Tunis Agenda

India formally proposes government takeover of Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 27 Oct 2011 |

The Indian government has formally proposed a government takeover of the Internet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement sent yesterday, India argued for the creation of a new body to be called the United Nations Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) 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.

The CIRP would exist under the United Nations, comprise of 50 Member States, be funded by the United Nations, run by staff from the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) arm, and report directly to the UN General Assembly.

Despite the proposal representing an extraordinary shift from the status quo to a single, purely government-run Internet body, India’s spokesman, Mr Dushyant Singh, argued that the proposal “should not be viewed as an attempt by governments to ‘take over’ or ‘regulate and circumscribe’ the Internet.”

ITU Council edges slowly, painfully toward the Internet

by Kieren McCarthy | 18 Oct 2011 |

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is continuing its difficult journey toward the 21st century in Geneva this week.

Picking up where the organization’s Plenipotentiary in Guadalajara a year ago left off, the ITU Council has been considering a number of proposals concerning the Internet and, not for the time, has hit the Internet’s culture of openness head on.

Following literally days of discussions spent trying to bridge the gap between a closed inter-governmental culture and the Internet’s open approach to policy, a series of odd compromises has been struck.

Key among them is future discussions of the “Dedicated Group on international Internet-related public policy issues”. The DGIRPPI (the worst acronym we’ve seen for a while) is transitioning to a more formal Working Group designation and is the hub of most of the work that emerges with respect to the Internet.

The ITU however finds itself stuck between two competing models and facing contradictory language over how to make that transition.

CSTD resolution text on IGF published

by Kieren McCarthy | 7 Jun 2011 |

The final text agreed during a marathon session of the CSTD last

Report: CSTD meeting on the Internet Governance Forum [23-27 May 11]

by Kieren McCarthy | 1 Jun 2011 |

The week-long annual meeting of the UN’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group (CSTD) was supposed to be about a number of things, but in the end it all became about a wor

CSTD meeting on IGF fails to take off

by Kieren McCarthy | 25 Mar 2011 |

An international effort to produce a report highlighting improvements to the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has ended in failure.

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