[IP] United Nations wants a big piece of the Internet (and my comments on what I heard Dave )
I wish I heard what Declan seemed to hear aand report but what I and others
I talked to heard was endless statements on the need to change the charging
for international. Internet connections to developing countries; endless
calls for additional resources so that delegates from developing counties
to attend international meetings; complaints about the domination of
English on the net (wish I could see that in Japan and Korea when I try to
find information) etc.
The tone of the meeting seemed to be that international governance was
needed and the under current was that ITU would do it. The time would have
better been spent either examining that assumption or understanding how it
could be done. Not just "kabuki" theater 3 minute interventions that
consumes most of the time with little really said.
There were of course some good points raised but they were swamped with the
repetitive 3 minute non informative comments (reminds me of a faculty
meeting).
More this weekend.
Dave
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 07:18:36 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5179694.html
United Nations ponders Net's future
March 26, 2004
By Declan McCullagh
UNITED NATIONS--The United Nations wants a big piece of the Internet.
At a summit here this week, delegates from around the world gathered to
take a preliminary step toward U.N. involvement in some of the areas that
are bedeviling Internet users and governments alike, including spam,
network security, privacy and the regulation of the technical underpinnings
that control the sprawling global network.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan set the tone in a speech Thursday,
criticizing the current system through which Internet standards are set and
domain names are handled, a process currently dominated by the United
States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Such structures "must be made
ccessible and responsive to the needs of all the world's people," Annan said.
On Friday, the summit will hear recommendations from five different U.N.
working groups on topics including everything from domain names to root
server operation to free speech and intellectual property to privacy.
Although the U.N. process is still in its early stages, the result could
dramatically reshape the way the Internet is run and put an end to some of
the informal, collaborative processes that exist today.
he master "root servers" that serve up addresses for country codes and all
other top-level domains, for instance, are operated in part by volunteers
instead of through a U.N.-style apparatus.
Dozens of delegates from developing nations echoed Annan's remarks
throughout the rest of the day, arguing that their governments do not have
a voice in the way the Internet is operated and that more money and
investment from richer nations is the only way to end the so-called digital
divide. Khalid Saeed, the secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Information
Technology, said his country must "play an active role in all layers" of
organizations that control the operation of the modern Internet.
[...]
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