UN Online freedom resolution passes despite opposition from Russia, China et al

The United Nations officially condemned the practice of countries shutting down access to the internet at a meeting of the Human Rights Council on Friday. A resolution [PDF] entitled The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet effectively extends human rights held offline to the internet. It was passed by consensus, but …

UNESCO CONNECTing the Dots conference adopts an outcome document

The UNESCO facilitated and international multistakeholder conference under the theme CONNECTing the Dots: Options for Future Action to discuss the first draft of the Comprehensive Study on Internet-related issues. The objective of the conference was to discuss the first draft of the Comprehensive Study on Internet-related issues as part of UNESCO’s response in support of …

Ip-Watch: ITU Plenipot 14 Outcome Limiting UN Agency Role In Internet Governance Deemed “Success”

  By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch US Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda on the eve of the final celebration of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference last week said he was “happy” about the results. Asked what he thought was the most important resolution of the three week conference, he told Intellectual Property Watch …

Defunding ITU? Plenipotentiary: Member States Decrease Financial Contributions

Anthony Rutkowski, Principal, Netmagic Associates LLC writes an analytical article on CircleID on member states dropping their contributions to the ITU The ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference wraps up at the end of the week. The more than 2000 people present in Busan Korea from 171 countries — overwhelmingly government bureaucrats — have been busily polishing …

UN Grabs for the Internet: CFR, Chatham House Lead Toward “Global Governance”

In a recent essay entitled, “The Strategic Significance of the Internet Commons,” former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff describes cyberspace and the Internet as a “global commons” that must come under “global governance.” This is the latest salvo in an ongoing campaign by a disparate congeries of internationalists, socialists, communists, and jihadists to turn …

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 …

UN warns on mobile cybersecurity bugs

A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones. The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards. …