ICANN, like NSA, a self-serving bureaucracy killing the internet

This is a repost from johnmpoole.com  All of the hopes, dreams, and promise of the internet, dashed by the NSA and ICANN et al: ICANN leaders push for broad-based Internet governance | PCWorld: “The revelations this year of NSA surveillance by former contractor Edward Snowden have stirred up Internet governance issues, Chehadé said. “That’s, frankly, …

Tech Giants Issue Call for Limits on Government Surveillance of Users

Eight prominent technology companies, bruised by revelations of government spying on their customers’ data and scrambling to repair the damage to their reputations, are mounting a public campaign to urge President Obama and Congress to set new limits on government surveillance. On Monday the companies, led by Google and Microsoft, presented a plan to regulate …

Why the NSA has landed us all in another nice mess

LONDON – Fans of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy will fondly remember Oliver’s complaint to Stanley: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!” In a future remake, Hardy will be played by Barack Obama, suitably enhanced with a toothbrush moustache, while Keith Alexander, currently head of the U.S. National Security Agency, will star …

The NSA and the End of the U.S. Empire

In this column, Johan Galtung, director of the TRANSCEND Peace University and author of 50 Years – 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives (www.transcend.org/tup), writes about the U.S. empire’s spying, and other debacles. WASHINGTON, Nov 14 2013 (Columnist Service) – The linchpin of an empire is the link between two elites, one in the imperial centre, …

Brazil seeks India for global summit to discuss U.S. surveillance

Multistakeholder participation, processes and agenda await clarity Global outrage against recent revelations of mass surveillance by the U.S. government, which sparked discussions for a review of global surveillance guidelines, has led the Brazilian government to reach out to the Indian government for support for its proposal to host a one-off global summit, scheduled for early …

“Coalition of the Willing” website launches! Who is behind it?

A website www.1net.org “Coalition of the Willing” website launches. This comes at a time when internet governance discussions are increasing, and also when internet privacy is being viewed as vulnerable especially following the NSA PRISM exposure. The website just launched but who is behind this new formation? Here is a post on the website: /1net …

Surveillance a major concern at conclusion of UN-backed Bali IGF forum

While reaffirming the need to strengthen the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance, the United Nations-backed forum on the issue, known as the IGF, concluded today in Bali, Indonesia with an acknowledgement that surveillance is the major emerging issue of the year. Over four days, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), set up to support Secretary-General Ban …

Zimbabwe to snoop on citizens’ mobile communications

Zimbabwe’s government has enacted a controversial law that could enable it to spy on any citizen’s cellphone call records as well as text messages. The government gazetted ‘Statutory Instrument 142 of 2013 on Postal and Telecommunications (Subscriber Registration) Regulations, 2013’ on Friday as the country’s new communications minister Webster Shamu – a loyalist of President …