Theme: Multi-stakeholderism

This is the final report of the CSTD working group on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum. It was published in April 2012, having been approved in March 2012, and following three meetings in October 2011, January 2011 and February 2012

A/67/65–E/2012/48

General Assembly Economic and Social Council

General Assembly

Sixty-seventh session
Item 18 of the preliminary list*
Information and communication technologies for development

Economic and Social Council

Substantive session of 2012
New York
Item 13(b) of the provisional agenda**
Economic and environmental questions: Science and technology for development

Report of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum

Executive summary

This report has been prepared by the Chair on behalf of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum in response to the requests by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 2010/2 and by the General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/65/141.

It is rare that the verbose and determinedly unsexy world of Internet governance hits the mainstream press. So how has it happened twice in one month?

First, on 9 March, there was The Huffington Post warning us that "Internet freedom is again under fire".

Of course, the Huffington Post's editorial policy is based more on how important the author is than what they actually have to say (in this case Washington insider and high-end lobbyist Ed Black).

Internet governance issues hit the mainstream press

But then, in this month's Vanity Fair nothing less than a full and lengthy article titled World War 3.0 has appeared. Internet governance is about to enter the broader populace's minds.

[Copy of transcript and audio available on 12 March 2012 ICANN and the Internet Governance Landscape session page]

Bill Graham: I think we should get started, I’m very pleased to see such a large group here for this interesting, I hope, I’m sure will be an interesting session. I want to congratulate all of you who found the place, because I know there’s been confusion about the time and the room, and I truly apologize for that. But some last minute changes were required and that has been the result. But anyway you’re here and I’m very pleased to see you.

I am Bill Graham; I am a Director on the ICANN Board. Markus Kummer beside me is the Vice President of Public Policy for the Internet Society, and we will be co-chairing this event.

CHERINE CHALABY: Good afternoon, everyone.

This next session, we would like to bring the community up‐to‐date with
the work we're doing on conflict of interest and ethics.
With me here, we have two board members, and they are members of
the BGC as well, Bill Graham and Ray Plzak, and as well as our General
Counsel, J.J., otherwise known as John Jeffrey.

Okay. What's the agenda for this afternoon? Basically we want to
review our plans and make you familiar with them. We want to update
you on the work we are doing, specifically with outside reviews as well
as our internal work. And then we want to pause and take questions
from all of you.

Okay. So the first starting point goes back to where we were in Dakar.
J.J., can you move the slide?

We talked about conflicts and the work we were doing in Dakar, and we
said we would like to enhance our conflict or interest policy to more
clearly address the hard cases, and not only those that relate to actual
conflict but also those related to perception of conflicts. And I think the
most important thing here is to raise the bar to the highest possible
standard so that there's no perception of conflict at all.

Elections see shift in political landscape - and Internet governance perspective

India has dropped its plans to create a new United Nations body that would oversee the Internet, with the country's foremost Internet governance voice telling .Nxt it was "not well thought out".

Govind: Multi-stakeholder supporter

The proposal, made formally to the United Nations General Assembly in October, would have seen a new body - the Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) - created that which would develop Internet policies, oversee all Internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate Internet-related treaties, and act as an arbitrator in Internet-related disputes.

That vision was also put forward by India at the 2011 Internet Governance Forum, where it met significant criticism from the Internet community. It was not community criticism however but elections and changes to the political landscape that have seen a U-turn in the policy and a shift toward to the "multi-stakeholder" approach that defines Internet policy decision-making.

>>Chengetai Masango: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We'll start the afternoon session now. If we can all sit down. Thank you.

>>Elmir Valizada: Ladies and gentlemen, we will start our afternoon session. According to our agenda, we will discuss the main theme and subthemes of our forum. Please have some suggestions and comments on these items.

Okay. I -- according to our procedure, I invite observers to comment, and after -- please.

>>Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Bertrand de La Chapelle. I’m on the ICANN Board but I’m also here connected with the International Diplomatic Academy.

I would actually like to make a comment that connects the session this afternoon with the discussion we had this morning.

The US government unveiled its long-awaited data privacy plans Thursday and took a bold leap into what it hopes will be a new form of policy creation for Internet issues.

The headline topic was a new Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights that promises to give consumers control over what data is stored on them and the ways in which it is used.

In an era where the heads of two of the Internet's biggest companies, Facebook and Google, have both declared (to paraphrase) that "privacy is dead", the US government is keen to reflect its citizens' very real concerns about what is done with their data online.

The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights came complete with White House backing and, crucially, the buy-in of industry - in this case, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft.

>>CHENGETAI MASANGO: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We're about to start. Could you please take your seats.

Good morning. We're about to start. Can you please take your seats. Thank you.

[ Gavel ]

>>CHENGETAI MASANGO: Can we have somebody from the room? Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first open consultations for the IGF 2012 meeting.

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Vyatcheslav Cherkasov from UNDESA, who is going to say a few words first before handing it over to the chair.

>>UNDESA: Okay. Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Vyatcheslav Cherkasov. I am from the Division of Public Administration, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, DESA.

From the outset, let me extend you warm regard and appreciation from the Under-Secretary-General, the head of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Sha, and the director of the division of public administration for UNDESA, Madam Chen, for your appreciation and the dedication of your time, efforts, and commitment to the IGF movement.