News Updates over the Past Year

摘要

After a long, hot summer (yes, we occasionally get them in the U.K.), it seemed to be an appropriate time to reflect on some of the past year's stories and check on developments since we first reported on them in the International Reports. In our International Report from September 2005, we covered Internet governance and the role that the Internet played in terrorism and the London bombings. At first glance, it may look as though not many changes have taken place in the course of this year, but that's certainly not the case. For starters, Internet governance is still on the agenda, while the U.S. government's contract with the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is set to expire this month. Although attempts were successfully blocked last year to fold ICANN into a U.N. body that was controlled loosely by the U.S. government, the U.S. government decided to recommend removing itself from its role as overseer after a number of consultants reviewed the situation.