[governance] ITU vs. ICANN

[Jean Paul NKURUNZIZA]

Hi all, 

I believe that GAC  should have more membership from different Nations. 
However,  any  veto power from Governments within the international public 
policy related to Internet  would make it loose its traditional dynamism.
Regards.

 NKURUNZIZA Jean Paul


Tel : +257 79 981459




________________________________
De : "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang" <wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de>
À : governance at lists.cpsr.org
Envoyé le : Ven 8 octobre 2010, 17h 41min 59s
Objet : [governance] ITU vs. ICANN

"US and Russia face off over ICANN veto power



Kevin Murphy, October 6, 2010, 13:14:29 (UTC), Domain Policy 

The ruling body of the International Telecommunications Union this week kicked 
off a major policy-making meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico, and has already seen 
the US and Russia taking opposing stances over the future control of ICANN.



A group of former Soviet nations, chaired by the Russian Federation's Minister 
of Communications, seems to have proposed that the ITU should give itself veto 
power over ICANN decisions.



A proposal filed by the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications 
(RCC) calls for the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee to be scrapped and 
replaced by an ITU group.



Consideration should be given to the expediency of having the functions of GAC 
carried out by a specially-constituted group within ITU with the authority to 
veto decisions adopted by the ICANN Board of Directors. If it is so decided, the 
ITU Secretary-General should be instructed to consult ICANN on the matter.



The proposal was first noted by Gregory Francis at CircleID. 



It says that the GAC is currently the only avenue open to governments to "defend 
their interests" but that it has "no decision-making authority and can do no 
more than express its wishes".



It also notes that fewer than 50% of nations are members of the GAC, and that 
only 20% or fewer actually participate in GAC meetings.



The proposal was apparently submitted to the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary 
Conference but, in contrast to ICANN's policy of transparency, many ITU 
documents are only accessible to its members.



A reader was kind enough to send me text extracted from the document. I've been 
unable to verify its authenticity, but I've no particular reason to believe it's 
bogus.



The RCC was set up in 1991 to increase cooperation between telecommunications 
and postal operators in the post-Soviet era. Its board is comprised of 
communications ministers from a dozen nations.



Its position on ICANN appears to be also held by the Russian government. Igor 
Shchegolev, its communications minister, is chair of the RCC board.



At the Plenipotentiary on Tuesday, Shechegolev said (via Google Translate): 



We believe that the ITU is capable of such tasks to international public policy, 
Internet governance, its development and finally, protection of interests of 
countries in ICANN. 




Meanwhile, the US has committed itself to the multi-stakeholder model of 
internet governance as embodied by ICANN. The State Department's Philip Verveer 
told the conference:



the ITU should be a place where the development of the Internet is fostered. The 
Internet has progressed and evolved in a remarkably successful way under the 
existing multi-stakeholder arrangements. Changes, especially changes involving 
inter-governmental controls, are likely to impair the dynamism of the 
Internet-something we all have an interest in avoiding. 




ICANN itself has no formal presence at the Plenipotentiary, after ITU 
secretary-general Hamadoun Toure turned down a request by ICANN president Rod 
Beckstrom for observer status.



The conference carries on until October 22. It's likely that we haven't heard 
the last of the anti-ICANN rhetoric."

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