[governance] IGC statement FINAL VERSION

[Yehuda Katz]

Bill,

I'm not in denile, the ITU clearly has had designs to capture our audiance
since Their planting the WSIS seeds to begin with. The ITU started this process
for a reason, and part of that was to harness It.

Just skip through the links below:
-

Per Wolfgang Kleinwächter:
http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/arc/governance/2010-01/msg00194.html

...
This is part of a broader package of post MAG/IGF, post JPA/ICANN and post
GAID/UN. What is the 
role of the IGC in all these processes (including the forthcoming ITU pushed 
WSIS Forum in May 2010 and the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in October 
2010). And what the IGC is doing in other process where Internet Governance 
becomes an issue (ACTA is just one example)? And how the IGC positioned 
itself to new processes in the UN General Assembly (with regard to Internet 
security and governance, pushed by the government of Russia in the 2nd 
committee)? And what we are doing in cases like Google vs. China? 
...

-

Per Parminder:
Internet Governance 2010: Future Of The IGF, Competition Among Institutions
By Monika Ermert on 15 January 2010 @ 3:39 pm
http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/arc/governance/2010-01/msg00251.html

...
ITU - Bigger Role in Governance Wished by Some

A year ago, the ITU secretary general was highly critical of the IGF, pointing
to deficiencies with resolving the dispute about core internet resources -
domain names, IP addresses and the system of central root servers on the domain
name system (DNS). This year, the organisation did not call into question the
extension of the IGF mandate, but instead in a paper to the UN secretary
general for his report on what is called “enhanced cooperation” to ECOSOC
recommended itself once more for a bigger role in the internet governance
arena.

As the organisation is preparing for the 2010 ITU Plenipotentiary Meeting in
Veracruz, Mexico (4-22 October) the ambitions while not new deserve a closer
look. The plenipotentiary is the main decision-making conference of the ITU,
taking place once every four years. The 2006 plenipotentiary in Antalya,
Turkey, paved the way for more involvement in internet governance, so the 2010
plenipotentiary might see another round of discussions between member states
that want the ITU to do more and those who want it to keep to its original task
that is more focused on the classical telecommunications industry.

That the ITU has an appetite for additional tasks has been made clear in the
summary contained in the ECOSOC report and has already led to discussions
between the secretariat and member states, said one ITU expert. “An improved
governance framework could be formed within which all countries would have an
equal say in internet-related public policy issues and in the management of
critical internet resources,” read the summary of ITU comments in the UN
secretary general’s report. “An intergovernmental organisation such as the
[ITU] … could play a leading role in the creation of such a governance
structure.”

The ITU ECOSOC report summary lists the management of the cryptographically
signed root zone of the domain name system - currently underway under the aegis
of ICANN and US company VeriSign - the management of generic top-level domains
(gTLDs like .com), and the management of internationalised country-code TLDs
(IDN ccTLDs) as issues to be dealt with by an “intergovernmental body.” ITU
representatives and consultants in addition have at a recent ITU Council
meeting been pushing for the set-up of an alternative registry for next
generation internet (IPv6) addresses at the ITU.

The plenipotentiary also might talk about a proposal on a “Global Protocol on
Cybersecurity and Cybercrime” presented by the chair of the ITU High Level
Experts Group (HLEG) on Cybercrime, Norwegian Chief Judge Stein Schjolberg,
during the IGF. A convention or a protocol at the UN level on this issue should
be a “global proposal for the 2010s,” Schjolberg wrote in the preface to
the document. He recommends a “combined initiative” by “organisations
such as United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the ITU.”
...

-

Per Wolfgang Kleinwächter:
http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/arc/governance/2009-12/msg00265.html

...
> suggestion, I would be rather surprised if the ITU were to accept 
> making it's "forum" an open multistakeholder process rather than a 
> showpiece for itself, they could have done this already and have 
> showed no inclination. And It might be risky given the stuff with IGF 
> etc. But perhaps it'd be a good way to call their bluff and feed into 
> the Plenipot discussion...?
...

---

Per Milton Mueller: IGP
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2009/11/20/4385849.html

...
The bottom line here is that academic and civil society participants in
Internet governance need to maintain a critical stance towards both ISOC/ICANN
and ITU and remain independent. Both organizations have, potentially, a lot of
good to contribute; both can make mistakes and advocate or implement bad
policies in an attempt to strengthen themselves. At any rate the real
governance battle is not between ICANN and ITU but between the nation-state
system and the global, open Internet. 
...

---

The ITU [Itself]:
http://www.itu.int/net/itunews/issues/2009/10/36.aspx

Last paragraph
...
Speaking on behalf of the ITU Secretary-General, Malcolm Johnson stated that he
will recommend the ITU membership to support the continuation of IGF in its
present format,  but with some improvements: in particular, fewer side events
occurring in parallel with important discussions in the main session. “Why
not concentrate on one or two themes for each IGF?” he asked, and suggested
that the effectiveness of the organizing structure, including its transparency
and accountability, should be addressed.
...

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