Re: [ga] ALAC Statement on WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Actions
Vittorio and all former DNSO GA members or other interested stakeholders/users,
RALO's are a poor and unexceptable structure and method of
being inclusive of Stakeholders/users. It is because such a
structure is manipulative in the extreme. This many stakeholder/user
groups have already communicated on a number of occasions.
Vittorio Bertola wrote:
> This statement has just been released by the ALAC. Comments or questions
> are welcome.
>
> At Large Advisory Committee's Statement
> on WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Actions
>
> January 20, 2004
>
> At the World Summit on the Information Society held on December 10 to 12
> in Geneva, the member states of the United Nations adopted the Declaration
> of Principles and the Plan of Action that include specific language on the
> issue of ?Internet Governance? (as attached).
>
> ICANN?s At Large Advisory Committee welcomes the fact that these
> statements clearly recognize the role of civil society as a full
> participant in the international management of the Internet, and bring
> attention to the need for a deep involvement of individual users into its
> governance.
>
> Specifically, we believe that the technical management of the Internet
> should remain as much as possible in the private sector and civil society,
> or providers and users of the specific services, and include governmental
> participation only as overseer and ultimate guarantor of the public
> interest. We are concerned that excessive intervention by governments into
> technical Internet operations, in local, regional and international
> arenas, might interfere with its smooth and healthy operation, limit
> innovation and cause over-regulation, countering the existing workings of
> the Internet and the principles that caused its success as a tool to
> foster economic development and to increase freedom of communication.
>
> This is why we strongly endorse the idea of a community-driven consensus
> that is behind the very existence of ICANN. We would also like to mention,
> however, that user participation in ICANN activities has not yet been
> given the full attention or support it deserves, and call for further
> improvements of the users? role inside the ICANN framework. This should be
> an issue of primary importance in the Internet governance discussions
> between now and the second WSIS phase in Tunis, together with other
> fundamental items such as increasing ICANN?s international footprint,
> internal diversity, and multilingualism.
>
> However, the scope of ICANN activities should remain limited to technical
> matters that require world-wide coordination, understanding that in some
> areas they cannot be parted from their social and political consequences,
> and that these consequences must be considered in the technical
> policy-making process. ICANN can be successful only if it focuses on those
> issues that it can address. Issues such as the Digital Divide, in-country
> competitive and pricing policies, and, more generally, those that pertain
> to Internet usage control rather than to Internet technical coordination,
> should be left to those fora best-suited to handle them.
>
> The At Large Advisory Committee, as mandated by the ICANN Bylaws, is
> currently setting up a practical organizational structure to foster the
> representation and participation of Internet users and their civil society
> organizations from around the globe. This structure will be based on
> Regional At Large Organizations (RALO) that will be constituted in each of
> the five ICANN Regions by a set of accredited At Large Structures (ALS),
> or civil society groups and organizations who represent different types of
> Internet users and different countries of the world. This ambitious
> program will create an effective and diverse instrument for participation
> to global and regional Internet policy-making processes by all netizens of
> the world.
>
> For this reason, we declare our willingness to participate in the
> forthcoming multi-stakeholder working group activities organized by the
> Secretary General of the United Nations, to channel into these activities
> the voices of the global user community on Internet name and address
> resource management issues, as mandated by our mission.
>
> Moreover, while pointing out that ICANN-specific issues only constitute a
> part of the broader set of issues labeled as ?Internet Governance?, we
> also think that the experience gathered in these years of ICANN could be
> positively used to draft a workable model for the multi-stakeholder
> governance of other issues. We want to remain focused on finalizing and
> operating an effective user participation mechanism within ICANN, but at
> the same time we think we can bring an important contribution to the next
> phase of Internet Governance discussions at WSIS.
>
> Finally, we support the Civil Society Declaration, "Shaping Information
> Societies for Human Needs", which clearly endorses inclusive
> participation, transparency, and democratic accountability and recognizes
> the need for ?full and effective participation of marginalized
> stakeholders like developing and transitional countries, global civil
> society organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises, and individual
> users.? This, in the interest of the global network, should be considered
> one of the main objectives of any revised structure for Internet governance.
>
> Reference 1
> Declaration of Principles of WSIS
> Final version as adopted on Dec 12, 2003 in Geneva
>
> 48. The Internet has evolved into a global facility available to the
> public and its governance should constitute a core issue of the
> Information Society agenda. The international management of the Internet
> should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full
> involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and
> international organizations. It should ensure an equitable distribution of
> resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a stable and secure
> functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism.
> The management of the Internet encompasses both technical and public
> policy issues and should involve all stakeholders and relevant
> intergovernmental and international organizations. In this respect it is
> recognized that:
> policy authority for Internet-related public policy issues is the
> sovereign right of States. They have rights and responsibilities for
> international Internet-related public policy issues;
> the private sector has had and should continue to have an important role
> in the development of the Internet, both in the technical and economic fields;
> civil society has also played an important role on Internet matters,
> especially at community level, and should continue to play such a role;
> intergovernmental organizations have had and should continue to have a
> facilitating role in the coordination of Internet-related public policy
> issues;
> international organizations have also had and should continue to have an
> important role in the development of Internet-related technical standards
> and relevant policies.
> 50. International Internet governance issues should be addressed in a
> coordinated manner. We ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to
> set up a working group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive
> process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of
> governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and
> developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and
> international organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals
> for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005.
