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Internet Governance 23 May 2016

Informal Meeting of Internet Coordination and Standardization Organizations

By Olaf KolkmanPrincipal - Internet Technology, Policy, and Advocacy

On Saturday and Sunday, 21-22 May 2016, I hosted an informal meeting on behalf of the CEO of the Internet Society that brought together leaders from various organizations that are involved in Internet coordination and standardization activities (AfriNIC, AFTLD, APNIC, APTLD, ARIN, CENTR, IAB, IANA, ICANN, IETF, the Internet Society, LACNIC, LacTLD, RIPE NCC, and W3C). The primary intention of these meetings is to get to know each other, each other’s organizations, and network at the human level. This was the first time that we were able to welcome Göran Marby, the new ICANN CEO, in our midst.

During these meetings we share information to prevent surprises, to leverage the broad knowledge of the diverse group of organizations, and to identify areas where further coordination might be needed.

Items of mutual interest we discussed:

  • Various perspectives on the Internet of Things (IoT). Some observed that even though not all the things may be directly connected to the Internet, any security issues with the things will be perceived as having been caused by the Internet. It is clear that the IoT will affect many of the organizations around the table.
  • The IANA transition. The process has a number of tightly coordinated milestones during which the various communities need to provide their input. The transition is on track as necessary coordination happens.
  • The Collaborative Security approach to Internet Security and its challenges.
  • How the interpretation of Intermediary liability is evolving in various jurisdictions and how that affects various actors in the Internet operational ecosystem.

These meetings are informal and do not produce any specific output.

Disclaimer: Viewpoints expressed in this post are those of the author and may or may not reflect official Internet Society positions.

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