Global Internet Project – Honolulu

This has been a very busy week for public policy groups in Honolulu. The Global Internet Project Spam Workshop was a follow on to the June 18 meeting on the same subject. The GIP is an international group of senior executives committed to fostering continued growth of the Internet. It dates back to 1995 when Jim Clark of Netscape, John Gerdelman of MCI, Michio Naruto of Fujitsu, Paul Gudonis of Genuity, myself, and several others began a focus on critical issues affecting the future of the Internet. In those early days the major concern was government regulation of encryption. Today the major focus is spam. GIP board members participating on the roundtable included Vinton Cerf, Senior Vice President of Architecture and Technology at WorldCom, Inc., Raimund Trierscheid – Executive Director, Technology Strategy of T-Mobil Deutsche Telekom AG, Dr. Murano of Fujitsu, and myself. Invited guest participants included Karl Jacob, CEO of Cloudmark, Orson Swindle, Commissioner at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and David Lassner, CIO of the University of Hawaii. I was the moderator for the panel. After four enlightening speeches byVint Cerf and the three guests, there was a lively discussion on the key issues. The consensus of the panel was that, while there is no single solution to overcoming spam, there are reasons to be optimistic about progress because of increased focus by Internet service providers, technology start-ups, employers and government. There was also a strong consensus that additional regulation or legislation is not needed. All three Hawaiian TV stations were there along with other reporters. The press release summarizes the key points of view. (read more)