SIDN Annual Report 2012

2012, a year of fundamental questions

Outside the scientific community, the internet's birth in 1969 attracted little interest. When ICANN was founded in 1998, not a single Dutch newspaper reported the event. And when more than 79 million data leaks were detected in the United States in 2007, there was no public outrage. How different things were in 2012. Innovations, data leaks and governance issues received close media scrutiny. It was a year when fundamental questions about the internet were raised and addressed not only by professionals, academics and governments, but also by the general public.

Percentage of the population
using the internet

EU27

How important is the internet?

The internet's direct value to the Dutch economy is estimated to be 5 per cent of GDP. Its indirect value is far greater, however. Without the internet, the world might keep on turning, but life in the Netherlands would come to a halt. Nowhere else in Europe does such a high percentage of the population have access to the internet. Indeed, no less than 87 per cent of Dutch people use the internet on a daily basis. As well using it at home, at work or at school, we make increasing use of the net while on the move. In the space of just a year, mobile internet access using a smartphone went up from 31 to 42 per cent, while the corresponding figure for tablet PCs rose from 10 to 27 per cent. An auction of the radio frequencies needed for 4G mobile internet services brought the government a windfall of 3.8 billion euros – much more than the forecast 470

million. The internet also plays an increasingly important role in our social lives. Some 77 per cent of Dutch people use at least one social network. Facebook is easily the most popular, having almost completely driven Hyves from the scene in the Netherlands. Globally, Facebook has a staggering one billion active users per month.

What do we actually do on line?

In 2012, the average Dutch person spent four hours and forty-eight minutes of every working day on the internet. The amount of time spent on line was only half an hour less on non-working days. Nearly one in three Dutch people used the internet to help them decide how to vote in elections. Three quarters of them made purchases on line. For the population as a whole, the dominant activities continued to be looking up information and using e-mail. Amongst young people, however, social media interaction was equally important, along with downloading and watching films. SIDN's own research indicated that internet banking and shopping accounted for a lot of the time that people spent on line as well. SIDN uses the findings of its internet usage surveys both to shape its own policies and to support other groups, such as registrars.

European internet use

Percentage of users

Is everything connected to the internet?

The internet isn't just websites and e-mail. Huge amounts of information are sent and shared on line. The internet is a vehicle for gaming, VoIP telephony, instant messaging and financial transactions. And for a host of less obvious purposes, such as the remote control of security systems and cameras, printers, TVs, doors, church bells, tidal barriers and weather stations. The internet also combines the power of countless computers, enabling them to work as one

supercomputer for use in cancer research and other programmes. Meanwhile, businesses not only store data in the cloud, but also use cloud-based applications to facilitate and enhance their work. With so much going on, the Amsterdam Internet Exchange handles two terabits of data per second: the equivalent of nearly two million DVDs a day. In the future, more and more devices will be connected to the internet, resulting in a true 'internet of things'. SIDN is busy readying itself to apply its knowledge of unique identifiers in the internet landscape of tomorrow.

How secure is the internet?

Growing dependency on the internet makes security ever more important. As in the previous year, a number of data leaks received considerable media exposure in 2012. The details of more than 2,600 air travellers were accidentally disclosed. Information about hundreds of thousands of people treated at the Groene Hart Hospital in Gouda was discovered on a computer with barely any security. A piece of malware embedded on nu.nl some time before 14 March infected a hundred thousand computers. Even the White House in America was the target of a serious phishing attack. Botnets were in the news in August, when it came to light that thousands of local government computers had been ensnared by a botnet and infected with the Dorifel virus. After the Stuxnet virus in 2011, the world was hit by the Flame virus in 2012. Hackers succeeded in gaining remote control of security cameras and it was demonstrated that the flood barriers at Veere were vulnerable to malicious interference via the internet. Printers, company routers and VoIP systems were repeatedly used as unlocked back doors to gain unauthorised access to business networks. No fewer than 2.2 million Dutch people were the victims of cybercrime in 2012. TNO estimated that the total annual cost of such crime to the country was at least ten billion euros.