>
> Plan of Actions of WSIS
>
> C6. Enabling environment
> 13. To maximize the social, economic and environmental benefits of the
> Information Society, governments need to create a trustworthy, transparent
> and non-discriminatory legal, regulatory and policy environment. Actions
> include:
> a) Governments should foster a supportive, transparent, pro-competitive
> and predictable policy, legal and regulatory framework, which provides the
> appropriate incentives to investment and community development in the
> Information Society.
> b) We ask the Secretary General of the United Nations to set up a working
> group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that
> ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments,
> the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed
> countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international
> organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals for action, as
> appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005. The group should,
> inter alia:
> i) develop a working definition of Internet governance;
> ii) identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet
> governance;
> iii) develop a common understanding of the respective roles and
> responsibilities of governments, existing intergovernmental and
> international organisations and other forums as well as the private sector
> and civil society from both developing and developed countries;
> iv) prepare a report on the results of this activity to be presented for
> consideration and appropriate action for the second phase of WSIS in Tunis
> in 2005.
> c) Governments are invited to:
> i) facilitate the establishment of national and regional Internet
> Exchange
> Centres;
> ii) manage or supervise, as appropriate, their respective country code
> top-level domain name (ccTLD);
> iii) promote awareness of the Internet.
> d)In cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, promote regional root
> servers and the use of internationalised domain names in order to overcome
> barriers to access.
> di)
>
> Reference 2
>
> "Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs"
> Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society
> Unanimously Adopted by the WSIS Civil Society Plenary on 8 December 2003
>
> (http://wsis-online.net/smsi/file-storage/download/WSIS-CS-Decl-08Dec2003-eng1.htm?version_id=313554)
>
> 2.4.7 Global Governance of ICT and Communications
> International "rules of the game" play an increasingly central role in the
> global information economy. In recent years, governments have liberalised
> traditional international regulatory regimes for telecommunications, radio
> frequency spectrum, and satellite services, and have created new
> multilateral arrangements for international trade in services,
> intellectual property, "information security," and electronic commerce.
> At the same time, business groups have established a variety of
> "self-regulatory" arrangements concerning Internet identifiers (names and
> numbers), infrastructure, and content.
>
> It is not acceptable for these and related global governance frameworks to
> be designed by and for small groups of powerful governments and companies
> and then exported to the world as faits accomplis. Instead, they must
> reflect the diverse views and interests of the international community as
> a whole. This overarching principle has both procedural and substantive
> dimensions.
>
> Procedurally, decision-making processes must be based on such values as
> inclusive participation, transparency, and democratic accountability. In
> particular, institutional reforms are needed to facilitate the full and
> effective participation of marginalized stakeholders like developing and
> transitional countries, global civil society organisations, small and
> medium-sized enterprises, and individual users.
>
> Substantively, global governance frameworks must promote a more equitable
> distribution of benefits across nations and social groups. To do so, they
> must strike a better balance between commercial considerations and other
> legitimate social objectives. For example, existing international
> arrangements should be reformed to promote: efficient management of
> network interconnections and traffic revenue distribution, subject to the
> mutual agreement of corresponding operators; equitable allocations of
> radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbital slots that fully support
> developmental and non-commercial applications; fair trade in electronic
> goods and services, taking into account the developing countries' need for
> special and differential treatment; an open public domain of information
> resources and ideas; and the protection of human rights, consumer safety,
> and personal privacy. In parallel, new diverse international arrangements
> are needed to promote: financial support for sustainable e-development,
> especially but not only in less affluent nations; linguistic, cultural,
> and informational diversity; and the curtailment of concentrated market
> power in ICT and mass media industries.
>
> In light of the relevant controversies in the WSIS process, special
> attention must be given to improving the global coordination of the
> Internet's underlying resources. It must be remembered that the Internet
> is not a singular communications "platform" akin to a public telephone
> network; it is instead a highly distributed set of protocols, processes,
> and voluntarily self-associating networks. Accordingly, the Internet
> cannot be governed effectively by any one organisation or set of
> interests. An exclusionary intergovernmental model would be especially
> ill suited to its unique characteristics; only a truly open,
> multistakeholder, and flexible approach can ensure the Internet's
> continued growth and transition into a multilingual medium. In parallel,
> when the conditions for system stability and sound management can be
> guaranteed, authority over inherently global resources like the root
> servers should be transferred to a global, multistakeholder entity.
>
> The international community must have full and easy access to knowledge
> and information about ICT global governance decision making. This is a
> baseline prerequisite for implementation of the principles mentioned
> above, and indeed for the success of the WSIS process itself. We need
> public-interest oriented monitoring and analysis of the relevant
> activities of both intergovernmental and "self-governance" bodies
> including, inter alia, the International Telecommunication Union, the
> World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization,
> the United Nations Conference on International Trade Law, the Organization
> for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Hague Conference on
> International Private Law, the of Europe, the Asia Pacific Economic
> Cooperation, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Internet
> Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and Wassenaar Arrangement.
>
> As a viable first step in this direction, we recommend the establishment
> of an independent and truly multistakeholder observatory committee to: (1)
> map and track the most pressing current developments in ICT global
> governance decision-making; (2) assess and solicit stakeholder input on
> the conformity of such decision-making with the stated objectives of the
> WSIS agenda; and (3) report to all stakeholders in the WSIS process on a
> periodic basis until 2005, at which time a decision could be made on
> whether to continue or terminate the activity.
>
> --
> .oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo vb.
> Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu.org
> http://bertola.eu.org/ <-- Vecchio sito, nuovo toblog!
Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
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