This will be the second World Summit on the Information Society
(
WSIS
). The first one took place in Geneva in December
2003, with the aim of finding ways of using
ICT
to
improve the global economy and tackle worldwide problems such as
poverty.
It was hailed a success, resulting in a Declaration of
Principles for governing the information society and an Action Plan
for implementing them. But agreement was only reached by leaving
the toughest issues to future discussion. Most controversial among
these was the question of who should govern the internet.
At present, ICANN, the US-based Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers, has responsibility for Internet
Protocol (
IP
) address space allocation, protocol
identifier assignment, generic (
gTLD
) and country code
(
ccTLD
) Top-Level Domain name system management, and
root server system management functions. It is a non-profit
corporation that derives its authority from a 1998 agreement with
the
US
Government.
Several developing countries argue that control of the internet
should be in the hands of an international body such as the
UN
. But many developed countries disagree, looking to
increase the role of national governments in the regulation of the
internet.
In the end, delegates in Geneva reached a compromise agreement,
setting up a working group to consider questions of internet
management. This committee is due to report at the second
WSIS
in November.
In anticipation of the second
WSIS
, in Tunisia, the
European Commission has published a paper that, among other things,
addresses internet governance – albeit rather vague on the powers
and limitations it would apply to ICANN.
The Commission says a new cooperation model is needed –
comprising governments, the private sector, civil society and
international organisations. Its 13-page Communication states:
"Existing internet governance mechanisms should be founded on a
more solid democratic, transparent and multilateral basis, with a
stronger emphasis on the public policy interest of all
governments."
It suggests that this new model should not replace "existing
mechanisms or institutions," but should build on the existing
structures of internet governance. It does not elaborate on the
nature of the new model or ICANN's position within it.
EU Telecommunications Ministers will discuss the Communication
on 27th June.
