Working Group on Internet Governance
The Working Group on Internet Governance ( WGIG ) was an international group of experts to explain the technical issues relating to Internet governance . The WGIG consisted of 40 experts from governments, the private sector and civil society who worked together on an equal footing under the leadership of Nitin Desai (Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the WSIS ). It was launched in 2004 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations , Kofi Annan, on the recommendation of the World Summit for the Information Society , which first met in Geneva in December 2003 , and has three tasks that lead to recommendations to the decision-makers at the World Summit in Tunis 2005 should:
- 1. Development of a “working definition” of “Internet Governance”;
- 2. Explanation of the various issues of public interest (English: "public policy issues") with reference to Internet governance in order to be able to focus the problem-solving accordingly
- 3. Develop a common understanding of the different roles and responsibilities of governments, existing international organizations and forums, as well as the private sector and civil society, in both developing and industrialized countries.
Work and report
The WGIG held four working group meetings in Geneva: 23-25. November 2004; 14.-18. February 2005; 18.-20. April 2005; and 14.-17. June 2005. She submitted her report in July 2005, which essentially represents the results of the three tasks.
Definition of internet governance
The following definition of " Internet Governance " was developed as a definition :
- "Internet governance is the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of common principles, norms, rules, procedures for decision-making and programs that influence the further development and use of the Internet."
Factual issues
In accordance with the mandate, the WGIG dealt with a number of factual issues:
- Management of the "Root Zone Files" and the "Root Zone System"
- Costs for the connecting lines (" interconnection ")
- Internet stability, security and online crime ( cybercrime )
- Spam
- Meaningful participation in the development of global regulations
- Creation of capacities ("capacity building")
- Allocation of domain names
- IP addressing
- Copyright protection (IPR)
- freedom of speech
- Data protection and privacy protection
- Consumer rights
- Multilingual ability
- other topics
- The WGIG identified a number of other important issues such as: B. Convergence and Next Generation Networks (NGNs) and e-commerce, but without going into them in detail.
recommendations
Forum
A key proposal was to create a forum where the various stakeholders could discuss their views on internet governance. This forum should be open to all stakeholders from industrialized and developing countries and enable them to participate on an equal basis. This proposal was essentially taken up by the participants at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in November 2005, who agreed to create an Internet Governance Forum .
Internet governance models
In its report, in addition to defining and clarifying the technical issues, the WGIG also made fundamental suggestions as to how Internet governance could look in the future. The following principles were listed to which any supervision of the Internet should conform:
- No government should be paramount in Internet governance.
- The form of organization should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full involvement and participation of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations, each within their specific roles.
As a result, various models were proposed, which shows that even after 18 months of intensive deliberations, it was not possible to develop a joint proposal for a single model on which all the experts involved could agree. The main aspects of the various models are summarized below:
- Model 1:
- This model provides for a Global Internet Council (GIC), consisting of members of governments with appropriate representation from each region and with the involvement of other stakeholders. This council would take over the functions currently performed by the United States Government's Department of Commerce. It would also replace ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Thus the GIC would have a supervisory role. Governments would lead the GIC, while the private sector and civil society would have an advisory role.
- Model 2:
- There would be no oversight role in this model. The role of the GAC in ICANN may need to be adapted to meet the needs of different governments. The aforementioned forum could take on certain coordination functions.
- Model 3:
- Following the principle that no government should have a prominent role in relation to international Internet governance, an International Internet Council (IIC) should oversee the relevant issues affecting national public concerns ICANN and IANA take over. This council should also perform functions related to the distribution of resources on the Internet or functions that are not currently performed by any other international organization. This advice would make the GAC obsolete in ICANN.
- Model 4:
- This model combines three different areas of Internet governance, supervision and international coordination, proposes organizational structures that should address the following aspects:
- Development of public interest regulations and decision-making in international internet public interest matters under the auspices of governments.
- Supervision of the organization responsible for the technical and operational functioning of the Internet at global level, under the leadership of the private sector.
