Proposal no. 1: creation of a new international organization dedicated to computer and network (Internet) applications, and in charge of, among other duties, (1) Internet governance, (2) the governance (technical or central) of Artificial Intelligence, (3) the development and maintenance of global Internet applications that could help solve certain specific problems that all countries must address, (4) the development of our global information system, (5) the management of UN data centers, (6) the fight against cybercrime and violations of human rights online in cooperation with Interpol, and (7) the calculation and collection of Internet domain name (and other) fees.
Create a single organization that will carry out (1) all the tasks currently performed by the various organizations or entities (organizations, businesses, etc.) that govern the Internet and make it possible for the Internet “application” to function [(1) the six organizations (associations, forums) that ensure Internet governance: ICANN, IANA (PTI), ISOC, IETF, NRO, IGF (or organizational groups, since IETF — which includes IAB and IESG — is a subsidiary of ISOC, and NRO, the Number Resource Organization, is composed of five RIRs, Regional Internet Registries); (2) the organizations and businesses that operate the 13 Root Name Servers (Verisign, Cogent Communications, USC, University of Maryland, RIPE NCC, ISOC, ICANN, NASA, Defense Information Systems Agency, US Army Research Lab, Netnod, and WIDE Project); (3) the organizations (associations, businesses) that manage domain names and collect annual fees (Registrars, Registries, Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), Generic top-level domains (gTLDs)); and (4) the Internet Service Providers (ISPs)]; and (2) several other new tasks [such as AI (central) governance, running the UN data center, organizing the development and maintenance of new global applications, and the calculation and collection of Internet domain name (and other) fees (to generate greater revenues for the UN)] that are necessary to help the UN address the complex problems it must resolve.
Address all the problems of the current organization of Internet governance [for example: (1) it is difficult (or impossible) to accurately assess (a) the number of people who operate the Internet “application”, and (b) the cost of operating the Internet, because while the tasks related to Internet operation are performed by a small number of organizations, the tasks related to (i) the collection of annual domain name fees (Internet revenues) and (ii) the management of domain names are performed by a larger number of organizations (of various types: businesses, associations, etc.) spread across the world; (2) it is impossible (a) to optimize (minimize) the costs of operating the Internet, and (b) to define optimized standard working procedures, because some identical tasks are assigned to different organizations and types of organizations (businesses, associations, universities) with different objectives, and resources are lost that could be used to reduce the digital divide or improve the Internet and its operation; (3) the current domain name pricing system cannot take into account (a) the use of Internet resources by website owners, (b) the revenues and profits generated by this Internet use, and (c) many other essential pieces of information that would be useful to determine the appropriate fee and for the proper functioning of the Internet; (4) the organizations responsible for the sale and registration of domain names generally have neither the authority nor the means to collect and verify the information related to the sale and registration of domain names that is — or should be — collected to better manage the Internet and to establish a fair and appropriate domain name price, so the information system related to the Internet is very imperfect and ineffective, and the organizations responsible for Internet operation do not have the resources they need to improve Internet security and operation and to fulfill their missions; (5) some critical tasks (for the functioning of the Internet) are carried out — and some important decisions are taken — by volunteers employed by companies or organizations other than those responsible for Internet governance (for example, the IAB is composed of people who work, among other entities, in large companies such as Apple, Google, Huawei, Nokia, Cisco, whose primary objective is to make money, and not necessarily to find solutions to Internet problems that are in the interest of humanity, and this (a) creates conflicts of interest, and (b) poses a problem for implementing solutions to certain issues requiring a high level of discretion or secrecy (for example, implementing systems that help secure the Internet or strategies to combat cybercrime and human rights violations online).]
Decrease the current cost of running the Internet by taking advantage of the synergies and cost savings resulting from the merger of the Internet-related activities of all these organizations.
Generate new possibilities and technical benefits due (1) to the merger of the organizations and entities running the Internet, and (2) to the additional (a) responsibilities and duties (AI governance, development and maintenance of global computer and network applications, joint task force with Interpol to fight cybercrime and human rights violations online), (b) expertise (AI, data center management, software development), and (c) resources (data centers) of the new IO. [For example, the technical benefits would include (1) improvements in Internet functioning, Internet security, and the Internet information system (due to the AI expertise, resources given to the new IO, collecting more information on the use of Internet resources by website owners and other Internet users, human or non-human, and on site owners and internet users, human and non human, than is currently known), and (2) the possibility (a) of generating much higher revenues than ICANN and the other organizations and entities concerned, (b) of decreasing the operational cost of running the Internet, and (c) of determining a more accurate fee for each site and each user, more closely linked to resource usage (...), and of linking non-human users to the human users who benefit from them.]
Generate economic and other benefits (including political benefits) resulting (a) from the creation of this new IO, its data centers around the world, and its new AI capacities, and (b) from the development and maintenance of global computer and network applications such as those presented in proposals no. 3 and 4 [for example, these new global applications would help rich countries fulfill their ODA obligations and help all countries achieve the SDGs, … see p. 4].
Put in place an efficient Artificial Intelligence (AI) (central or technical) governance. The UN Report outlines several institutional functions [page 15 to 19, (1) Assess regularly the future directions and implications of AI, (2) Reinforce interoperability of governance efforts emerging around the world and their grounding in international norms through a Global AI Governance Framework endorsed in a universal setting (UN), (3) Develop and harmonize standards, safety, and risk management frameworks, (4) Facilitate development, deployment, and use of AI for economic and societal benefit through international multistakeholder cooperation, (5) Promote international collaboration on talent development, access to compute infrastructure, building of diverse high-quality datasets, responsible sharing of open-source models, and AI-enabled public goods for the SDGs, (6) Monitor risks, report incidents, coordinate emergency response, and (7) Compliance and accountability based on norms], some of which are identical or closely aligned with those assigned to the International AI Agency in the Gladstone AI Action Plan [in particular functions (1), (3), (6) and (7), I think]. It is therefore appropriate to assign these functions to our new IO (see also on this subject, PJ no 1 no 44-49).
The one-time high cost linked to (or resulting from) the merger of all Internet-related organizations and the migration toward the new system. For example, this solution would (1) necessarily entail a kind of “nationalization” (or transfer) of (a) associations (non-profit) or some of their activities (linked to the functioning of the Internet), and (b) the activities of (i) private companies, (ii) universities, (iii) private organizations (RIPE NCC), and (iv) US and other government agencies that enable the Internet to function, particularly activities linked to the operation of DNS root servers, the management of domain names, and the collection of fees for the purchase of domain names, in order to regroup these entities — or their activities — within the same organization; (2) certainly represent a significant cost (Verisign had a capitalization of $20 billion in 2020, a turnover of $1.2 billion in 2019, a profit of $612 million in 2019, and 872 employees in 2019, I believe, although not all of its activity is necessarily directly linked to the functioning of the Internet); and (3) probably lead to job losses, even if a significant number of employees could be hired immediately by this new IO. The possibility to generate more important revenues will attenuate some of theses difficulties.