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Nov
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Report Title: Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance

Date Published: November 2010

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages the .CA domain
space on behalf of all Canadians.

This report should be cited as follows:

Canadian Internet Registration Authority. (2010). Report on Canadian Interest in Internet
Governance. Ottawa: Author.

For queries or copyright requests, please contact:

Canadian Internet Registration Authority
350 Sparks Street, Suite 306
Ottawa, ON K1R 7S8

Tel: (613) 237-5335

E-mail: communications@cira.ca
Website: http://cira.ca
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................ 1

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 2

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 3

KEY FINDINGS ................................................................................................. 4

Digital Economy ........................................................................................ 4

Digital Literacy .......................................................................................... 6

Canadian and International Internet Governance ..................................... 6

Internet Policy and Regulation .................................................................. 9

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 11

APPENDIX A: SURVEY ENGLISH/FRANCAIS ....................................................... 12

 REPORT ON CANADIAN INTEREST IN
INTERNET GOVERNANCE

Executive Summary

In late 2009, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) engaged the International
Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to carry out a national survey of Canadians on
issues related to Internet policy and governance. A 20-question online survey was delivered,
and results from the survey point to the following six key messages/recommendations:
1. There is broad support for the establishment of a Canadian Internet forum. The
majority of respondents expressed support for such a mechanism and the prevailing
view among the survey respondents is that there is no one institution that appears to
be taking a leadership role in domestic Internet governance.

2. A Canadian Internet forum should include and engage a broad base of stakeholders,
including governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations,
academia, Aboriginal organizations, and so on.

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

3. A Canadian Internet forum should address issues of Internet development, access
and use, but also issues where the Internet affects other public policy domains.

4. A Canadian Internet forum should not only create a place for dialogue, but influence
the advancement of Internet-related policy.

5. A Canadian Internet forum should link with international Internet governance issues
and policies.

6. A Canadian Internet forum has a strong likelihood of initial success. However, survey
respondents support an ongoing dialogue/process on Internet governance.

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Introduction

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages the
.CA domain space, Canada’s space in the Internet’s global Domain Name System (DNS).
The .CA top-level domain is a public resource for all Canadians. Started by volunteers at the
University of British Columbia (including John Demco, who is still an active member of
CIRA’s Board of Directors), the authority to manage the .CA was transferred to CIRA in
December 2000 after consultation with the Canadian Internet community. Since then, .CA
has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s largest Internet country code Top-Level
Domains with over 1.5 million domain names registered.
In addition to managing this technical infrastructure, CIRA actively participates in
international Internet governance fora, and promotes rational oversight of the Internet
domestically. CIRA is also mandated to undertake activities that support the Internet in
Canada.
CIRA is a member-driven, not-for-profit organization governed by a 15-member board of
directors, consisting of both elected and appointed ex-officio members. Elected members
are chosen by CIRA’s Members in annual online elections.
CIRA engaged the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to conduct a
survey on Canadian public interest in Internet policy and decision-making in late-2009.

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

IISD is an independent, non-profit organization specializing in applied research, analysis and
capacity development that promotes change towards sustainable development. Through its
head office in Winnipeg and its branches in Ottawa, New York and Geneva, IISD advances
policy recommendations on economic policy, climate change and energy, international trade
and investment, natural resources management, and the enabling role of communication
technologies in these areas.
IISD conducted a national, online survey for CIRA seeking input on the following:

1. Identification of the priority issues and concerns around the development and
deployment of the Internet in Canada, including the management of critical
Internet resources.
2. Input into the type of process that might best serve Canadians in the medium
term to advance public debate on these concerns.
3. How this process might best be linked to regional and international stakeholders
involved in shaping the future of the global Internet.

Generally speaking, Canadians have not had much exposure to how the Internet is
governed or administered. This is in spite of the fact that the Internet has been an
incredible economic and social driver for the world over the past 20 years. It is, in many
ways, the late 20th century’s equivalent to the steam engine. Just as the steam engine
enabled a shift from cottage industries to machine-based manufacturing sparking the
Industrial Revolution, the Internet has become the driver of a new, knowledge-based
economy, and has also radically altered the ways in which we communicate with each other
and the flow of information.

