Read the below op-ed critically. It's designed to assuage political
concerns in the U.S., but it downplays concerns that other nations
participating in the summit have raised. For instance:
http://www.wgig.org/June-scriptmorning.html
CHINA: "We feel that the public policy issue of Internet should be
solved jointly by the sovereign states in the U.N. framework...For
instance, spam, network security and cyberspace--we should look for an
appropriate specialized agency of the United Nations as a competent body."
GHANA: "There was unanimity for the need for an additional body...This
body would therefore address all issues relating to the Internet within
the confines of the available expertise which would be anchored at the
U.N."
Information on U.N. summit next week in Tunisia:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/
-Declan
---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110401431.html
The U.N. Isn't a Threat to the Net
By Kofi A. Annan
Saturday, November 5, 2005; Page A19
The main objective of the World Summit on the Information Society to be
held this month in Tunisia is to ensure that poor countries get the full
benefits that new information and communication technologies --
including the Internet -- can bring to economic and social development.
But as the meeting draws nearer, there is a growing chorus of
misinformation about it.
One mistaken notion is that the United Nations wants to "take over,"
police or otherwise control the Internet. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. The United Nations wants only to ensure the Internet's global
reach, and that effort is at the heart of this summit...
Governance of matters related to the Internet, such as spam and
cybercrime, is being dealt with in a dispersed and fragmented manner,
while the Internet's infrastructure has been managed in an informal but
effective collaboration among private businesses, civil society and the
academic and technical communities. But developing countries find it
difficult to follow all these processes and feel left out of Internet
governance structures...
The need for change is a reflection of the future, when Internet growth
will be most dramatic in developing countries. What we are seeing is the
beginning of a dialogue between two different cultures: the
nongovernmental Internet community, with its traditions of informal,
bottom-up decision making, and the more formal, structured world of
governments and intergovernmental organizations.
The Internet has become so important for almost every country's economy
and administration that it would be naive to expect governments not to
take an interest, especially since public service applications in areas
such as education and health care will become even more widespread. They
need to be able to get their Internet policies "right," and to
coordinate with each other and with the Internet community...
At the summit two years ago in Geneva, discussions on Internet
governance reached a stalemate. So the U.N. member states asked me to
establish a group to examine the issue further. This Working Group on
Internet Governance presented its findings in a report that reflects the
views of its members, but not of the United Nations. It proposed
creation of a "new space for dialogue" -- a forum that would bring all
stakeholders together to share information and best practices and
discuss difficult issues, but that would not have decision-making power.
The group also offered several options for oversight arrangements, with
varying degrees of government involvement and relationship to the United
Nations. None says that the United Nations should take over from the
technical bodies now running the Internet; none proposes to create a new
U.N. agency; and some suggest no U.N. role at all. All say that the
day-to-day management of the Internet should be left to technical
institutions, not least to shield it from the heat of day-to-day
politics. These and other suggestions are being considered by U.N.
member states...
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