Internet Governance Forum to tackle broad range of topics, UN official say

[Guest guest]

Folks,

My apologies for crossposting. At an IT forum Digafrica.. something

that is worth the moment to read. It is important because we are about

to start a new form of internet regulations coming soon.

Read on

Chifu

Group Moderator

Digital Africa

http://www./group/digafrica

Members,

Two FYI to all

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17534 & Cr=internet & Cr1=

Internet Governance Forum to tackle broad range of topics, UN official

says

17 February 2006 – The Internet Governance Forum to be convened later

this year will take up such issues as cybercrime, multilingualism and

enhancing the role of the Internet as a tool for development, a United

Nations official said today.

As two days of consultations on the scope and structure of the meeting

concluded today, Secretary-General Kofi n's Special Adviser for

the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Nitin Desai told a

news conference in Geneva that the inaugural meeting of the Forum was

scheduled to take place in Athens, Greece, in October or November,

with more than 500 participants.

Those taking part in the consultations had reached a general agreement

that the management of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) would be

done jointly by governments, civil society, business organizations and

the Internet community, he said.

On other issues, he said, one proposal was to have the IGF address

specific management issues, such as SPAM and the illegal or malicious

acts known as cybercrime, noting, however, that certain acts, such as

sending or posting pornography, might be seen as a crime in one

country and not in another. Another proposal was to have the Forum

focus on issues of transparency and capacity building, although the

IGF has had no decision-making power.

In any case, developing countries wanted to ensure that the IGF was

relevant to development concerns. In this regard, they had introduced

issues of interconnection costs, Internet access and the terms under

which Internet users in developing countries could acquire software,

he said.

The Forum would provide a space where different actors could openly

discuss the technical, political, social and economic dimensions of

the Internet, Mr. Desai added.

**************

And another one

http://www.intgovforum.org/

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

This website has been set up to support the process started by the

United Nations Secretary-General with a view to convening a new forum

for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue - the Internet Governance Forum

(IGF). The Secretary-General was mandated by the World Summit on the

Information Society (WSIS) to convene such a Forum and he asked his

Special Advisor for WSIS, Mr. Nitin Desai, to hold consultations in

this matter.

[New] Follow-up to the Consultations on the convening of the IGF

Consultations on the convening of the IGF were held in Geneva on 16 -

17 February 2006. About 300 participants representing all stakeholder

groups attended the meeting. The participants addressed a wide variety

of issues, such as the IGF's scope of work and substantive priorities

as well as aspects related to its structure and functioning. The aim

of the consultations was to develop a common understanding among all

stakeholders on the nature and character of the IGF.

While there was an emerging convergence of views on some aspects

related to the IGF, there were some open questions that needed further

discussion. Mr. Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General's Special Advisor

for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) who chaired the

meeting, invited participants to reflect on the following questions:

- Whether there is a need for a multistakeholder group to prepare for

the meeting.

- Which public policy issues the first meeting of the IGF should address.

All stakeholders are invited to submit their views on these questions.

Please let us know what your views are on:

a) The need for a multistakeholder group to assist the the

Secretary-General in convening the IGF, what the mandate of this group

should be and how it should be formed.

Please submit your comments by 28 February 2006.

Public policy issues to be discussed at the first meeting of the IGF.

Please let us know your top three choices and give a short explanation

on the reasons for your choices by 31 March 2006.

For ease of reference a short synthesis of the written contributions

and discussions pertaining to these issues is available.

Consultations on the Convening of the IGF

The texts of the realtime transcription of the Consultations on the

Convening of the IGF are now available for viewing:

16 February

Morning Session

Afternoon Session

17 February

Morning Session

Afternoon Session

The audio and video recordings of the sessions will be made available

soon for download.

Statements made during the consultations will be displayed on this

website. Participants who would like their statements posted are

encouraged to send it to the following address: wgig@...

The final list of participants will be made available soon.

Participants who are not listed yet are encouraged to contact us to be

included in the final list.

The aim of the consultations was to develop a common understanding

among all stakeholders on the nature and character of the IGF. The

meeting will address the IGF's scope of work and substantive

priorities as well as aspects related to its structure and

functioning. It will also discuss the convening of the inaugural

meeting including agenda and programme.

Click here to view the agenda and more information regarding

participation and logistics of the meeting.

Date for the first meeting of the IGF: A decision on the date will be

taken jointly by the Secretary-General and the Greek Government, based

on the outcome of informal consultations currently underway.

Click here to view a possible timeline for convening the IGF.

Click here to view the official notification of the meeting sent out

to all stakeholders.

Click here to view the questionnaire or download it in a rich text

format (.rtf) document. The aim of the questionnaire is to stimulate

the discussion on the convening of the IGF.

Website

This website is still under construction. It aims to support the

consultative process on the convening of the IGF and to provide an

interactive collaborative space where all stakeholders can air their

views and exchange ideas. To prepare for the consultations,

contributions from all stakeholders are encouraged and will be posted

on this website.

Click here to view contributions.

Background

The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society invites the

Secretary-General to convene a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy

dialogue (para 67). The Forum is to be convened by the second quarter

of 2006 in an open and inclusive process (para 72). Click here to view

the mandate.

The IGF's structure, function and its working are addressed in paras

73 - 79 of the Tunis Agenda.

The WSIS welcomed the generous offer of the Government of Greece to

host the first meeting of the IGF in Athens no later than 2006 (para

82). Click here to view a related website set up by the Greek Government.

Other resources

Further useful resources are available on the websites of

- The WSIS Executive Secretariat

- The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

- The UN ICT Task Force

- Number Resource Organization (NRO)

- The Diplo foundation

- The Internet Governance Project

- The Internet Society

- Panos media brief

- Net Dialogue

Funding

The Secretariat's activities are funded through extra-budgetary

contributions paid into a Trust Fund administred by the United

Nations. Pledges and contributions have been received so far from the

following donors.

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