- Global coordination of Internet development through dialogue between governments, the private sector and civil society.
- For these purposes the following institutions would be created:
- Global Internet Policy Council (GIPC)
- World Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (WICANN)
- Global Internet Governance Forum (GIGF)
Clarifying the roles of stakeholders
The WGIG also dealt with defining the different roles and areas of responsibility of the various stakeholders - states, international organizations, the private sector and civil society.
Governments
These should primarily deal with the creation of regulations in the public interest as well as their coordination and implementation. This also includes the creation of a positive environment for the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the assumption of supervisory functions, the enactment of laws, regulations and the adoption of standards, the adoption of international agreements, the development of so-called "best practices ”, promoting capacity building in and through ICTs and promoting research and development of new technologies and standards. Other tasks include access to ICT services, fighting online crime, promoting ICT infrastructure and addressing general development problems. Finally, the WGIG also counts the support of multilingual skills and cultural diversity as well as arbitration and the resolution of conflicts among the tasks of the public sector.
Private sector
The roles and responsibilities of the private sector include, in particular, self-regulation by industry, the development of best practices, the drafting of general proposals, guidelines and tools for policy makers and other stakeholders, research and development of technologies, standards and processes. The tasks also include supporting the drafting of national laws and participating in national and international decision-making processes, promoting innovation and building capacity, and resolving disputes.
Civil society
In particular, civil society can provide awareness-raising work and contribute to the creation of capacities, urge safeguarding the public interest, mobilize citizens in democratic processes and bring in the perspectives of marginalized groups, including marginalized communities and so-called "grass-roots" activists. The expertise, skills, experience and knowledge in a number of ICT policy areas should be brought into the policy process in order to align these processes more closely with the interests of all people. Civil society can also contribute to the development of new technologies and standards, develop and disseminate “best practices”, and ensure that both political forces and participants in the market take into account the needs of all members of society. Overall, civil society should demand social responsibility and “good governance”, advocate the development of social projects and activities that are important but not seen as profitable or modern. The aim is to create visions of a people-centered information society based on human rights, sustainable development and social justice.
Other stakeholders
Most recently, WGIG has also recognized that the academic community has contributed greatly to the development of the Internet and is a source of inspiration, innovation and creativity. In the same way, the technical community and its organizations are deeply concerned with the operation of the Internet, with the setting of standards and the development of services on the Internet. Both groups thus make a lasting and valuable contribution to the stability and security, to the functioning and development of the Internet.
Results
In the preparatory phase for the second phase of the WSIS, the recommendations of the WGIG were sometimes hotly and controversially discussed in various PrepComs (see also Internet Governance ). As a preliminary result, however, it can be stated that there was no consensus for any of the proposed models, so that only the Internet Governance Forum will be implemented as one of the recommendations. This will not be a continuation of the WGIG, which was assigned as a small group of experts with a specific mandate and a specific date for the submission of the report, but the work of the WGIG will certainly be continued - within the larger framework of the Internet Governance Forum.