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Methodology

A 20 question survey was conducted using the online tool SurveyMonkey. The survey was
self-selecting. The intent was not to provide a true, scientific representation of Canadian
public opinion on the topic of Internet governance. Rather, the intent was to gauge the
opinion of already engaged Canadians about domestic Internet governance issues. The
survey is in Appendix A.
A respondent number of 500 was the target for survey completion. There were actually 801
surveys completed. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents completed the survey in English, 11
per cent in French.
The survey was promoted to a wide variety of people and organizations through the
following means:
• Direct email to CIRA’s membership and Registrants: emails were sent to
1,825 Members and 10,000 Registrants.
• IISD promoted the survey through its networks, which includes the following:
• Media
• Academic and non-academic policy research organizations
• Women’s groups

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

• Arts and culture groups
• Environmental organizations
• International development organizations
• Private sector
• Faith-based organizations
The survey was available in both official languages. The questions’ responses involved a
Likert scale (i.e. response options include strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly
disagree, and don’t know). There were a limited number of open-ended questions, allowing
respondents to provide additional information. Some non-mandatory demographic
information was also collected, and will not be presented in this paper.

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Key Findings

Responses can be broadly grouped in the following categories:

1. Digital economy: including issues of net neutrality, broadband speed and access,
security/cyber-crime, technical infrastructure/technology life-cycle, and intellectual
property/copyright.

2. Digital literacy: including issues of privacy and security/cyber-crime.

3. Overall governance/policy and regulation: including issues of technical

infrastructure/technology life-cycle, intellectual property, and copyright.

Responses can be further grouped by domestic versus international importance.

The following section provides an overview of the responses, and is organized according to
the categories identified above.

Digital Economy
The digital economy is an economy that is based on electronic-based goods and services, or
the trade of goods and services using electronic means. In Canada and around the globe,
the value of the digital economy has grown tremendously over the past two decades. For

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

example, in 10 years the global e-commerce market, worth $23 million in 1998, grew to
$7.3 trillion by 2008.
It is CIRA’s opinion that the Internet permeates almost every facet of the Canadian
economy. We call this the Digital Economy Value Chain: the Internet stimulates human
creativity with new technologies, outlets and opportunities which leads to innovation in
products, services and processes. These products, services and processes improve
productivity for individuals and businesses, thereby boosting their – and Canada’s –
competitiveness in the global digital economy.
Numerous topics were grouped under the heading ‘Digital Economy’ for the survey,
including the following:
• Net neutrality.
At the time the survey was conducted, net neutrality was a ‘hot button’ topic in Canada and
the United States. About the time the survey was conducted, the CRTC presented its
decision regarding net neutrality in Canada (http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-
657.htm). Accordingly, 92 per cent of survey respondents indicated that they are either
very concerned or concerned about net neutrality, with 79 per cent identifying that they are
very concerned.
• Broadband cost and access.
Similar to net neutrality, broadband cost, access and value are issues that are high profile in
Canada. The survey results show this to be true, with 92 per cent of respondents saying
that they are either concerned or very concerned about access to the Internet in Canada,
with 73 per cent indicating that they are very concerned.

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At the end of the survey, participants were asked if there were any issues missing from the
questions. Five per cent of the 773 respondents who identified additional issues pointed to
broadband speed, affordability and quality as issues missing from the existing questions as
was rural Internet access.
• Security and cyber-crime.
Seventy-eight per cent of respondents said they were either very concerned or concerned
about the Internet with regard to security in Canada, with 43 per cent indicating that they
were very concerned.
With regard to cyber-crime, 74 per cent of respondents were either very concerned about
Internet abuse and misuse of the Internet in Canada. Forty-three per cent were very
concerned. Respondents indicated spam and fraudulent websites as their primary concerns.
• Critical infrastructure, including the lifecycle of the infrastructure.
Critical Internet infrastructure refers to the component parts – physical and digital – crucial
to the secure operation of the Internet including, but not limited to the following:
• Sufficient IP addresses.
• Access and bandwidth.
• Adequate policies that support the safety, security and resilience of the Internet.

