The document discusses several topics related to internet governance and culture, including issues with ICANN and U.S. control over domain name systems, debates around defining what constitutes the internet, and examples of online civil disobedience such as the "etoy vs eToys" case. It also addresses questions around how Habermas' theory of communicative action could work across language groups and debates around the impacts of globalization on culture.

1. as communicative action?

2. The global corporate model is premised on the concentration of power over markets, governments, mass media, patent monopolies over critical drugs and seeds, the workplace and corporate culture. All these and other power concentrates homogenise the globe and undermine democratic processes and their benefits. Anita Roddick http://www.anitaroddick.com/

3. Body Shop agrees L'Oreal takeover High Street beauty products retailer Body Shop has agreed to be taken over by French cosmetics giant L'Oreal in a deal worth £652m. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4815776.stm MARCH 2006

4. Neilsen//NetRatings Top ad placements: lists the domains where advertising is placed. For instance, click on yahoo.co.uk to see all the companies advertising on this domain versus who is advertising on excite.co.uk Neilsen//NetRatings is the global standard for Internet audience measurement an analysis and is the industry’s premier source for online advertising intelligence. Covering 70% of the world’s Internet usage, the Neilsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated Internet and digital media research reports and custom tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. www.nielsen-netratings.com

5. Australia: Average Web Usage Month of July 2007 Home Panel 14,303,342 Current Digital Media Universe Estimate 10,842,782 Active Digital Media Universe 00:00:51 Duration of a Web Page Viewed 33:54:28 PC Time Per Person 61 Domains Visited Per Person 37 Sessions/Visits Per Person

7. The U.S. government established ICANN in the late 1990s with the commitment that U.S. control over the "root servers" that lie at the heart of the domain name system would be phased out. Years later, ICANN has failed to meet expectations. Internet Governance and ICANN What are the problems with this regarding freedom of speech, civil liberties, U.S. dominance to name only a few? Consider Stuart Hall’s analysis regarding popular culture in your reader. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

8. Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) "We will have to discuss a wide range of contentious issues, beginning with a basic question like: What is the Internet?" Kummer said. "The answer isn't as easy as you would think because we need to determine whether we are talking about just a set of protocols or also about IP services, which can lead to a whole other dimension." http://www.wgig.org

9. How can Jurgen Habermas’ theory of ‘communicative action’ with its focus on ‘validity claims’ work across language groups? http://www.worldwide.edu/s2s/internet_outreach/interest_language.html

10. Author Topic Posted - 08/23/2005 : 02:51:08 --------------------------------------------------------------- What explains the acceptance and welcoming of Western culture into China? Under the forces of globalization, how will Chinese culture survive? Will it thrive or decline? Juchechosunmanse - Member Posted - 08/23/2005 : 21:43:07 (1673 Posts) ------------------------------------------------------- Decline, unfortunately. In a way the world has been westernized and Americanized so much that it has reached the point of no return. http://www.atimes.com

11. Free software such as Linux and its impact upon communication, education and creativity. Open Source ?

13. A Swarm of Angels is a new way to create cult film. The project is a giant new media experiment to gather 50,000 people paying £25 each to create a new type of movie.

14. http://www.iraqilinux.org/ The Iraqi Linux group portal, many are curious why this site is not in Arabic? As it states on the website, “why have we chosen English instead?” From the national point of view, we are not new to English: - one in four Iraqis do not have Arabic as their main language, they speak Kurdish, Chaldean, Assyrian, Turkman, and so on. - the second language in schools colleges and universities is English. - A large proportion of our business and commerce is conducted with non Arabic speaking countries.

15. “ There is a certain overlap in what came out in the report and what the U.S. preferred,” said Mr. Kummer. “ The availability and security of the Internet is very much at the core of the U.S. proposal. The U.S. says it is assuming responsibility to ensure security and stability, and any proposal for change should not endanger that.” Although many members saw a need for greater internationalization, the group could not agree because different members had different visions. The U.S. also issued a statement on its position when the report was in its final editing phases, so some parts of the report came as a reaction to the U.S. statement, calling for less unilateral control and more transparency.

16. The most famous 'virtual sit-in' was executed by the European net art group etoy, which orchestrated a digital 'Toywar' against the American internet toy vendor eToys that had sued them - because of their similar domain name, or web address - for copyright infringement. The instance that has become known as the 'etoy vs eToys case' was later described as the 'most expensive performance in art history'.

18. ASSERTION: Democracy and Capitalism go hand in hand. REALITY By definition, design, and practice, capitalism is a system that concentrates economic power in the hands of the few to the exclusion of many. Anita Roddick