B211 Self-Test Week 7

Current Affairs Self-Test - Week 7

The following are excerpts from newpaper articles. Read the excerpts and answer the question below each excerpt.

Excerpts from an article about the ICANN:
A top agenda item is a draft proposal to reduce to six, from nine, the number of board members who represent the general Internet community.
...
Currently, nine of ICANN's 19 board members are at-large members who are supposed to represent the general public. However, how to go about selecting these members is controversial.
"There's been no consensus on how these directors should be elected," said Andrew McLaughlin, ICANN's chief policy officer.
...
Andy Mueller-Maguhn, one of the current elected at-large members, complained about the proposal and the exclusion of internet users who do not want or cannot afford a domain name.
"I think the board of ICANN shouldn't consist of people with direct commercial interests," he said. "There needs to be a balance between commercial and public use of this infrastructure."
During an orientation at ICANN's quarterly meetings, McLaughlin said nationalism plays a role in how people vote for Internet board members.

What is the major concern about the ICANN which prompted the above?

Excerpt:

"I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that cyber-terrorism could be used as one ingredient of a larger plan or perhaps another mechanism to create disturbance," said Bob Cohen, senior vice president of the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group.
In the past, cyber-terrorists have shown a propensity to strike during international conflicts. Most have been minor invasions that are more annoying than disruptive, such as defacing websites or "denial of service" attacks that slow down or halt computer systems by flooding them with information.

What is cyber-terrorism and why is there an increased attention to it?

Link to sample answers.

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