NSA programs, Brown said.
The Senate will vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act before the start of Congress’ August recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday on Fox News Sunday. A Senate vote on S-754 would be a “step in the direction of dealing” with the “complete and total incompetence” of federal agencies’ cybersecurity highlighted in the recent Office of Personnel Management data breach, McConnell said. OPM revealed Friday that an additional 21.5 million individuals’ personal information was exposed during the data breach than was initially reported. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned following that announcement (see 1507100037). McConnell said that he believes S-754 “will be broadly supported” in the Senate given the recent OPM data breach, which is “an administrative disaster that [President Barack Obama] needs to get a hold of and get straightened out soon.” McConnell hasn’t announced a timeline yet on an S-754 Senate floor vote, a spokesman said Monday.
Supporters and opponents of the Securing Participation, Engagement and Knowledge Freedom by Reducing Egregious Efforts (Speak Free) Act (HR-2304) speaking at a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee event Friday agreed more action is needed to curb strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) being used against online reviewers, but disagreed whether HR-2304 was too broad to be an effective deterrent. HR-2304, introduced in May by House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas (see 1505140041), would introduce a national anti-SLAPP statute similar in scope to those in effect in California and Texas. The bill would allow defendants in a SLAPP lawsuit to file for a special motion to dismiss the lawsuit if the defendant provided an oral or written statement or other expression in connection with an official proceeding.
Brazil’s move toward at least partial acceptance of multistakeholder Internet governance and the U.S.’s decision to spin off its remaining oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) “have in essence opened the door” to a new compromise approach on Internet governance, said Brookings Institution Director-Latin America Initiative Harold Trinkunas during a Brookings event Thursday. Brookings released a report last week by Trinkunas and New America Foundation Co-Director-Cybersecurity Initiative Ian Wallace that outlined both Brazil’s move away from its traditional advocacy of multilateral diplomacy in Internet governance and U.S. willingness during President Barack Obama’s administration to change aspects of the current global Internet governance regime.
NTIA now believes it will need to extend its current contract with ICANN for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions “at least through next July,” given recent stakeholder guidance on the timeline for the ongoing IANA transition process, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling told the House Communications Subcommittee during a hearing Wednesday. Strickling has been seeking feedback from stakeholders on how long NTIA should extend ICANN's IANA contract past the current Sept. 30 expiration date. ICANN's IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability), which are both working on proposals for the IANA transition, had told Strickling they believed the transition wouldn't be complete until at least July 2016. CCWG-Accountability cautioned that NTIA should operate under the assumption that the IANA transition could be delayed until at least September 2016 if that group's work requires further negotiations to achieve consensus (see 1507070058).
Senate Judiciary Committee Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged Congress to “get more serious” about cyberthreats in the wake of the Office of Personnel Management data breach and other recent cyberattacks, saying during a subcommittee hearing that the Senate needs to move ahead on cybersecurity legislation. Graham and Senate Terrorism ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., held the hearing Wednesday on a draft bill that would update portions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in response to CFAA-related legislative proposals from the White House and the Department of Justice. Other Senate Terrorism members and industry executives who testified at the hearing also pushed passage of the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) and national data breach notification legislation.
ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling are both expected to tell the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday that work on proposals for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition and an associated set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms is continuing to progress after the conclusion of the June 21-25 ICANN 53 meeting in Buenos Aires.