How can we make the internet more secure?

In 2012, many countries took steps to increase internet security. In the Netherlands, a major fault at Vodafone prompted mobile service providers to agree on a mechanism for using each other's networks in the event of future problems. In January, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was created, becoming the latest part of the Netherlands' national security infrastructure. The Centre serves as a platform for cyber security cooperation amongst governments, businesses, academic institutes and community organisations – in the Netherlands and other countries. In view of its unique position in the Dutch internet

community, SIDN works very closely with the NCSC. SIDN was also one of the prime movers behind the newly established Abuse Information Exchange (AIE): a joint initiative by seven ISPs, SIDN and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. By improving the exchange of information relating to abuses, the AIE will enable faster and more effective action against botnets. Of course, SIDN is constantly striving to enhance the security of the .nl domain. That is one of the reasons why .nl leads the world in terms of the number of domain names protected by DNSSEC.

How far are we prepared to go for internet reliability?

It sometimes seems that the internet is governed by different rules from the ones that apply in the off-line world. That's the case with crime detection and privacy, for example, and particularly with intellectual property rights. In 2012, various proposed measures aimed at tackling the abuse of intellectual property rights were shelved at the last moment. They included the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, whose privacy implications and other drawbacks were regarded as unacceptable by many. In protest against the legislation, various US websites – including Wikipedia and Boing Boing – were taken down for a day. Ultimately, the bills failed to make it into law. A similar fate befell ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement): a treaty designed to harmonise the various systems protecting intellectual property. After fierce protests, the European Union dropped the proposal.

In the Netherlands, the idea of a download ban was put forward, but this suggestion too was withdrawn after heated debate. One measure that did go ahead was the action against Pirate Bay. In 2012, all major internet service providers were ordered by a judge to prevent access to the well-known download site. This prompted vigorous debate about the role of ISPs and the value of such a blockade. SIDN believes that all stakeholders should have

the opportunity to speak on such issues, as happened in the 2012 Domain Name Debate on the Whois, when the interests of brand owners and those of consumers were in direct opposition.

How can we protect our freedoms?

Privacy protection on the internet was a prominent issue in 2012. In May, the Netherlands' new Telecommunications Act was passed. Under the legislation, open access to the internet is guaranteed and it is illegal for an access provider to block or curtail certain services, such as WhatsApp or Skype. By introducing the Act, the Netherlands became only the second country in the world to give force of law to the principle of net neutrality. The Act also makes it illegal for websites to place non-essential cookies without the visitor's explicit consent. Moreover, companies are now obliged to report data leaks, so that people whose privacy has been compromised have the opportunity to take appropriate action. The Dutch government also participated in the Dubai WCIT: a meeting organised by the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency for ICT. Various countries wanted the ITU to have more influence over the internet. However, that would inevitably be at the expense of the multi-stakeholder model that has traditionally underpinned much internet policy. There were consequently concerns about the possibility of government censorship and the erosion of personal freedom. The conference closed without the Netherlands or other Western countries signing the final declaration. SIDN advised the Dutch delegation to Dubai and SIDN representatives were included in the Dutch party attending the internet Governance Forum in Baku, along with people from the national government, NGOs and the business community. Topics discussed at the forum included security, internet access and privacy.

What next?

The interest now being shown in issues such as security and freedom demonstrates what a vital role the internet plays in our professional and private lives. Increasingly, the rules that affect the on-line world attract as much attention as those that regulate the off-line world. In the years ahead, many more important questions will need to be answered. For SIDN, the ultimate goal is clear: a unified global internet, which is open and accessible to all. And we strive to contribute to the realisation of that goal. We do so first through our administration of the .nl domain, which in many respects, such as security and accessibility, is a global leader. And second – increasingly – by offering other products and services that contribute to the internet's expansion. This annual report describes some of those products and services.

Roelof Meijer,
CEO

Introduction