For all those interested in the composition and portfolios of the new European Commission from the point of view of Digital Economy and Society, the Internet and Internet Governance here are the details http://ec.europa.eu/about/
Thus, Vice President of the Commission for the Digital Single Market will be Andrus Ansip (EE), and the Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society will be Günther Oettinger (DE).
As you all know, the events of 2014 on Internet Governance will ripple far into the future. On the heels of the Net Mundial Conference last April, and the IGF this past month, is the ITU Plenipotentiary meeting in Busan, Korea beginning in less than three weeks. Many of you have been participating in activities locally, regionally and globally to assure that the Open Internet and multistakeholder governance model are preserved as a result of the ITU conference well into the future. Many others of you want and need to know what this all means.
By Janis Karklins, Chair of IGF 2014
The ninth edition of the Internet Governance Forum will start at the beginning of September 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey – http://www.igf2014.org.tr/ More than 3000 participants from all continents representing different stakeholder groups (governments, private sector, civil society, technical community, and academia) have registered and plan to participate in this annual international gathering exclusively devoted to Internet governance. Several hundred more stakeholders will participate remotely through a global network of regional hubs.
Why will so many government ministers and parliamentarians, CEOs and Internet
entrepreneurs, civil rights defenders, scholars, engineers and other key stakeholders in
the global Internet community devote one week of their time to engage in discussions
about the future of the Internet?
The answer is clear – all of these stakeholders care about maintaining a free, open, interoperable, stable, secure and trustworthy Internet within a multilateral, democratic, transparent and inclusive framework of multi-stakeholder governance as defined by the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and endorsed by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. The IGF is a unique global forum for convening these multi-stakeholder discussions. It ensures the Internet continues to evolve in the global public interest consistent with these fundamental characteristics and objectives for the benefit of all Internet users.
The Internet governance debate has become ever more complex as we move from the
discussion of infrastructure development into the realm of actual use and, unfortunately,
misuse of the Internet.
The 2014 IGF will consider many complex policy issues, such as IANA stewardship
transition and net neutrality. In addition, key questions such as policies enhancing access,
growth and development on the Internet, bridging the digital divide, freedom of
expression, privacy, and cultural and linguistic diversity will be extensively addressed.
The Istanbul IGF will be the first global gathering of the multi-stakeholder Internet
community after the ground-breaking NETmundial conference hosted by Brazil in April
2014, which has become a reference point for multi-stakeholder cooperation exploring
the boundaries of collective and democratic decision-making. The IGF was prominently
supported by the NETmundial and the Istanbul meeting seeks to meet the high
expectations of the Internet governance community.
The preparatory process for the meeting, led by its Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group and
guided by the wider global community through an open consultation process, has
introduced several important innovations into the program of the 2014 IGF. These include
identifying more focused and concrete outcomes and the promotion of best practices on
a range of important issues such as the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance,
child online protection, local content creation, ensuring security and combatting spam.
The Istanbul IGF will also, for the first time, aim to coordinate and advance solutions to
identified challenges, primarily through linking the annual global IGF with the many
regional and national IGF initiatives which have emerged in the last 10 years. It will also
aim to pick up and explore further issues at the invitation of other organisations and fora. The IGF also strengthens remote participation opportunities in order to increase outreach The answer is clear – all of these stakeholders care about maintaining a free, open,
interoperable, stable, secure and trustworthy Internet within a multilateral, democratic,
transparent and inclusive framework of multi-stakeholder governance as defined by the
Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and endorsed by the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. The IGF is a unique global forum for convening these
multi-stakeholder discussions. It ensures the Internet continues to evolve in the global
public interest consistent with these fundamental characteristics and objectives for the
benefit of all Internet users.
The Internet governance debate has become ever more complex as we move from the
discussion of infrastructure development into the realm of actual use and, unfortunately,
misuse of the Internet.
The 2014 IGF will consider many complex policy issues, such as IANA stewardship
transition and net neutrality. In addition, key questions such as policies enhancing access,
growth and development on the Internet, bridging the digital divide, freedom of
expression, privacy, and cultural and linguistic diversity will be extensively addressed.
The Istanbul IGF will be the first global gathering of the multi-stakeholder Internet
community after the ground-breaking NETmundial conference hosted by Brazil in April
2014, which has become a reference point for multi-stakeholder cooperation exploring
the boundaries of collective and democratic decision-making. The IGF was prominently
supported by the NETmundial and the Istanbul meeting seeks to meet the high
expectations of the Internet governance community.
The preparatory process for the meeting, led by its Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group and
guided by the wider global community through an open consultation process, has
introduced several important innovations into the program of the 2014 IGF. These include
identifying more focused and concrete outcomes and the promotion of best practices on
a range of important issues such as the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance,
child online protection, local content creation, ensuring security and combatting spam.
