[governance] Themes for the coming IGFs

[William Drake]

Hi,

I share Jean-Louis' concern about the general lack of serious  
attention to development issues in the IGF, which is part of why I  
organized workshops on the notion of a development agenda at Rio and  
Hyderabad.  That IGF has basically given lip service to "IG4D" is  
rather odd given that it a UN-based process launched as a compromise  
solution to WSIS deadlocks. It also is of significant concern to many  
developing country governments, and reinforces the not uncommon view  
that the ITU is a better and more useful forum for them.  Development  
is the sort of cross-cutting, horizontal issue set that the IGF ought  
to have a comparative advantage in addressing, and despite its  
breadth it could be modularized and tackled in successive meetings.   
Hence, I'd like to see a main session in Egypt like, "Taking IG4D  
Seriously."

I'd also like to see a main session on another cross-cutting,  
horizontal issue set, which like development was originally  
envisioned as central to the IGF, and was included in the Tunis  
mandate: "“Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the embodiment of  
WSIS principles in Internet Governance processes.”  The APC-UNECE-COE  
initiative would be relevant here.

Two cents,

Bill


On Dec 11, 2008, at 3:00 PM, jlfullsack wrote:

> Dear Jeannette and all
>
> Of course, Internet critical resources should be on the agenda but,  
> what's more, access and service providing in DCs should stay very  
> hign on it.
>
> As far as I could read through all your messages from Hyderabad,  
> the Internet for Developing countries was once more completely lost  
> aside.
> May I recall our CS Declarations both in Geneva and in Tunis, for a  
> "People centered Info Society" and for ICT's "unique role in socio- 
> economic development and in promoting the fulfilment of  
> intarnationnaly agreed development goals, including those contained  
> in the Muillenium Declaration".
> There were also statements in these Declarations on the Public Good  
> nature of  some critical Internet resources.
> Can somebody from the CS present in Hyderabad let us know what  
> progress in these most critical issues have been achieved there ?  
> Thanks in advance.
>
> All the best
> Jean-Louis Fullsack
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeanette Hofmann"  
> <jeanette at wzb.eu>
> To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:36 AM
> Subject: [governance] Themes for the coming IGFs
>
>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> we had quite a good discussion at the caucus meeting in Hyderabad  
>> about possible topics for the next IGF. Parminder proposed a  
>> 'rights based approach to IG' as an over-arching theme for the  
>> next IGF.
>>
>> I think should continue this discussion on this list since it  
>> would be good if we could come up with proposals for topics at the  
>> next public consultation in Geneva in February 2009.
>>
>> I am not sure though if we should focus on the over-arching theme  
>> for the next IGF. In case you don't remember, the overall theme  
>> for this year's IGF was "Internet for all". My impression is that  
>> these over-arching themes don't matter that much, not only because  
>> they tend to be shallow but more so because the underlying topics  
>> are too diverse to reflect in any meaningful way the overall topic.
>>
>> We should focus on the themes for the main session instead. For  
>> those who didn't follow closely, this year's themes were:
>>
>>        * Reaching the next billion;
>>
>>        * Promoting cyber-security and trust;
>>
>>        * Managing critical Internet resources;
>>
>>        * Taking stock and the way forward;
>>
>>        * Emerging issues - the Internet of tomorrow
>>
>> I heard several people saying that access related topics (reaching  
>> the next billion) need a break as there is nothing new to discuss  
>> next year. Do others agree? What are other topics we want to see  
>> discussed? In my view, critical Internet resources should stay on  
>> the agenda.
>>
>> best, jeanette
>> ____________________________________________________________
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>
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***********************************************************
William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
   Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
New book: Governing Global Electronic Networks,
http://tinyurl.com/5mh9jj
***********************************************************

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