Cyberspace Law:
Internet Governance Task Force
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In response to growing interest among Cyberlaw Committee members on the
subject of developments at the international level on legal and related
policy issues of Internet Governance, and in order to provide a more
focused, structured and institutionally relevant approach to these
issues, the Cyberlaw Committee has formed a Task Force on Internet
Governance. The mission of the Task Force is (1) to raise awareness
within the Committee, the Section and the ABA on legal and related
policy aspects of Internet Governance principally at the international
level and (2) to promote understanding of developments regarding
Internet Governance. The Task Force will address Internet Governance
issues that affect legal practitioners and those that relate to the
Rule of Law generally. The Task Force will perform this
mission primarily by monitoring activities of the international
community regarding legal developments of Internet Governance, and by
participating in such activities, as appropriate. The Task Force will
also act as a liaison with the international community, with the
Committee and the Section (as well as other interested sections of the
ABA) and with relevant International Organizations (such as ICANN, ITU,
the Secretariat of the IGF and others) dealing with these issues. The
Task Force will report back to the Committee and the Section on
progress in meeting this mission and about its specific activities. If
you wish to be in contact with the Co-Chairs about any aspect of this
webpage or the activities of the Task Force, our e-mail addresses are below (retype the addresses into a new email). Your participation and comments are welcome! 
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| Committee Events |
1. ABA Annual Meeting - New York City
August 7, 2008
- August 12, 2008 | | Senior executives from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), The Internet Society (ISOC), the US Department of State and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) of the United Nations discussed the future direction of global Internet governance at the ABA's Annual Meeting in New York City on Saturday, August 9, 2008. The Internet is an indispensable instrument of global human freedom and prosperity. There is no more strategic task than the development of appropriate means for its on-going governance. Currently, the so-called "critical Internet resources," the basic plumbing of the Internet, are managed by ICANN, a US corporation headquartered in California and subject to oversight under an agreement with the US Department of Commerce. In order to explore means for greater participation in the management of critical Internet resources and the Internet generally, the international community created the IGF under the auspices of the UN. The IGF is a complex, multi-stakeholder process for exploring the full range of governance issues facing the Internet and the only international forum dealing with the full range of these issues. This panel considered:
- The pros and cons of this international process
- What the key issues are likely to be in the years to come (including the next meetings of the IGF in Hyderabad, India in December 2008 and Cairo, Egypt in 2009)
- Who the main players are in this process, including the role of the US government
- Why the IGF and ICANN matter so deeply to US businesses and their legal counsel.
The program was entitled, The Internet - How It is Governed Today and How it May Be Governed Tomorrow: A VIP Panel Discusses the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations and the Global Debate About the Control and Future of the Internet. The program featured:
- Paul Twomey, President & CEO of ICANN,
- Richard Beaird, Senior Deputy U.S. Coordinator, Information and Communications Policy, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC,
- Bill Graham, Strategic Global Engagement, ISOC, Reston, VA, and
- Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, IGF, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
The panel was organized by the Internet Governance Task Force and was co-sponsored by the International Business Law Committee of the Section of Business Law and the International Coordinating Committee of the Section of Business Law.Below under Related Resources are PowerPoints that were used at Program.
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2. Task Force Meeting
August 10, 2008 | The Task Force met on Sunday, August 10 at the Section's hotel. The purposes of the meeting were (1) to prepare for the IGF meeting in Hyderabad described immediately below and (2) to review the activities of the Task Force, including its ICANN Oranizational Options Project.
Below under Related Resources is the PowerPoint that was considered at the Task Force Meeting
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3. Third Meeting of Internet Governance Forum - Hyderabad, India
December 2, 2008
- December 5, 2008 | | The third meeting of the IGF was held in Hyderabad, India from December. The Task Force co-sponsored a workshop entitled Legal Aspects of Governance of Critical Internet Resources Functions - Contributing to Capacity Through Legal Analysis. The workshop co-sponosrs included the Oxford Internet Institute, The World Bank, GIPI, ISOC Bulgaria, Moscow State University, Institute for Information Security, Alfa Redi, ISOC Pacific, the Diplo Foundation and the Council of Europe. See details at: http://www.intgovforum.org/workshops_08/showmelist.php?mem=79.
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4. Seminar at Oxford Internet Institute
December 19, 2008 | | The Task Force gave a presentation on "Critical Internet Resources Funcational and Organizational Mapping" at the OII at Oxford University. The presentation reflects the current status of the Task Force research project, being jointly undertaken with the OII. The Task Force will discuss this and related matters at the Winter Working Meeting in January, 2009. See details at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=230 .
NEW!! Below under Related Resources is the PowerPoint that was used at the OII Seminar. |
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Below is a list of sites of interest that will be updated periodically. We hope that doing so can become a community project. We welcome your suggestions for additions, corrections and possible topic expansion or reorganization. Please e-mail them to the Co-Chairs and we reflect them appropriately in later editions.
This page is an archive of information concerning Programs, Meetings and Events that have been completed by the Task Force.
more...
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| Modified by Frank Hillis on November 2, 2009 |
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