The Istanbul IGF will also, for the first time, aim to coordinate and advance solutions to
identified challenges, primarily through linking the annual global IGF with the many
regional and national IGF initiatives which have emerged in the last 10 years. It will also
aim to pick up and explore further issues at the invitation of other organisations and fora. The IGF also strengthens remote participation opportunities in order to increase outreach The answer is clear – all of these stakeholders care about maintaining a free, open,
interoperable, stable, secure and trustworthy Internet within a multilateral, democratic,
transparent and inclusive framework of multi-stakeholder governance as defined by the
Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and endorsed by the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. The IGF is a unique global forum for convening these
multi-stakeholder discussions. It ensures the Internet continues to evolve in the global
public interest consistent with these fundamental characteristics and objectives for the
benefit of all Internet users.
The Internet governance debate has become ever more complex as we move from the
discussion of infrastructure development into the realm of actual use and, unfortunately,
misuse of the Internet.
The 2014 IGF will consider many complex policy issues, such as IANA stewardship
transition and net neutrality. In addition, key questions such as policies enhancing access,
growth and development on the Internet, bridging the digital divide, freedom of
expression, privacy, and cultural and linguistic diversity will be extensively addressed.
The Istanbul IGF will be the first global gathering of the multi-stakeholder Internet
community after the ground-breaking NETmundial conference hosted by Brazil in April
2014, which has become a reference point for multi-stakeholder cooperation exploring
the boundaries of collective and democratic decision-making. The IGF was prominently
supported by the NETmundial and the Istanbul meeting seeks to meet the high
expectations of the Internet governance community.
The preparatory process for the meeting, led by its Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group and
guided by the wider global community through an open consultation process, has
introduced several important innovations into the program of the 2014 IGF. These include
identifying more focused and concrete outcomes and the promotion of best practices on
a range of important issues such as the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance,
child online protection, local content creation, ensuring security and combatting spam.
The Istanbul IGF will also, for the first time, aim to coordinate and advance solutions to
identified challenges, primarily through linking the annual global IGF with the many
regional and national IGF initiatives which have emerged in the last 10 years. It will also
aim to pick up and explore further issues at the invitation of other organisations and fora. The IGF also strengthens remote participation opportunities in order to increase outreach and improve its capacity-building aspects.
View more full text from the IGF Chair at Chairs blog IGF 2014
As the European Commission clearly stated in its Communication on Internet Policy and Governanceof 12 February 2014, conflicting visions on the future of the Internet and on how to strengthen its multistakeholder governance in a sustainable manner have intensified recently. The next two years will be critical in redrawing the global map of Internet governance. Europe must contribute to finding a credible way forward for global internet governance; it must play a strong role in defining how the internet is run and ensuring it remains a single, un-fragmented network.
In less than two weeks, I will be travelling to Sao Paulo to attend NETmundial, the Multi-stakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance. The purpose of NETmundial is to develop principles of Internet governance and a roadmap for the future development of this ecosystem. This international conference comes at a very timely moment in the debates on Internet governance and I commend the Brazilian government, and in particular President Dilma Rousseff, for taking this important initiative.
I was very pleased that the Brazilian Government asked me to join the High-Level Multi-stakeholder Committee of NETmundial, which oversees the overall strategy of the meeting and fosters the involvement of the international community.
The members of the High-Level Multi-stakeholder Committee recently received a “draft outcome document”, prepared on the basis of the more than 180 comments and submissions (including two submissions by the European Commission) to the conference. A public consultation on the outcome document is going to be launched by the conference organisers very shortly.
In the meantime, I shared my observations on this draft document with my colleagues in the High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Committee, the co-chairs of the drafting team and with the secretariat of the conference; in a spirit of transparency, I would like to also share them with the broader Internet community.
++++++++
From: KROES Neelie (CAB-KROES)
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 7:26 PM
To: ‘hlmc@netmundial.br‘
Subject: RE: [HLMC] NETmundial draft outcome document
Find more on https://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/content/my-thoughts-netmundial-and-future-internet-governance
A conference to be held on Friday 21 March 2014 at the ICANN 49 meeting venue, the Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore, in the Olivia Room, from 10:00 to 18:00.
Organized by the NonCommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) of the Generic Names Supporting Organization, with the generous support of ICANN.
View the program | Register to attend
The NETMundial Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of the Internet Governance will be held in São Paulo, Brazil on 23-24 April 2014.
