United Nations

Beyond WCIT – WSIS+10 and the coming year in Internet governance

by Christopher Martin | 14 Dec 2012 |

A great deal of ink has been spilt in recent weeks outlining threats to Internet governance from changes to a global telecommunications treaty negotiation that just concluded in Dubai at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), including an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal that inelegantly compared government bureaucrats to gorillas.

While important, the focus on WCIT has detracted attention from another set of United Nations deliberations that wrapped this week in New York, with potentially far greater consequences than the haggling of 1,500 delegates in the under-ventilated halls of the Dubai World Trade Center.

Waiting for WSIS

The UN General Assembly’s Second Committee has spent the last month quietly crafting the process that will lead to a ten-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10). The last WSIS concluded in 2005 and set the stage for many of the current debates around the role for government in Internet policy, including at WCIT.

Greenpeace and ITUC warn of government control over Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 11 Nov 2012 |

Greenpeace and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have added their voices to an increasing number of organizations concerned about the impact on the Internet of a United Nations conference to be held next month.

A joint letter sent by the two organizations to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon complains that the conference will seek to "impose solely governmental control" over the Internet and calls for him to intervene.

"Several proposals have already been submitted for consideration by the WCIT which seek to undermine the currently free, open and inherently democratic governance of the Internet," the letter warns. "This may just be the tip of the iceberg."

The letter asks Ki-Moon to ensure that the documentation surrounding the meeting is made publicly available and the open "multi-stakeholder" approach used in other Internet policy organizations be applied to the conference.

Greenpeace/ITUC letter to UN Secretary-General re: WCIT

Download the letter

Dear Mr Secretary-General,

We are writing to you to express our deep concern about a potentially very damaging change to the governance of the Internet. As I am sure you will agree, the Internet represents one of the greatest engines for economic growth, development and transparency of information the world has ever seen. We have all come to rely upon free and unfettered access to its global reach. It has also become an indispensable tool for civil society in general, and international labour and environmental movements in particular.

United Nations approves online freedom of expression

The United Nations formally acknowledged freedom of expression and information on the Internet in a statement approved by the Human Rights Council and endorsed by the General Assembly. The statement also recognized the open and global nature of the Internet and stressed that nation states should promote access to the Internet. One of the key drivers behind the motion, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt write an editorial for the New York Times over the approval calling it "A victory for the Internet". The move was also welcomed by the Internet Society.

INET Madrid

INET Madrid

Intellectual Property Rights and the Internet: are they compatible?

Venue: Hotel Hesperia Madrid
Address: Paseo de la Castellana 57

Vint Cerf warns about UN Internet control

"Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf used an opinion piece in the New York Times to raise concerns over discussions at the ITU's WCIT meeting in Dubai in December. "While many governments are committed to maintaining flexible regimes for fast-moving Internet technologies," Cerf noted, "some others have been quite explicit about their desire to put a single UN or other inter-governmental body in control of the Net." Cerf joins a long list of articles published in the US warning about WCIT.

[nib] India avoids UN push for Internet control

Despite a number of pieces in its media trailing the move, India's government representative did not revert back to its CIRP plan for a new United Nations body to oversee the Internet. Discussions over "enhanced cooperation" at a WSIS meeting in Geneva revolved around either setting up a working group to look at the issue, or creating a map of current agreements forged for different countries and groups to deal with Internet-specific issues. The man identified as being behind the claim that India would push for UN control, Parminder Singh, later infuriated civil society (who he claims to represent) by arguing that big Internet decisions should be left in the hands of government officials.

The Internet Governance Landscape

Summary

The session discussed three key Internet governance topics
for 2012:

  • Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
  • Improvements to the IGF
  • International Telecommunications Union (ITU) activities

A number of organizations announced they had maintained or increased their financial contributions to IGF; the UN explained why it still hadn't apppointed an IGF Executive Coordinator; and the community was encouraged to engage with governments to ensure that discussions about the Internet in intergovernmental forums would not affect the operation of the current open, transparent and multi-stakeholder Internet governance model.

For full details, including context, agenda, results, an executive summary and longer summary with hyperlinks to relevant documents and parts of the transcript, become a member of .Nxt.

[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.

Legal questions hover over Red Cross / Olympic special protections

by Kieren McCarthy | 14 Mar 2012 |

ICANN's two most powerful bodies, the GNSO and GAC, are due to approve extraordinary special protections for the Red Cross and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the Internet. But is the decision based on shaky legal advice?

Update: The GNSO has deferred a vote on the issue until a special meeting of the Council in just under two weeks.

Under proposals put forward by the GNSO - ICANN's main policy body - and due to be agreed to by the GAC - the governmental advisory committee, the world-famous international organizations will be given permanent control over their names, as well as any names that are similar to their names, wherever they appear across the Internet.

The basis for this extraordinary level of protection is that both organizations stand apart globally since they have their names protected by treaty and within the laws of a number of countries.*

According to the GAC chair, Heather Dryden, it has carried out "legal research" that "confirms that only the IOC and Red Cross qualify for unique levels of protection". In a letter from Dryden to GNSO chair Stephane van Gelder, it was also noted that: "No other international not-for-profit or non-governmental organizations have been afforded this threshold of protection at both the international and national levels." A full list of the protections granted to both was then provided in a letter created by GAC members.

India drops plans for government control of Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 10 Mar 2012 |

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.

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