There have been fairly intense discussions in a series of meetings called "PrepComs" as in "preparatory committees" leading up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place December 10-12 in Geneva. In the most recent meetings, a "government only" rule was invoked that excluded interested parties such as ICANN, among others, but the texts have been made visible. Of course, it remains to be seen whether these texts will be adopted by the summit meeting representatives.
The texts cover principles and action plans, respectively, for "realization" of the Information Society. The subject of "Internet Governance" has been a large focus of attention, as has been a proposal for creating an international fund to promote the creation of information infrastructure in the developing world. Internet Governance is a very broad topic including law enforcement, intellectual property protection, consumer protection, tax policies, and so on. It also happens to include some of the things that ICANN is responsible for. Unfortunately, the discussion has tended to center on ICANN as the only really visible example of an organization attempting to develop policy (which is being treated as synonymous with "governance"). ICANN's mandate is very limited and it would be helpful if the broad governance issues mentioned above could find other organizational homes. ICANN's work could be fitted into a larger framework but some people seem to think that if ICANN doesn't do all the things that might fall into "Internet governance" then ICANN should be replaced with, eg, an ! ITU or UN body. This is, of course, a controversial matter with sovreignty of states mixed into a variety of political attitudes about the US, the Department of Commerce role with ICANN and so on. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I would prefer to see a solution to the broad governance problem that continues to limit the ICANN mandate and creates organizational homes for that which ICANN cannot or should not undertake. Just as plainly, I don't favor replacing ICANN with a UN-agency. You may make a search on key words, like "internet governance" at that site www.wsis-online.net and will see all relevant meetings. Hope this is helpful. Vint Cerf At 11:51 PM 12/8/2003 +0100, Anthony G. Atkielski wrote: >Noel Chiappa writes: > >> Anyone know more about this? > >Since it is being discussed in secret (with even ICANN excluded, >apparently), it's hard to know more. Vint Cerf SVP Technology Strategy MCI 22001 Loudoun County Parkway, F2-4115 Ashburn, VA 20147 703 886 1690 (v806 1690) 703 886 0047 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.mci.com/cerfsup
