[governance] Fwd: The real work starts after WCIT-12

[Fahd A. Batayneh]

Thank you Parminder.

This is one of the most balanced pieces I have read about the WCIT ever
since the debate erupted earlier this year. Even if the outcomes do not go
in favor of the MS approach, I believe it will go a long way before it is
fully implemented (lots of lobbying and conspiracy theories will go along
the lines).

Fahd

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:21 PM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net>wrote:

>
>
>
> http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/the-real-work-starts-after-wcit12/
>
> Interesting blog on WCIT, and I agree.....
>
> The real work comes afterwards, and much of what happens at the WCIT
> should set up the context of, what the authors puts as, and I quote...
>
>  Like it or not, this debate has brought a large number of important
> issues to the fore and they will need to be confronted.  What the WCIT has
> to do upfront is untangle the various issues and clearly separate them from
> each other. The next step will then be to clearly define what can be solved
> on a national level and what needs to be addressed internationally – and,
> if there are issues that need international attention, who are the best
> parties to address those issues.
>
> The most important issue at the WCIT will be how the international
> community will manage the current debate so as to move towards a manageable
> future.
>
> Most likely what this will mean is that the various international
> stakeholders will have to create a (new) platform that can be used to
> address these issues, and existing internet bodies such as ICANN, ISOC and
> IGF, as well as the UN  and some of its organisations such as the ITU and
> others of course, will all need to be part of this.
>
>
> The full blog is below.....
>  The real work starts after WCIT12<http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/the-real-work-starts-after-wcit12/>
>
> The really important part of the World Conference on IT (WCIT) is not the
> internet battles that have caught the interest of the press – it is what
> will happen after the conference has ended.
>
> Membership of WCIT is on a per-country basis and currently 193 countries
> will be participating in this international event. Each country is free to
> make up its own delegation and these delegations can therefore represent a
> large variety of social, economic, business, legal, technical and other
> interests – as large and as wide as each country decides its delegation
> will be. The responsibility for organising the WCIT rests with the ITU,
> which is the oldest UN organisation (1865).
>
> The current media frenzy about the internet, and the false rumours that
> the UN or any other organisation is going to take over its governance is
> just that – a media beat-up.
>
> As in any international meeting, countries are welcome to bring their
> plans, proposals, opinions and views to the conference and to take the
> opportunity to present these to the international audience. However
> proposals from the USA, or Russia, or China, or the European countries, or
> the Arab countries are not automatically accepted simply because they are
> presented at the conference. That is not the case in any international
> conference – and certainly not at the WCIT, which has a reputation for
> consensus-building.
>
> The media frenzy seems to be based on the incorrect assumption that any of
> the proposals that have been circulated or rumoured could be, or even will
> be, accepted. It is true that some of these proposals and rumours contain
> elements that will be unacceptable to other members of the international
> communities, and vested interests involved in the debate have used the
> well-known FUD strategy (spread fear, uncertainty and doubt) to fuel the
> media frenzy.
>
> On the positive side, the interest in WCIT has now moved well beyond the
> traditional ICT industry. It has gained an enormous amount of attention and
> has brought the internet governance issue to the notice of mainstream
> society. This, of course, is a positive development and it also indicates
> how important the internet has become for everybody, with non-technical
> people starting to take a serious interest in its future.
>
> One of the problems of the internet has been that while it has been
> growing into that wider context the governing bodies have not kept up with
> the growth of these wider interests and concerns, and there is now a range
> of social and economic issues, as well as the technical issues that need to
> be addressed. In the current debate, however, all these issues have been
> thrown into one pool.
>
> Like it or not, this debate has brought a large number of important issues
> to the fore and they will need to be confronted.  What the WCIT has to do
> upfront is untangle the various issues and clearly separate them from each
> other. The next step will then be to clearly define what can be solved on a
> national level and what needs to be addressed internationally – and, if
> there are issues that need international attention, who are the best
> parties to address those issues.
>
> The most important issue at the WCIT will be how the international
> community will manage the current debate so as to move towards a manageable
> future.
>
> Most likely what this will mean is that the various international
> stakeholders will have to create a (new) platform that can be used to
> address these issues, and existing internet bodies such as ICANN, ISOC and
> IGF, as well as the UN  and some of its organisations such as the ITU and
> others of course, will all need to be part of this.
>
> The internet is there for all. It is an enormous social and economic
> enabler and should be used to advance our global society. It clearly has
> the potential to do this and it is the responsibility of all involved to
> make that happen. WCIT 12 has the enormous opportunity, as a representation
> of global society, to play a leadership role in guiding the future of the
> internet for the benefit of all.
>
> The new platform that should be the result of this needs to be truly
> international, independent; and it needs to be well-funded, so that it can
> properly address the issues at hand.
>
> It is, therefore, most unlikely that – apart from some of the purely
> technical matters – any of the more contentious issues that are being
> addressed in the press will be solved at WCIT. Nor should that be the case,
> because WCIT is probably the wrong place to address these issues.
> Nevertheless WCIT can be the catalyst and the facilitator to kick-start the
> process.
>
> Paul Budde
>
>
>
>
>
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