Initiated by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé, and co-organized by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee and/1Net, the meeting will bring together a wide range of government, business, technical community, civil society and academic participants from around the world. The organizers describe its objectives as, “crafting Internet governance principles and proposing a roadmap for the further evolution of the Internet governance ecosystem.”
The purpose of this NCUC conference is to provide a first opportunity for intensive, F2F cross-community dialogue on the main substantive topics likely to be addressed in São Paulo. Stakeholders from across the ICANN community have expressed a range of views and uncertainties about the meeting’s precise substantive focus, expected outcomes, and potential significance in the continuing evolution of the global Internet governance ecosystem. It is hoped that the NCUC conference will help the community to work through the issues at stake and to prepare for its participation in the NETMundial.
For more details pls visit http://www.ncuc.org/singapore2014/
Austria will organize within the framework of the Austrian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe a Conference entitled “Shaping the Digital Environment – Ensuring our Rights on the Internet”. http://www.coe.int/t/informationsociety/Config2014/default_en.asp
The Conference will take place on 13 and 14 March 2014 in Graz (Austria) and will be held in the Aula of the Old University.
The Conference will address current challenges and responses to make the internet an inclusive and people-centred space in the follow-up of the Council of Europe Internet Governance Strategy 2012-2015, adopted in 2012.
It will build upon a multi-stakeholder approach, and discuss challenges and best practices in the light of recent developments in the field of Internet governance. Participants will take stock of the progress made on the Council of Europe’s Internet Governance Strategy, thereby also identifying possible ways forward beyond 2015. They will address inter alia:
The Conference will be held at the level of representatives and experts from governments, international organisations, industry and civil society. It will be opened with a High-Level Panel. Working languages of the Conference will be English and French.
Persons wishing to participate are invited to pre-register on-line.
The Conference will be webcast.
Internet Governance – Council of Europe Strategy 2012-2015
The Council of Europe Strategy on Internet Governance (2012-2015): Mid-Term Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Fadi Chehade, as the President and CEO of ICANN, is frankly one of the more important people in the Internet world. His organization is responsible for two key aspects of the Internet. The first is managing the naming system of the Internet and how that system is used globally and how people reach it (ICANN manages the naming system through its policies and operations). The second is numbers. Specifically, any device that talks to the Internet (cell phone, smart phone, Mac, PC, etc.) is given a unique Internet Protocol or IP number, marking its specific entry point to the web. ICANN maintains the global IP numbering system.
A single naming and numbering system equals a single Internet. Traditionally, ICANN has a function called The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) that is responsible for the global coordination of the DNS Root, IP addressing, and other Internet protocol resources. IANA is under contract with the U.S. Congress. More generically, that means that the U.S. “helps control” the Internet. However it was always envisioned that the contract between ICANN’s IANA and the U.S. would eventually go away. Chehade believes that contract with the U.S. government should in fact be “sunset”, and the time has come. Chehade believes that ICANN, who is accountable to the global community, should do so without U.S. government oversight.
Find the entire post at: http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/01/10/icanns-fadi-chehade-says-we-have-18-months-to-find-new-governance-for-a-single-internet-or-else/?angle=silicon
Do not miss the upcoming 2014 events related to Internet Governance!!! This calendar was prepared by colleagues at DiploFoundation! View the calendar http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/events
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Last month, the European Commission announced a proposal calling for concrete, actionable steps to address the globalisation of ICANN and IANA functions; the ‘globalisation’ of Internet governance; and a more transparent, accountable, and inclusive multistakeholder process.
While many lauded the European Commission’s Communication on Internet Policy and Governance, the proposal also sparked debate. US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) head Larry Strickling offered support for the proposal, but did not make reference to the IANA functions. Dutch member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake called for further debate within the European Parliament, while the Commission’s positioning of itself as an ‘honest broker’ led to further questions about plans for its involvement in IG negotiations in the next few months.
Diplo’s next IG webinar, on Friday, 7th March at 12 pm UTC/GMT, will feature a discussion on the proposal and on the European Commission’s plans for IG negotiations. The webinar will be led by Andrea Glorioso and Michael Niebel, members of the European Commission’s Task Force on Internet Policy Development which developed the proposal. It will explore, among other issues:
Join us on Friday, 7th March at 12 pm UTC/GMT. Webinar participants will be able to discuss the topic with our speakers. Attendance is free; registration is required. Please register here.
Image source: https://www.accessnow.org/blog/2014/02/11/spotlight-on-internet-governance-2014-part-one-wsis-review
ICANN 49 | 23-27 March 2014 | Singapore
For more details about the upcoming ICANN 49th meeting in Singapore, please access http://singapore49.icann.org/en
We will keep you posted on the details related to meeting of the members of our Association as well as on the outreach meetings we plan to organize while in Singapore!