Critical Internet Resources – What are the issues surrounding it

The meaning of Critical Internet resources as seen in the context of the Internet governance is not a well known phenomenon. In this blog, Parminder Jeet Singh dwells on the concept of Critical Internet resources and looks at the issues which make Critical Internet Resources what it is.

Critical Internet Resources (CIRs) have a more or less clear meaning in Internet Governance discussions, as referring to such resources which are critical for the Internet to work, meaning that the Internet CANNOT work without them… Addressing and naming systems which allow proper routing of Internet traffic form one such resource system. One may have different views on how these CIRs should be governed, and this issue is hotly debated, but I don’t think it serves any purpose to open up definitional issues, other than to divert focus from some important discussions pertaining to this key area.
My personal data is not critical for the Internet to work, so it doesn’t constitute CIRs. What is critical to ME, generally, is NOT the question here. It could be my personal data, or a good access device, or an application like Skype………. What is sought to be achieved by discussing what is critical about or on the Internet in this manner ???
Especially when there are real issues about CIRs to discuss…
Is it acceptable for US to have unilateral oversight over the ICANN? What alternative oversight systems can be proposed?
How often do CIRs get used for political leveraging? Was the Internet shut down just before the Iraq war just an ordinary mishap? US based registries have been forced to take off domain names as enforcement of trade embargo against Cuba in connection to commerce done through internet between individuals both of whom reside outside US (selling Cuban tourism) see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/05/us_kills_european_based_cuba_web... .
What is going on with internationalized domain names?
What is the connection between CIRs and increased security of the Internet?
ICANN is planning to open up top level domain allocations (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7468855.stm)? What are the implications of this?
ICANN is planning to raise money by auctioning single alphabet domain names use the money for supporting ‘public goods’ in the Internet system. Does ICANN have the political legitimacy to decide such distributive allocation?
Is auctioning the most sought after domain names acceptable? What is a community wants to use its name in a domain name, and the same name is sought by a big business – we know who will get it in an auction?
How participation in ICANN is improving or not improving in the last couple of years? What is the balance of interests – private, vested, public – that guide ICANN’s activities today?
Is ‘power’ in the domain systems shifting more and more towards regional registries? What is their relationship to ICANN?
With the Internet now organized more by its information infrastructure – think Google – than by addressing system, at least as far as the user is concerned, would the domain system soon disappear into anonymity from the user interface. However it still will keep playing its important role in traffic routing, and thereby in traffic control, whether for political or commercial (IP protection) purposes. What is the role of CIR governance systems in the enforcement of these controls?
In Brazil the .Br resources are managed through a multistakeholder body (http://www.cgi.br/internacional/index.htm ) . Why should such a practice not be adopted in India?
These are a few important issues that come to my mind offhand, but there are many others. In my humble opinion it will be best if we treat the CIR term as everyone else treats it rather than invent new meanings for it. This is even more ill-advised it is mentioned that the discussion is supposed to lead up to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting in December in Hyderabad. IGF goes by a clear meaning of the term CIR as I described, and it will be quite confusing to feed a discussion on personal data and electricity connections into the CIR part of IGF.