World Summit on Internet control this week

[mandy]

The World Summit on the Information Society starts this Wednesday in Tunis. It will be three days in which the world's governments will decide for the very first time what should and can be done with this medium we call the Internet.

But three days before that, starting midday Sunday 12 November, will begin the discussions on what is the most controversial aspect of this entire process - internet governance.

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/14/...ance_wsis/

The most controversial aspect of this whole world summit hasn't been the ensuing fight of who should run the internet but where it is being hosted: Tunisia.

Stories about the clampdown on freedom of speech by the government in Tunisia have been the main focus of most stories up to now. It is nowhere near as bad as, say, China but many countries have questioned why a summit about the Information Society (essentially, the Internet) should be based somewhere that denies the most inspiring and revolutionary aspect of this new medium - ready access to enormous, global amounts of information.
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The criticism has been heavy and sustained...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/14/wsis_blog_two/

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[mandy]

Human rights groups are reporting that violent clashes have broken out before the UN conference that is set to debate the future governance of the Internet in Tunisia...

The three-day summit — originally organised to brainstorm ways to bridge the digital divide in developing countries — has morphed this year into a contentious debate over who should control key portions of the Internet...

The United States has stated repeatedly that it does not intend to give up its unique influence over domain names. Large American technology companies, including Microsoft, Google... have thrown support behind the government's position.

A United Nations working group and other countries have been vying for a multilateral system of control.

full article: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39237212,00.htm

[mandy]

The United States has won its fight to retain control over the internet, at least for the foreseeable future.

The world's governments in Tunisia finally reached agreement at 10.30pm last night, just hours before the official opening of the World Summit this morning. In the end ...a deal was cut.

That deal will see the creation of a new Internet Governance Forum, that will be set up next year and decide upon public policy issues for the internet. It will be made up of governments as well as private and civil society, but it will not have power over existing bodies.

Equally, there will be no new oversight body for ICANN, or no new ICANN come to that. Instead, all governments have agreed to work within existing organisations...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/16/...overnance/

[mandy]

Tunisian government is slammed by participants at World Summit:

Swiss president Samuel Schmid drew huge applause from the back of the room when he directly criticised Tunisia’s controlling Internet policies. "It is unsupportable that the UN still has members that imprison their own citizens because of what they have written on the Internet or in the press," he said. "Everyone should be able to express their views freely."

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/16/...t_control/

A FAQ on the World Summit:

FAQ: Tunisia summit and Internet governance

http://news.com.com/FAQ+Tunisia+summit+a...tml?tag=nl

US and UN reach agreement:

U.S. reaches Net detente with U.N

The Bush administration and its critics at a United Nations summit here have inked a broad agreement on global Internet management that will preclude any dramatic showdown this week.

http://news.com.com/U.S.+reaches+Net+det...tml?tag=nl

Copy of the new agreement on Internet governance: http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/pc3/working/dt15rev5.pdf

[mandy]

Days after a tentative agreement on Internet governance was reached, the major players are already jostling for position for the next stage

A brief cessation of hostilities between the United States and its critics on Internet management is raising a new question: Who's in charge next?

According to the agreement inked in Tunisia this week, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan will create a new Internet Governance Forum that will meet for the first time in 2006.  It's supposed to debate everything from spam to computer security to domain name management...

The stakes are high. Whatever group is in charge of organising can set the tone for the forum, craft the rules and influence the final result...

full article: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39237383,00.htm

[mandy]

Conference World - where human existence is put on hold

That you can start to enjoy the fact people are being paid to spy on you is a clear sign that you have entered Conference World ™ - a self-contained microcosm of madness where even the most ridiculous things become accepted as normal.

Conference World this time took on two of my personal favourite pasttimes: eating food and drinking booze. There was a media cafe in the media centre that was completely free, which was fantastic. Or it would have been if it had served more than coffee, water, juice and hors d'oeuvres.

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/20/wsis_blog_five/