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Dear Wolfgang<br>
<br>
Interesting to notice a press analysis of Touré's speech, most notably
about the IGF.<br>
<br>
The statement from Touré has not been unnoticed.<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><i><font
face="Courier New, monospace"><font size="2"><font
face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 8pt;" size="1"><span
lang="en-GB">Coming
back to what we do with ICANN, we also participate actively in the
work of Internet Governance Forum, which was established as the
result of the multistakeholder deliberations at the WSIS. I
personally believe that the IGF is just going around and around,
avoiding the topics, and becomes sometimes a waste of time.</span></font></font><font
face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 8pt;" size="1"><span
lang="en-GB">
We need to address issues frankly and try to solve them. And that's
why I thought I should be here to talk to you here, so that we learn
to know each other better. Next year, ITU will organize the World
Policy Forum, which addresses a number of Internet-related
public-policy issues, ranging from cybersecurity and data protection
to multilingualism and the ongoing development of Internet. I hope
you will not tell me here, "Don't talk about Internet."
It's an issue for everyone.</span></font></font></font></font></i></p>
<br>
<br>
Best Francis<br>
<br>
---------------------------------<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/print/111914">http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/print/111914</a><br>
<br>
<div class="date"> 7 November 2008, 12:30</div>
<h1>ITU and ICANN – a loveless forced marriage</h1>
<p>ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré has called for better
collaboration between the <b>International Telecommunication Union[1]</b>
(ITU) and the <b>Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers[2]</b>
(ICANN). "Our members have unnecessarily attacked and criticised each
other and I think we should put an end to that," said Touré on Thursday
at the 33rd ICANN meeting in Cairo. According to Touré, the two
organisations need to get to know each other better and learn to love
each other, as telecommunications and the internet are ultimately
condemned to a "forced marriage".</p>
<p>Despite the outstretched hand, the ITU Secretary General did not
spare the criticism in his first appearance at an ICANN meeting. Touré
made it clear to the assembled experts that he saw his organisation as
playing the dominant role in the forced marriage and made his opinion
of the other party clear – provocatively describing ICANN's
Governmental Advisory Committee as purely cosmetic.</p>
<p>The depth of the chasm between the two – the UN organisation, which
has its roots in the telecommunications world, and the
quasi-internet-regulator ICANN – was stressed by a series of further
statements in the half-hour talk given by the head of the ITU. Touré
repeatedly spoke of the "war" between the two organisations. According
to Touré, who was elected in 2006, "The best way to win a war, is to
prevent it."</p>
<p>In the course of his 'marriage proposal', he referred extensively to
the ITU's outstanding role. Key topics for his organisation, he noted,
include the internationalisation of domains, something with which ICANN
is currently engaged, the <b>transition to IPv6[3]</b>,
standardisation for the all-IP <b>Next Generation Network[4]</b>
(NGN), cyber-security, the fight against online terrorism and child
protection online.</p>
<p>Touré rejected concerns that the ITU was appointing itself as global
regulator of internet resources and processes, "The ITU has clear
boundaries. We do not perform the operative business." However, he
underlined the organisation's demand, set out in its <b>Cybersecurity
Agenda[5]</b>,
to be responsible for a global framework in the fight against online
terrorism and criminality. He also defended the controversial <b>IP
traceback[6]</b>
standard proposal. "There is not one country which isn't doing it, it's
just that each country is doing it differently," said Touré.</p>
<p>Touré also rejected criticism that the ITU operates behind closed
doors. He stated that the organisation has around 700 sector members
from the telecommunications industry and also admits NGOs as members.
Touré also praised the ITU's openness – a nod to the <b>World Summit
on the Information Society[7]</b>
(WSIS). The summit, organised under ITU auspices, is, according to
Touré, the first UN summit at which civil society has also been invited
to sit at the table, rather than demonstrating outside.</p>
<p>In the same breath, Touré expressed strong criticism of the <b>Internet
Governance Forum[8]</b>
(IGF), which was called into being by the WSIS, "I am personally of the
opinion that the IGF is continuously going round in circles and
avoiding issues – it is becoming more and more a waste of time."
Therefore, the ITU is planning a global forum for internet policy next
year as a rival event.</p>
<p>Touré also fired a further undiplomatic broadside at the work
performed by governments within ICANN. "The Governmental Advisory
Committee is ICANN's weak point," said Touré. His criticism was
directed at the advisory function of the Governmental Advisory
Committee (GAC) in developing rules for the domain name system. "If
someone gives me advice, I am free to take it or leave it." The ICANN's
GAC is therefore nothing more than "cosmetic", noted Touré forthrightly.</p>
<p>In a short statement following Touré's speech, the Brazilian
government representative on the GAC demanded, in the name of his and
the Argentinian government, the "strengthening of the GAC". Latvian
diplomat Janis Karklins, re-elected as GAC chairman, by contrast noted
that the ITU and ICANN operated according to very different political
models, "From the viewpoint of an international organisation, the ICANN
model may appear weak, because governments are merely advisory, whilst
in an international organisation they run the show." ICANN is, he
opined, based on the novel idea of collaboration between interested
parties. He noted that both models have their advantages and
disadvantages, and that governments need to learn to operate within
both models. </p>
<p>(<em>Monika Ermert</em>)</p>
<p>(<b>lghp[9]</b>)</p>
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<hr>
<p> <strong>URL of this Article:</strong><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/111914">http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/111914</a>
</p>
<p> <strong>Links in this Article:</strong><br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.itu.int/">http://www.itu.int/</a><br>
[2] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.icann.org">http://www.icann.org</a><br>
[3] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/OECD-member-states-throw-their-weight-behind-IPv6--/110960">http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/OECD-member-states-throw-their-weight-behind-IPv6--/110960</a><br>
[4] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Generation_Networking">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Generation_Networking</a><br>
[5] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/">http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/</a><br>
[6] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html">http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html</a><br>
[7] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSIS">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSIS</a><br>
[8] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.intgovforum.org/">http://www.intgovforum.org/</a><br>
[9] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:lghp@heise-online.co.uk">mailto:lghp@heise-online.co.uk</a></p>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:2DA93620FC07494C926D60C8E3C2F1A842647F@server1.medienkomm.uni-halle.de"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear friends
find attached the statement of ITU DG Toure during the recent ICANN meeting in Cairo and the discussion. This was a very interesting dialogue on the concept and understanding of the principle of "multistakeholderism". A very good piece whith very clear and frank language which will certainly provoke discussion and could be an interesting starting point for a new conceptual debate on what "multistakholderism" is, why we witness a clash of cultures in Internet policy development and how the old model of an hierachical top down IG organisation and the new model of a network bottom up MS organisation can or can not collaborate and coexist in the global diplomacy of the 21st century.
Wolfgang
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<br>
<br>
<br>
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