Institute for Internet Policy & Law @ Beijing Normal University

On April 20, 2016, ICANN  published its “Proposed New Bylaws” for public comments. The Draft New ICANN Bylaws were drafted in order to reflect the changes necessary as a result of the recommendations contained in the proposals by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) as provided to the ICANN Board on 10 March 2016 and transmitted to NTIA. Taken together, the proposals call for significant governance changes within ICANN, such as the development of new community powers, the incorporation of the reviews currently required under the Affirmation of Commitments, and modifications to key accountability mechanisms such as the Independent Review Process and the Reconsideration Process. ICANN’s Bylaws are its fundamental document and impacts all the stakeholders. The Chinese at-large community that has been actively participating the ICG and CCWG process, does mind the importance of the “constitutional” document of ICANN.

With the support of BNU IIPL, the two ICANN accredited At-Large Structures (ALSes), Chinese Domain Name Users Alliance (CDNUA) and At-Large@China, both of which are the Members of the APRALO, convened the Joint Community Workshop on May 16, 2016, 18:00-20:00 (UTC +8:00) at Law School Auditorium, Room 1922, New Main Building, Beijing Normal University. The Chair of Council of CDNUA, Prof. Hong Xue, the Director of ICANN Beijing Engagement Center, Mr. Song Zheng, and the representative from At-Large@China, Ms. Antonia Chu gave the keynote speeches at the Workshop.

Remote participation and webcasting were available at the Workshop. The Workshop was in English to enable equal participation from all countries.

Prof. Xue gave an Overview of newly added and revised contents of the proposed new Bylaws and analyzed the new power structure and its check-and-balance design. Prof. Xue then narrowed down to the key provisions in the proposed new Bylaws,  especially in Article 1, 4, 6, 16, 17, 18, 19 and relevant Annexes and analyzed the ICANN’s new mission, commitments and  core values, new accountability mechanisms and community powers as well as the series of institutional designs regarding the post-transition IANA function. Prof. Xue pointed out that the empowered community and building justice through IRPs and other accountability mechanisms would better oversee the ICANN’s administration and serve the interest of the global Internet community. Mr. Song and Antonia also shared their views in their own area of expertise and provided their comments on the potential effect of the New Bylaws  on the domain name industry and young Internet generation.

Members of CDNUA and At-Large @ China, from Beijing, London, Paris, Aberdeen and African cities, joined the Workshop and interacted with the speakers. The young members’ made the impressive comments on the ICANN’s social responsibilities. All the comments on the proposed new Byblaws were collected and will be drafted and submitted to ICANN.

At its forty-eighth session (2015) the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) requested its Secretariat to convene a colloquium on legal issues related to identity management and trust services with a view to compiling information on the scope and methodology of future work in that area (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventieth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/70/17), para. 358). In line with that request, UNCITRAL Electronic Commerce Working Group organized the Colloquium on ID Management and Trust Services on April 21 and 22, 2016 at the Vienna International Centre. The Program and conference materials are available on the UNCITRAL website.

Prof. Xue, as the second speaker of the first Session of the Colloquium, gave a comprehensive presentation on “Scoping Cross-Border e-ID Management and Facilitating International e-Trade”. Prof. Xue pointed out the key legal issues with respect to the eID management and the possible legal framework or solution to address these issues. The new theoretical analysis and framing provided by Prof. Xue were warmly haled as the creative and innovative research that opens up a new legal dimension by the legal professions at the conference. Prof. Xue specifically addressed the open “federal” approach for eID management and the important role of trust service and creatively adopted the three-tier analytical benchmarks for eID law and scoping, i.e. principal IDs, derivative IDs and alternative IDs.

The Colloquium is very informative and invited the representatives of almost all the existing eID management laws and practices, including Estonia, US Virginia, Russia, Peru and China.

Through the discussions at the Colloquium, the UNCITRAL will officially launch the new project on eID management and trust service in the auspices of the Electronic Commerce Working Group, which is expected to conclude its work on the drafting of the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records.

The 2nd Expert Council of APEC E-Business Alliance was formed in March 2016. 22 Expert Members selected from academia, private sector and government agencies of more than 20 APEC economies comprise the Council. Prof. Xue is one of the 5 Expert Members appointed on the Council from China. Prof. Xue made the importance suggestion regarding the program of 2016 APEC E-Business Alliance Forum and the operational strategy of the Alliance in the following 2 years. The Alliance is currently supported by the Secretariat at CIECC.

2016年3月25日，中国网络空间安全协会成立大会在北京远望楼宾馆成功举行。BNU作为发起单位与其他150多家会员单位参与了大会。

大会共分为三个部分，第一部分，中国网络空间安全协会第一届会员代表大会。大会通过了协会章程（草案）、选举办法（草案）、会费缴纳管理办法（草案）等重要文件，并选举产生协会第一届理事会，BNU被选举为理事会成员，IIPL薛虹教授为单位代表；第二部分，中国网络空间安全协会第一届理事会第一次会议。会议选举产生了协会常务理事、副理事长以及理事长。根据理事长提名选举产生了协会秘书长。中国工程院院士、北京邮电大学教授方滨兴当选第一届理事长。随后方滨兴教授发表讲话，表示协会将致力于打造“三个一流”的协会，共建能够推进社会、经济、学术等共同发展的网络平台，协助政府管理，维护公共网络安全。

第三部分，中国网络空间安全协会成立大会。中国网信办副主任王秀军讲话，肯定了过去两年中各有关部门为筹备中国网络空间安全协会的成立所做的贡献，指导了协会未来的发展方向。随后，王秀军部长与民政部民间组织管理局巡视员李波共同为协会揭牌。

互联网治理风起云涌，经济发展亮点不断，学术研究不应落后。2016年伊始，又有新的研究形式出现。2月23日，新治理智库联盟预备会议在北京理工大学国际大厦举行，国家行政学院、北大、北师大、北理工等众多学人，阿里巴巴、京东、百度、腾讯等互联网企业，济济一堂，共商新治理议题。薛虹教授在发言中指出，利益有关各方共同参与的新治理模式比较适应互联网的生态系统，可以在实践中探索发展，例如考虑国家互联网治理论坛（National IGF）等形式。薛虹教授还谈到，法律体系与法律研究需要正视互联网的现实，具有挑战传统理论，颠覆传统观念的勇气与决心。互联网上的版权制度就是处于被颠覆的状况，学界却没有足够的想象力，寻找全新的解决方案。薛教授还提到，互联网上平台服务的治理权力，必须在法律层面得到反映，所谓“平等主体的民事关系”不是束缚头脑的借口，即便在传统的民事法律关系中也存在监护等非平等的关系，平台与其用户之间的不平等性真实存在于相生相克的互联网生态系统中。

与会各位均有兴趣继续研究与合作。现在各个大洲都已经有了关于互联网治理的培训课程及相关机制，例如在欧洲有历经十年的SSIG，拉丁美洲有South School of Internet Governance，非洲与北美也有类似的能力建设项目。薛虹教授曾经在亚洲举办过两届Asia Pacific Internet Leadership Project (APILP)，并在共同发起Asia Pacific School of Internet Governance (APSIG)，主要课程内容包括互联网治理的发展历史、互联网的技术构架、互联网治理的利益有关各方、主要的政策与法律问题，等。在我国与亚太地区发展互联网治理能力建设项目的前景广阔。