The Foreign Service Journal, January 2008

Council on Foreign Relations news editor Stephanie Hanson last sum- mer. African critics cite what they see as Washington’s overwhelming interest in Africa’s oil and mineral wealth and the desire to counter Chinese, and even potential Indian, involvement on the continent — all concerns that have been more or less validated by American experts who herald the command’s creation, the May CFR backgrounder points out ( http:// www.cfr.org/publication/13255/ ) . But according to a recent BBC News review of the controversy, many states are waiting for more details to become public before taking a stand ( http://newsbbc.co. uk/2/hi/africa/7026197.stm ). — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor Internet Governance Combating cybercrime and bring- ing Internet access to a billion more people were the key themes of the U.N.-sponsored Internet Govern- ance Forum, held in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 15. The IGF, which has no decisionmaking power, was establish- ed in 2005 as a forum for world leaders to discuss Internet control, free speech and cheaper access ( www.intgovforum.org/ ) . Besides expanding Internet access and combating child pornography, credit card fraud and terrorism, members discussed the assignment of Internet addresses, which remains under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government and an American non- profit, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. Several governments have sought to strip the U.S. of this oversight position, concerned that the current system allows the U.S. to exert undue influence over the way users access the Internet. After debating the issue at the Tunisia IGF summit two years ago, the U.S. refused to relinquish control. But the issue surfaced again in Rio de Janiero, where Russia and Brazil expressed support for a new system under international control. Russian representative Konstantin Novoder- ezhkin called on the U.N. secretary- general to create a working group that would determine how best to bring Internet management “un- der the control of the international community,” the Associated Press reported. The debate will un- doubtedly resume when the IGF is held in New Delhi this year. ICANN, over which the U.S. government retains veto power, was chosen in 1998 to oversee the domain name system. Advocates of the pre- sent system argue that the current arrangements provide stability and protect Web sites against censor- ship, which might occur if individual countries could pull entries out of domain name directories. The organization, which operates out of Marina del Rey, Calif., recently elected a chairman from outside the U.S. and began testing domain names in other languages, an issue that is especially important to developing countries. Another critical issue on the IGF’s agenda is Internet privacy. To start a Web site, owners must provide their full names, organizations, e-mail and postal address and phone numbers. Some privacy advocates want domain name owners to have more options when registering, such as designating third-party agents. They say in- dividuals shouldn’t have to reveal their personal information to have a Web site. The privacy advocates’ main tar- get is Whois , a group of searchable databases that allows users to find out who is behind millions of “.com” and other Internet addresses ( www.who is.net/ ) . The site is used by trade- 12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 C Y B E R N O T E S