----- Original message ----- From: "Anders Halvorsen" <[email protected]> To: "Jim Poisant" <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:36:36 -0500 Subject: CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements Now to Include Stakeholders December 21, 2010 TO: Members of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance FR: Anders Halvorsen, Public Policy Director RE: CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements Now to Include Stakeholders _________________________________________________________________ ___ Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to report that the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) late last Friday changed course and will allow participation by stakeholders, including from business, civil society, the technical and academic community, and intergovernmental organizations. Even though the stakeholder groups will be limited to five rather than the originally anticipated twelve representatives each, this can be seen as a clear victory for the multistakeholder approach. We would like to thank all members who filled out the online petition and/or forwarded the WITSA letter circulated on December 13^th (ref. below) to their government representatives for follow up. Many government delegates in Geneva were fully supportive of opening the working group to all stakeholders, and in particular EU, Chile, UK, Mexico, Portugal, Canada, US, France, Germany, Belgium and Greece. We also had some great support from industry at the December 17^th open consultation through the participation of Ms. Marilyn Cade (mCADE, LLC) and Jonathan Zuck of the Association for Competitive Technologies) The working group will meet physically at least twice in Geneva, Switzerland; in February and May 2011, following which they will then produce a consensus report to the CSTD. To date, the Internet has grown in a largely unregulated environment, and has shown an ability to thrive in a wide variety of market environments under competitive conditions. This freedom from centralized and heavy regulations has produced impressive results over a relatively short period of time, delivering innovation, productivity and opportunity to a growing numbers of users in all parts of the world. Notably, the Internet has grown fastest in markets where there is competition for the provision of underlying telecommunications facilities, as well as for access and related services. Today, policy makers at both national and global levels are considering a wide number of regulatory approaches to dealing with the issues of Internet governance, including cyber security, access, management of spam and malware, protection of intellectual property and other issues. We therefore find ourselves at a critical point in time. With the recent renewal of the mandate for the IGF (but with an uncertain outlook for how the new IGF will function), coupled with the United Nations’ new focus on the enhanced cooperation clauses (dating back to the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Tunis Agenda) and the movement towards independence of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) through last year’s Affirmation of Commitments (AOC), industry must remain vigilant in defending the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance. In that regard, WITSA will continue to appeal to governments and international institutions to make their Internet policy related and decision-making activities more open and inclusive of all stakeholders. Governments, regional and international organizations that have been more open, and that have shown a commitment to cooperation have proven to be more effective in their work. As industry, we not only welcome but demand opportunities to participate in the policy development process at all levels. For your information, please find below the language that was agreed late last Friday: ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Language agreed (CSTD Chapeau Statement): The Chair of the CSTD establishes a Working Group of 15 member states, plus the five member states which hosted the IGF meetings plus the two member states which hosted WSIS. This Working group will seek, compile, and review inputs from all member states and all other stakeholders on improvement of the Internet Governance Forum, in an open and inclusive manner throughout the process. The Chair invites the following stakeholders to interactively participate in the Working Group, bearing in mind the established rules of procedure of the ECOSOC, who will remain fully engaged throughout the process. [this means that the Stakeholders will remain fully engaged]. · 5 business community · 5 civil society · 5 technical and academic community · 5 Intergovernmental organizations Pursuant to the ECOSOC decisions 2010/226; 2010/227, and 2010/228, maximum possible assistance, the diversity of ideas and the equal representation of stakeholders from developing and developed countries in the Working Group should be ensured, in consultation with the stakeholders. The Report of this Working Group will be adopted by consensus. ----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- December 13, 2010 TO: Members of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) FR: Anders Halvorsen, Public Policy Director RE: Concern over Composition of CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements – Call to Action _________________________________________________________________ _________________ Dear Colleagues. WITSA Public Policy Chairman John Higgins today sent a letter to the Vice Chair of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) today, expressing disappointment over its recent decision to exclude industry and other stakeholders from participating in the new Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (ref. [1]http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=5755& lang=1). The letter can be viewed at [2]http://www.witsa.org/IGF/CSTD_ltr.pdf. WITSA believes the decision goes against the mandate for establishing the working group, as provided by the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) last May. The mandate calls for the establishment of a “a working group to seek, compile and review inputs from all Member States and all other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), in line with the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda". It should also be noted that WITSA has been seeking member representation on the said working group. ACTION REQUESTED The CSTD will launch an open consultation of the Working Group in Geneva on December 17. Members are encouraged to sign the petition at [3]http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/igf/ which already has a number of signatures and to send this letter to the appropriate national government contacts with a request that they send this letter to their Geneva mission urgently. Best regards, Anders References 1. http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=5755&lang=1 2. http://www.witsa.org/IGF/CSTD_ltr.pdf 3. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/igf/