In 2011, ICANN continued its soul‑searching with the following main developments: • Implementation of management reform. • Final policy preparations for the introduction of new generic top‑level domains (gTLDs). • The search for a new CEO. 2011 was also marked by the avalanche of Internet governance principles which were pro‑ posed by the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe (CoE), the EU, Brazil, and other players. The numerous convergences of these principles were seen as a possible starting position of a future preamble of a global Internet declaration or a similar document that could serve as a framework for Internet governance development.
Developments in 2012 Two major events marked the 2012 agenda with important consequences for the years to come: the ICANN leadership change, and the revision of the ITU’s International Telecom‑ munication Regulations (ITRs). ICANN had gone through significant developments over the previous year with the in‑ troduction of new gTLDs. Despite some problems with the registration process (software glitches, controversies over the policy process), over 1900 applications for new gTLDs were received and entered into an evaluation process that eventually decided which gTLDs would be introduced to the root starting in 2014. Moreover, the new CEO, Fadi Chehadé, brought a new approach to the steering of the ICANN multistakeholder poli‑ cy processes. In his speech to civil society at the ICANN 45 meeting, he outlined some promising improvements at ICANN, including development of responsible multistake‑ holderism, frank recognition of problems, active listening, empathetic guidance, search for compromise, etc. The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) converged in Dubai in December 2012 to amend the ITRs for the first time since 1988; it caught the spotlight throughout the year and raised concerns about and debate on the impact of a new regula‑ tion on the future of the Internet. At the end of an exhausting two‑week conference, nego‑ tiations ended in a stalemate: participants had failed to reach a consensus on the amended text, leaving the debate open for upcoming meetings. The main contentious point was a non‑binding resolution on fostering the role of the ITU in Internet governance, which po‑ larised participating states into two blocks: western countries favouring the current multi‑ stakeholder model, with supporters of the resolution, including states like China, Russia, and Arab countries, leaning towards an intergovernmental model. Other notable developments were registered in the intellectual property rights (IPR) area, where Internet users’ mobilisation and protests managed to block national (Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the USA) and international (Anti‑Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)) regulations that would have affected users’ legitimate rights through their imple‑ mentation.
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