Member Surveys
Managing the Net
Feb 2004, by Michael R. Nelson
Over the last couple years, many governments have increased their efforts
to regulate, control, or restrict the Internet. In international meetings at the United Nations and elsewhere, there has been a great deal of discussion and debate about "Internet governance" and the need for governments to work together to guide the development of the Internet and the services provided over it.
Yet, there is no clear agreement on where international cooperation is really needed and whether governments need to take a larger role. In order to inform the debate and educate policy makers on how the Internet works and how different pieces of it (such as the Domain Name System) are managed, the Internet Society has recently published and distributed several white papers (for examples, see www.isoc.org/news/7.shtml and www.isoc.org/news/4.shtml). Global Internet policy will also be the focus of at least 8 sessions at the upcoming INET/IGC 2004 conference in Barcelona in mid-May (www.inet2004.org).
In order to gauge the opinions of Internet Society members and guide our Internet policy initiatives, we would welcome your response to the following survey.
This survey closed on March 10, 2004.
1. Which factors do you think will have a major impact on how the Internet develops:
No impact Little impact Significant impact Major impact Critical issue
- Internet standards
- Telecommunications regulations
- Government censorship
- Government efforts to fight hacking and terrorism
- Intellectual property law
- Spectrum policy
- Allocation of domain names and IP addresses
- Authentication technologies
- E-commerce regulations
- Filtering technologies (to fight spam, pornography, etc.)
- Anti-spam legislation
- Aid programs for developing countries
- Competition (antitrust) policies
- Research programs
- Trade policies
2. In which areas do you think governments need to be more involved and pro-active:
Much less involved Less involved Stay the same More involved Much more involved
- Internet standards
- Telecommunications regulations
- Government censorship
- Government efforts to fight hacking and terrorism
- Intellectual property law
- Spectrum policy
- Allocation of domain names and IP addresses
- Authentication technologies
- E-commerce regulations (e.g. taxation)
- Filtering technologies (to fight spam, pornography, etc.)
- Anti-spam legislation
- Aid programs for developing countries
- Competition (antitrust) policies
- Research programs
- Trade policies
3. In which areas do you believe there is a need for more international cooperation (through non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations):
Much less Less Stay the same More Much more
- Internet standards
- Telecommunications regulations
- Government censorship
- Government efforts to fight hacking and terrorism
- Intellectual property law
- Spectrum policy
- Allocation of domain names and IP addresses
- Authentication technologies
- E-commerce regulations (e.g. taxation)
- Filtering technologies (to fight spam, pornography, etc.)
- Anti-spam legislation
- Aid programs for developing countries
- Competition (antitrust) policies
- Research programs
- Trade policies
4. In which areas do you believe there is a need for more action by intergovernmental agencies (such as the United Nations)?
Much less Less Stay the same More Much more
- Internet standards
- Telecommunications regulations
- Government censorship
- Government efforts to fight hacking and terrorism
- Intellectual property law
- Spectrum policy
- Allocation of domain names and IP addresses
- Authentication technologies
- E-commerce regulations (e.g. taxation)
- Filtering technologies (to fight spam, pornography, etc.)
- Anti-spam legislation
- Aid programs for developing countries
- Competition (antitrust) policies
- Research programs
- Trade policies
5. In which areas do you think the Internet Society should focus:
No Involvement | Unimportant | Somewhat important | Important | Very important | Most important
- Internet standards
- Telecommunications regulations
- Government censorship
- Government efforts to fight hacking and terrorism
- Intellectual property law
- Spectrum policy
- Allocation of domain names and IP addresses
- Authentication technologies
- E-commerce regulations (e.g. taxation)
- Filtering technologies (to fight spam, pornography, etc.)
- Anti-spam legislation
- Aid programs for developing countries
- Competition (antitrust) policies
- Research programs
- Trade policies
SURVEY RESULTS
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