[governance] Fwd: ITU and the internet

[Veni Markovski]

FYI.
This is very relevant to the opinions expressed 
in the last few days about the new JPA between ICANN and the USG.

>U.N. Agency Wants to Nourish the Internet, Not Govern It
>
>Jean-Marc FerrИ/I.T.U., via Agence France-Presse ≈ Getty Images
>Hamadoun TourИ, the incoming secretary general 
>of the International Telecommunication Union, at 
>a meeting after his election last month.
>
>By VICTORIA SHANNON
>Published: December 4, 2006
>HONG KONG, Dec. 3 ≈ When David A. Gross heard 
>last month that the International 
>Telecommunication Union, a United Nations 
>agency, wanted to lowercase the ⌠i■ in Internet 
>as a matter of official policy, he did not know 
>whether to be alarmed or amused.
>
>⌠We immediately thought, ▒Gee, what▓s up with 
>that?▓ ■ Mr. Gross, the coordinator for 
>international communications and information 
>policy at the State Department, said. ⌠Who made 
>the decision and on what basis? We didn▓t have a 
>clue if this was something insignificant or significant.■
>
>The agency eventually decided to leave the 
>capital I. But to some business representatives, 
>Internet activists and officials of 
>English-speaking governments, the case of the 
>small-i Internet was a new warning that the 
>organization might be looking to exert its 
>influence over the Internet▓s management.
>
>This week in Hong Kong, the agency, representing 
>191 countries and 650 companies, is putting on 
>the telecommunications industry▓s biggest 
>gathering, called ITU Telecom World, attracting 
>about 70,000 people. But some of the 
>conference▓s attention will be focused on the 
>role of the International Telecommunication 
>Union itself. Should it concern itself with 
>Internet governance ≈ a role that its Western 
>members find particularly objectionable ≈ or 
>should it focus on ground-level issues, like 
>access to telecommunications in developing countries?
>
>Hamadoun TourИ of Mali, who was recently elected 
>secretary general of the agency, its 
>highest-ranking official, favors the latter approach.
>
>⌠I wouldn▓t want to see the I.T.U. trying to 
>take over Internet governance,■ he said at his first news conference.
>
>But underlying tensions about the direction of 
>the agency, which has its origins in the era of 
>the telegraph, have troubled it since the 
>Internet became such a prominent part of the 
>world▓s telecommunications networks.
>
>In simpler times, the agency▓s role as a global 
>arbiter of radio frequencies and standards 
>helped make it possible for the telegraph and 
>the telephone to cross borders. But with the 
>spread of the Internet in recent years, its 
>basic standards were adopted voluntarily as more 
>and more computer networks joined in worldwide 
>and data traveled over the existing telephone infrastructure.
>
>Mr. TourИ ▓s predecessor, Yoshio Utsumi, who 
>turns over the office in January, has called the 
>Internet a ⌠utility■ to be managed for the 
>public good, but the agency▓s precise role was never made specific.
>
>For Lyndall Shope-Mafole, a South African 
>delegate and director general of her country▓s 
>department of communications, the International 
>Telecommunication Union is the only global forum 
>where the views of developing nations can be 
>heard on a range of issues, like allocating 
>radio frequencies, defining international 
>standards and securing universal access to communications.
>
>⌠With all its warts and wrinkles, the I.T.U. is 
>still very important,■ she said. ⌠We don▓t have any other framework.■
>
>Mr. TourИ, who has served since 1998 as director 
>of the agency▓s Telecommunication Development 
>Bureau, stressed that he was intent on 
>protecting the agency from the political 
>football Internet governance had become.
>
>⌠We are not talking about the I.T.U. taking over 
>governance here,■ he said. ⌠We▓re talking about 
>the I.T.U. continuing the mandate that it has 
>been doing in contributing to the growth of the 
>Internet over all of these years.■
>
>At the top of his agenda for 2007 is bringing 
>digital communication to those who do not yet 
>have it. Second will be to enlist the agency▓s 
>members and expertise on the broad matter of 
>cybersecurity, perhaps at the level of an 
>international treaty s in areas including 
>computer fraud and spam ≈ matters that the conference will take up Friday.
>
>⌠Security in cyberspace can only be brokered 
>worldwide by I.T.U.,■ Mr. TourИ asserted, 
>⌠because it is the only nonpolitical place in 
>the whole U.N. system where all the parties are 
>still talking to one another.■ As an example, he 
>cited a security report issued in his name last 
>year that was signed by both Syria and the 
>United States. ⌠We▓re the only one who can talk to everyone,■ he said.
>
>Mr. Gross of the State Department acknowledged 
>the agency▓s usefulness. ⌠One of the great 
>things about the I.T.U.,■ he said, ⌠is it has 
>changed over the years, from telegraph to 
>telephone to Internet. We don▓t want a major 
>international institution to become obsolete 
>just because it couldn▓t change as the world changes.■


Sincerely,
Veni Markovski
http://www.veni.com

check also my blog:
http://blog.veni.com


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