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

• Adequate, scalable and reliable root name servers.
Almost 60 per cent of respondents reported being concerned or very concerned about
Internet infrastructure issues. Twenty-five percent reported being very concerned. Only two
per cent reported being unaware of such issues.
Less than half of respondents – 44 per cent – said they were either very concerned or
concerned about the impact of the Internet and Internet-related technologies on the
environment. Twenty per cent reported being very concerned. Almost one quarter of
respondents – 23 per cent – stated they were not concerned at all about the impact of the
Internet and Internet-related technologies on the environment.
• Intellectual property rights and copyright.
Respondents were asked to rate how concerned they were about Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR). A little more than half (52 per cent) of respondents said they were either very
concerned or concerned about how IPR is protected for content accessed online, with 22 per
cent indicating that they were very concerned.
IPR and IPR reform are issues that have gotten a lot of media attention in Canada. The
Government of Canada conducted a national public consultation on copyright from July to
September 2009, shortly before this survey.
Under issues identified as missing from the questions, IPR reform was identified by five per
cent of the 773 respondents who provided additional issues.
• General Economic Issues
Numerous specific policy-related issues were identified by respondents when asked to
identify issues missing from the survey. Twenty per cent of the 773 respondents who

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provided additional information identified the need for an Information Technology Master
Plan (ITMP), including the following issues: throttling, bandwidth caps and usage-based
billing.
Open competition was mentioned by 15 per cent of the 773 who provided different issues;
public funded Internet access was identified by less than five per cent of the 773
respondents who provided additional issues.

Digital Literacy
The following topics were grouped under the heading ‘Digital Literacy’:
• Privacy.
Privacy, especially online privacy, is an issue that has gained prominence in Canada in
recent years. This is evidenced by the fact that 89 per cent of respondents said they were
either very concerned or concerned about privacy on the Internet in Canada, with 63 per
cent indicating being very concerned.
Respondents were asked:

How significant a need is there for public education on issues such as Internet rights,
responsibilities and consequences of online actions?

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

A total of 88 per cent of respondents stated that there was either a very significant or
significant need for public education on the rights and responsibilities of individual users.
Forty-six per cent of respondents indicated that there was a very significant need.
Under issues identified as missing from the questions, privacy, deep packet inspection
(DPI)1 and surveillance was identified by five per cent of the 773 respondents who provided
additional issues.
• Specific policy-related issues.
When asked whether there was either a very significant or significant need for public policy
to guide Internet innovation in health, education, employment, arts and culture, a total of
73 per cent of respondents agreed. Thirty-five per cent indicated very significant.

Canadian and International Internet Governance

Responses grouped in this section come from questions that attempted to get at Canadians’
knowledge of domestic and international Internet governance institutions and fora, as well
as ‘take the pulse’ of Canadians’ interest in the development of a forum to discuss issues
related to Internet governance.
Respondents were asked to identify up to three Canadian organizations that they felt could
discuss Internet-related policy.

1
Deep Packet Inspection is analyzing network traffic in order to identify the type of application that
sent the data. DPI can analyze any information that is not encrypted.

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Identified organizations included the following:
• Canadian Radio and Telecommunication Commission: 16 per cent (an additional three
per cent mentioned the CRTC in a negative context; an additional two percent
mentioned that the CRTC should be dissolved).
• Canadian Internet Registration Authority: 14 per cent
• Government ministries and Members of Parliament combined for a total of 10 per
cent.
• Other organizations mentioned included the Canadian Internet Policy and Public
Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP),
Teksavvy, Michael Geist, Telecommunities Canada, and the Canadian Library
Association.
A number of other organizations received single mentions.
Respondents were asked to identify organizations or institutions for discussing opinions and
concerns regarding Internet policy internationally. Organizations and institutions identified
included the following:
• Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

• U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• DSLReports
• The UN and UN-related bodies like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and UNESCO
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Each of the following organizations was mentioned by less than five per cent of
respondents: Google, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the
Internet Society (ISOC). A number of other organizations received single mentions.
When asked who should have predominant responsibility for the evolution of the Internet in
Canada, 65 per cent of respondents stated that it should be a responsibility shared across
all identified stakeholders (governments, the private sector, the technical community, and
end users).
Other responses included the following:
• End users: 13 per cent
• Government: 12 per cent
• Private sector (including ISPs): seven per cent
• Technical developers: three per cent
This question was asked to determine who respondents thought should take on the
leadership role, and be accountable for, the Internet in Canada. Seventy-six per cent of the

