pac inet2008 internet governance rajnesh d singh

http://www.isoc.org

Internet GovernanceInternet GovernanceAn OverviewAn Overview

Rajnesh D. SinghRegional Bureau ManagerBureau for South and Southeast AsiaInternet Society

PacINET 2008Rarotonga, Cook Islands

http://www.isoc.org

Two Questions:

What is “Internet Governance”?

Does Internet Governance matter to you/your country?

Internet Governance – An Overview PacINET, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, September 2008 2

http://www.isoc.org

Defining Internet Governance

More often than not, Internet Governance means different things to different people

Internet governance is the development and application by Governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.

Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Final Report http://www.wgig.org

3Internet Governance – An Overview PacINET, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, September 2008

http://www.wgig.org/

http://www.isoc.org

Origins of Internet Governance as we know it today

– Internet Governance first tabled in an international forum at WSIS Geneva 2003

– WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society)– Pair of UN-sponsored conferences on

information, communication and the information society in general

– 2003 in Geneva, 2005 in Tunis– One aim was to bridge the digital divide– Geneva 2003 conference set a goal of having

50% of the world online by 2015, did not specify how; left Internet Governance and funding questions unanswered


http://www.isoc.org


– (WGIG) Working Group on Internet Governance– Set up after WSIS Geneva 2003 to consider the

future of Internet Governance– Objective: "to investigate and make proposals for

action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005"

– Final report had four proposals where all had the common theme of the introduction of an open Multi-stakeholder based Internet Governance forum to give greater voice to the stakeholders around the world, including civil society, private sector and governments


http://www.isoc.org


– WSIS Tunis 2005– Second phase of WSIS resulted in agreement on

the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, and the creation of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

– Tunis Agenda for the Information Society invited the UN Secretary-General to convene a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue (para 67). The Forum was to be convened by the second quarter of 2006 in an open and inclusive process (para 72). The IGF's structure, function and its working are addressed in paras 73 - 79 of the Tunis Agenda


http://www.isoc.org

Internet Governance Forum (IGF)– Advisory Group established on 17 May 2006. 46

members from government, the private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities

– Chair: Nitin Desai (India), the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

– Secretariat: based in Geneva, headed by Markus Kummer (Switzerland); was Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Working Group on Internet Governance

– Funding: extra-budgetary contributions paid into a multi-donor Trust Fund administered by the UN


http://www.isoc.org

Internet Governance Forum (IGF)– Meetings

– 2006: Athens, Greece– 2007: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil– 2008: Hyderabad, India– 2009: Cairo, Egypt– 2010: TBD

– IGF is not a policy-making body– IGF is

– a multi-stakeholder open forum for dialogue– a forum to share experiences– a forum to highlight issues of concern– a forum to build relationships and collaborate– Dynamic Coalitions

– set up to provide focus groups on issues for further discussion and collaboration: Privacy, SPAM, Open Standards, Internet Bill of Rights, Access to Knowledge, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media, Access & Connectivity for Remote, Rural and Dispersed Communities


http://www.isoc.org

Why does Internet Governance matter?

– The Internet is now, for the most part, the communications medium of choice (in many forms) for a large part of the world– e-mail, telephony, blogs, social networks, video, web

portals, individual/organisational websites, web conferencing, instant messaging,.....

– More than 1.4 billion Internet users (>20% of world population) as at June 2008 (according to Internet World Stats) and growing www.internetworldstats.com – This makes the Internet an important global public

policy issue– Significant part of world economy

– More and more, the world depends Internet technology: e-commerce, “e-everything”

– Big business: Silicon Valley, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, global Call Centres, “Information is power”


http://www.internetworldstats.com/

http://www.isoc.org

What does Internet Governance cover?

– The Internet today and how it will evolve tomorrow

– A secure and stable Internet available to the world at large, and one which contributes to socio-economic development

– Internet Governance is more than just laws enacted by Governments– Not limited to government activities: every

Internet User's concern– Includes social/cultural norms and covers all

sectors of society– Deliberations and decisions need to be

transparent and democratic with multi-stakeholder input


http://www.isoc.org

Some Internet Governance issues

– Internet Infrastructure and Resource Management– Telecommunication infrastructure, broadband, convergence,

VoIP, technical standards, administration of names and numbers, root server system, international domain names (IDNs)

– Issues relating to the use of the Internet– SPAM, cybersecurity, cybercrime, critical infrastructure

protection, network security, national policies and regulation

– Issues with wider impact– Authentication, privacy, consumer protection, intellectual

property, e-commerce, freedom of information and media, competition policy, dispute resolution, unlawful content

– Issues with developmental aspects– Cost of access, universal access, capacity building, national

infrastructure development, content accessibility, FOSS, cultural and linguistic diversity, social inclusion

Sourced from WGIG Report www.wgig.org


http://www.wgig.org/

http://www.isoc.org

Those Questions Again:


What is “Internet Governance”?

Does Internet Governance matter to you/your country?

http://www.isoc.org

Questions?

Comments?Contact details:

Rajnesh D. [email protected] Tel: +1 703 439 2151


mailto:[email protected]

pac inet2008 internet governance rajnesh d singh

Technology