About Russia --- As part of my work, I have reviewed Russia’s position on Internet governance issues. My view is that although it would be open to changes in the governance model, it does not want to create chaos in the current system. However, it has been interesting to see emerging tension between Moscow and ICANN leadership. I would not say it has become serious yet, but recently ICANN CEO Goran Marby has expressed disagreement with Russia’s efforts to grant states more influence on the Internet administration. I can say that Russia’s position in favor of a more ‘multilateral’ approach is very coherent with its foreign policy. In this case, the Internet is seen as something that should be controlled by a broad group, given that keeping influence in the hands of a few can lead to Russia being excluded from decision making or subject to American sanctions given that ICANN is registered in the US and must comply with local laws. But Marby’s interpretation was that Russia wanted to exercise more influence in every aspect of ICANN’s work, even raising alarms about the possibility of a Russian national becoming the next ITU Secretary-General. Are there real reasons to worry about Russia’s activism?

Source author: Juan Feliciano Ascencio Moctezuma jascencio@sre.gob.mx