Public participation site

ICANN has released a "living" graphic aimed to provide a high-level view of how the internet is run attuned for those less familiar with the inner workings of the internet infrastructure ecosystem. Quoting from the document:

No One Person, Company, Organization or Government Runs the Internet
The Internet itself is globally distributed computer network comprised of many voluntary interconnected autonomous networks. Similarly, its governance is conducted by a decentralized and international multi-stakeholder network of interconnected autonomous groups drawing from civil society, the private sector, governments, the academic and research communities, and national and international organizations. They work cooperatively from their respective roles to create shared policies and standards that maintain the Internet's global interpretability for the public good.

Who Run the Internet? Graphic designed to provide a high-level view from ICANN (Click to Enlarge)

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ICANN is looking to set up two new hubs in Singapore and Istanbul to serve the Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets. "Asia has not been well-embraced by ICANN in the past. We owe Asia a big apology," Fadi Chehade, CEO of the organization responsible for administrating the world's Web traffic, said in an interview with ZDNet. Prior to his visit in the city-state, Chehade said he had been travelling this week to China, South Korea, and Japan to share how ICANN planned to grow its Asian presence.

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Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said today that all new gTLD applicants, even those that have not already been hit by government warnings, should submit Public Interest Commitments to ICANN.

In a rare comment sent to an ICANN public forum today, the NTIA suggested that applicants should use the process to help combat counterfeiting and piracy. ... NTIA said that applicants should pay special attention in their PICs to helping out the "creative sector".

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Lesotho IXP setup. Photo Credit: ISOC/Michuki MwangiThe Internet Society today announced that it has been awarded a grant by Google.org to extend its Internet exchange point (IXP) activities in emerging markets. The grant will build on the Internet Society's previous efforts and will establish a methodology to assess IXPs, provide training for people to operate the IXPs, and build a more robust local Internet infrastructure in emerging markets.

IXPs play an important role in Internet infrastructure that allows Internet service providers (ISPs) and other network operators to exchange traffic locally and more cost effectively, which can help lower end-user costs, speed-up transmissions, increase Internet performance, and decrease international Internet connectivity costs. The Internet Society and Internet technical experts have been working for several years to bring IXPs to emerging markets. These efforts have resulted in locally trained experts and facilitated the development of local and regional technical infrastructures. An additional benefit of IXP development is the expansion of community governance models as well as building local Internet expertise.

Google.org, a team within Google focused on social impact, develops and supports technology solutions that can address global challenges, such as expanding Internet access to more of the world's seven billion people.

"The Internet Society has proved to be one of the most effective institutions in the Internet community," said Vint Cerf, vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. "I am confident that they will apply their grant wisely to extend their work to increase Internet access for everyone, including those in emerging markets."

Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society, stated, "We are very excited to receive this grant from Google.org. With support to extend our IXP development and improvement projects, we can more quickly bring core Internet infrastructure to underserved countries and assist in building key human and governance capabilities. We will also be able to extend the Internet Society's mission to ensure the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people everywhere. We look forward to working with Google.org, and we are committed to collaborating with Internet community partners around the world on this important project."

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