7
822 responses to the question, “Would you like a Canadian mechanism to discuss Internet
policy and decision-making?” said yes, an indication that there is support in Canada for a
body to lead/discuss issues of Internet governance.
Survey respondents were asked to identify what such a mechanism to discuss issues of
Internet governance should consist of. Again, the results indicate that Canadians would like
such a body to be inclusive:
• An e-forum was identified by 18 per cent of respondents.
• Three per cent of respondents identified a blog. An additional three per cent identified
an annual, in-person event.
• Seven per cent of respondents identified some combination of ‘all of the above’, with
suggestions for engaging with subject matter experts, advertising, conducting polls,
interfacing with regulators, and running plebiscites.
• A majority of respondents identified ‘all of the above’ – a clear indicator of support for
a broad-based, inclusive forum for discussions on Internet governance issues in
Canada.
When asked who should participate in a Canadian Internet forum, an overwhelming majority
(90 per cent of the 814 responses to the question) stated that the forum should attract a
broad community of users that represent all walks of life in Canada. The remaining 10 per

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

cent of respondents indicated that only the Internet technical community should be
involved.
Respondents were to pick one or more stakeholder categories from a list of nine who they
believed should be encouraged to participate in an Internet forum. There were a total of 731
responses, averaging seven responses each. The results are as follows:
• Consumer organizations: 13 per cent
• Public policy organizations: 13 per cent
• Business: 12 per cent
• Not-for-profits: 12 per cent
• Media: 11 per cent
• International development and cooperation organizations: 11 per cent
• Environmental organizations: 10 per cent
• Faith-based organizations: seven per cent
Respondents were also asked to identify stakeholders they thought were missing from the
list of nine pre-identified stakeholder categories. The following stakeholders were identified:
• Academia and educators
• Average end users
• Youth
• First Nations and remote communities

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 • Governments
• Technical experts
• Library organizations
• Consumer advocacy organizations
• Legal and security communities
• Business owners
• Content creators
• Other
To understand how to better facilitate and organize an Internet forum, respondents were
asked to identify how to best attract the previously identified stakeholders to participate in
the forum. Two hundred and sixty-six people responded, identifying the following
approaches to be considered:
• Traditional media, including radio, television and newspapers.
• New and social media, including online advertising, online forums, blogs, YouTube,
Facebook, and Twitter.
• Many respondents suggested that advertisements be targeted to specific groups, use

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

plain language, and target specific issues to specific groups.
A few responses indicated that a strategy of direct engagement with stakeholders would be
the best approach. Personal contact with select key individual stakeholders was proposed as
a method to increase the success of outreach activities though an online presence was also
identified as necessary.
Youth were identified as a key stakeholder to be engaged in any consultation, and that they
should be specifically targeted through student organizations on high school and
university/college campuses.

Internet Policy and Regulation

A number of questions were asked to determine what should be done with the outcomes of
an Internet forum in Canada.
Respondents were asked, “Should this forum share Canadian perspectives on the evolution
of the Internet with other similar forums being established in other countries and with the
United Nations Internet Governance Forum?”
Seventy-five per cent of the respondents to this question (a total of 936 responded) stated
that the forum should share Canadian perspectives with other forums around the world, as
well as with the UN Internet Governance Forum. This demonstrates a strong willingness on
the part of Canadians to consider Internet policy and governance issues in both a domestic
and international context.
When asked to offer additional information, a number of respondents identified the
importance of determining whether or not the forum should influence Canadian policy and

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regulation. Successful and sustained engagement would be key to the success of the forum
to ensure positive influence on Internet and Internet-related policy and regulation. Since
such a forum would not be the first consultation on the digital economy, a few respondents
expressed cynicism regarding the utility of such a forum, indicating that “nobody wants
another sounding board, they want an instrument to affect change.”

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Conclusion

Six broad themes/recommendations can be taken from the survey, including the following:
1. There is broad support for the establishment of a Canadian Internet forum. The
majority of respondents expressed support for such a mechanism and the prevailing
view among the survey respondents is that there is no one institution that appears to
be taking a leadership role in domestic Internet governance.

2. A Canadian Internet forum should include and engage a broad base of stakeholders,
including governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations,
academia, Aboriginal organizations, and so on.

3. A Canadian Internet forum should address issues of Internet development, access

and use, but also issues where the Internet affects other public policy domains.

4. A Canadian Internet forum should not only create a place for dialogue, but influence
the advancement of Internet-related policy.

5. A Canadian Internet forum should link with international Internet governance issues
and policies.

Report on Canadian Interest in Internet Governance| November 2010

6. A Canadian Internet forum has a strong likelihood of initial success. However, survey
respondents support an ongoing dialogue/process on Internet governance.

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 APPENDIX A: Survey English/Francais

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