The Tomigaia Blog

Internet Governance?

I attended a panel discussion this month sponsored by Business 2.0 and
moderated by the editor-in-chief and friend Ned Desmond. The main
topic was "How to Succeed at E-Business (Without Going Insane)", and
the topic seemed to resonate with the audience of corporate IT
managers. One of the panelists that night was John Patrick, former
head of Internet Technology at IBM. He had some interesting opinions
about the future of e-business, and the amount of work left to be
done. I agreed with his feeling that customers and companies have just
covered the tip of the iceberg. He also asked the assembled to look at
the behavior of teenagers and how they interact with technology to get
a better idea of their own future customers. Having noticed myself how
quickly Japanese teens adopted cell-phone e-mail and other wireless
technology, I felt that he was on the right track (My question: Will
American companies really look hard at teen needs today? Hard to say.)

At the end of the session, I was able to ask the panel a question, and
the one I asked (in a nutshell) was: will the problems of Internet
Governance become a factor in the future success of E-businesses? John
Patrick, who has been intamately involved with this issue, gave a
generally optimistic answer. He did admit that there are also a
mountain of problems left to be solved in this area.

My perspective is shaped by working on the 'Net in Japan for the last
8 years. Having seen how global initiatives failed to help the
Internet in Japan, and how the Japanese Internet took its own course
has led me to believe that the influence of the ICANN has not been
great.

As you can read in their own recent report [1], the ICANN's own head
wants to reform it, but as the New York Times wrote today [2], many
people, including me, doubt that the ideas presented will really solve
the problems of the ICANN.

Companies like New.Net are jumping into the fray, and trying to fill a
void left by the lack of vision at ICANN [3]. And with elections in
the works, I don't know who to vote for! [4]

I don't think that there is a magic bullet to solve these complex
issues, but unless something is done soon, there will be troubles with
consequences for every entity (corporate, NGO, NPO, or individual) on
the 'Net today.