Members of the WGIG
- Nitin Desai (Chairman)
- Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society (Delhi / Mumbai)
- Abdullah Al-Darrab
- Deputy Governor of Technical Affairs, Communications and Information Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
- Carlos A. Afonso
- Director of Planning, Information Network for the Third Sector; Member, Brazil's Internet Steering Committee; Member, Non-Commercial Users Constituency (Rio de Janeiro)
- Peng Hwa Ang
- Dean, School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
- Karen Banks
- Networking and Advocacy Coordinator, Association for Progressive Communications; Director, GreenNet (London)
- Faryel Beji
- President and CEO, Tunisian Internet Agency (Tunis)
- Vittorio Bertola
- Chairman, ICANN At Large Advisory Committee; President and CTO, Dynamic Fun (Turin)
- José Alexandre Bicalho
- Member, Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Adviser to the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Agency (Brasilia)
- Kangsik Cheon
- Chief Operating Officer, International Business Development, Netpia (Seoul)
- Trevor Clarke
- Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations Office at Geneva (Geneva)
- Avri Doria
- Research Consultant (Providence, Rhode Island)
- William Drake
- President, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility; Senior Associate, International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (Geneva)
- Raúl Echeberría
- Executive Director / CEO, Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (Montevideo)
- Dev Erriah
- Chairman, ICT Authority of Mauritius (Port Louis)
- Baher Esmat
- Telecom Planning Manager, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt (Cairo)
- Juan Fernandez
- Coordinator of the Commission of Electronic Commerce of Cuba (Havana)
- Ayesha Hassan
- Senior Policy Manager for Electronic Business, IT and Telecommunications, International Chamber of Commerce (Paris)
- David Hendon
- Director of Business Relations, United Kingdom, Department of Trade and Industry (London)
- Adviser to the Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Information Industry of China; Former Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing)
- Willy Jensen
- Director General, Norwegian Post and Telecom Authority (Oslo)
- Wolfgang Kleinwächter
- Professor, International Communication Policy and Regulation, University of Aarhus (Aarhus)
- Jovan Kurbalija
- Director, DiploFoundation, Geneva / La Valletta (Geneva)
- Iosif Charles Legrand
- Senior Scientist, California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, California)
- Donald MacLean
- Director, MacLean Consulting (Ottawa)
- Allen Miller
- Executive Director, World Information Technology and Services Alliance (Arlington, Virginia)
- Jacqueline A. Morris
- Consultant (Port of Spain)
- Olivier Nana Nzépa
- Coordinator, Africa Civil Society (Yaoundé)
- Alejandro Pisanty
- Director of Computing Academic Services, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Vice-Chairman of the Board of ICANN (Mexico City)
- Khalilullah Qazi
- Counselor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva (Geneva)
- Rajashekar Ramaraj
- Managing Director, Sify Limited (Chennai (formerly Madras))
- Masaaki Sakamaki
- Director, Computer Communications Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Tokyo)
- Joseph Sarr
- President, NTIC Commission, Dakar Regional Council (Dakar)
- Peiman Seadat
- Counselor, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office at Geneva (Geneva)
- Charles Sha'ban
- Executive Director, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (Amman)
- Lyndall Shope-Mafole
- Chairperson, Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development of South Africa (Pretoria)
- Waudo Siganga
- Chairman, Computer Society of Kenya (Nairobi)
- Juan Carlos Solines Moreno
- Executive Director, Gobierno Digital (Quito)
- Mikhail Yakushev
- Director of legal support department, Ministry of Information Technology and Communications of the Russian Federation (Moscow)
- Peter Zangl
- Deputy Director-General, Directorate General Information Society and Media, European Commission (Brussels)
- Jean-Paul Zens
- First Counselor, Director of the Media and Telecom Department, Ministry of State of Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
office
- Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator
- Frank March, Senior Program Adviser
- Tarek Cheniti, Consultant
- Hind Eltayeb, Administrative Assistant
- Robert Shaw, part-time, seconded by ITU
- Howard Williams, part-time, seconded by the University of Strathclyde
- David Satola, World Bank (part-time in his personal capacity)
- Chengetai Masango, Intern (April – July 2005)
- Chango Mawaki, Fellow, in association with DiploFoundation (June 2005)
- Seiiti Arata, Fellow, in association with DiploFoundation (June 2005)
- Dhrupad Mathur, Fellow, in association with DiploFoundation (June 2005)
See also
- World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
- Internet
- Internet governance
- Internet Governance Forum
- Domain Name System (DNS)
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Web links
- WSIS Phase I in Geneva (December 2003):
- Geneva Declaration of Principles (PDF; 164 kB)
- Geneva Plan of Action (PDF; 185 kB)
- WSIS Phase II in Tunis (November 2005):
- Tunis Commitment (PDF; 152 kB)
- Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (PDF; 249 kB)