The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) wrapped up its third meeting this week (18-20 April) where it discussed key public policy issues related to the use of the Internet such as spam, network security and cybercrime, as well as issues related to the management of the Internet.
The Group also set up a drafting group to produce a text of its draft report for online discussion, with the goal of finalizing the draft at the next meeting of the Group to be held on 14-17 June.
The final report of the Working Group is to be submitted to the UN Secretary General in July this year, to be considered at the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in November.
The Working Group was established at the request of member states at the first phase of the WSIS held in Geneva in December 2003. The Group consists of 40 members appointed by the Secretary General who serve in their personal capacities and come from different regions of the world, as well as from different sectors - governments, the private sector and civil society.
The task of the Working Group is to "investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005." The Group is to present the result of its work in a report for "consideration and appropriate action for the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis in 2005."
The Group was asked to develop a working definition of Internet governance; identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet governance; and develop a common understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of governments, existing international organizations and other forums as well as the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries.
The third meeting of the Group looked into areas where improvements are needed in current governance arrangements. Its evaluation focused on four key groups of issues that had been identified at the second meeting of the Group in February.
These issues include those relating to infrastructure and management of critical Internet resources, including administration of the domain name system and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, administration of the root server system, technical standards, peering and interconnection, telecommunications infrastructure including innovative and converged technologies, as well as multilingualism.
Other issues relate to the use of the Internet, including spam, network security and cybercrime; issues relevant to the Internet but have much wider impact, such as competition policy, liberalization, privatization and regulations, access protection, consumer protection and privacy, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution, e-commerce and its taxation, and media freedom and freedom of information; and issues relating to development aspects of Internet governance such as capacity building in developing countries, gender issues and access.
Participants at the third meeting of the Group agreed that the topic of spam, while not yet officially on the international agenda, had to be discussed as a matter of priority.
Discussion on this issue focused on how to deal with it and protect the Internet, with a great emphasis on the need for a multi-faceted and multi-layered approach, involving all stakeholders. Various proposals were put forward, ranging from drafting model legislation to more informal models of collaboration.
At a media briefing just before the conclusion of the Group's meeting, the Chair of the Working Group, Mr. Nitin Desai said that extensive discussions were held on the 'misuse' of the Internet, with a major focus being on the issue of spam, which he said, is becoming a serious problem.
"We do not have organized arrangements at the global level for cooperating in this area and spam is something that moves across national boundaries," he said.
As to what kind of solutions - whether voluntary, technical or regulatory - would be suited to deal with this problem, Desai said that the feeling in the Group is that technical solutions alone will not be enough.
Increasingly, he noted, the focus is on cooperation among countries, to see whether an agreement could be reached on a definition of spam. There has also been some talk of establishing a global convention to counter the problem.
"Most people feel that a technical fix is not enough," he said, adding that inter-country cooperation is required and the challenge now is to see how this could be achieved, because the locus of action is at the national level.
If filters are put in against spam, this will raise the bar for spammers, but what needs to be done is to consult with the Internet Service Provider industry, because it is key in the whole exercise. What is needed is dialogue and understanding and the ISPs have to talk together. It can't be expected that one ISP alone can handle the problem of spam, he said.
Desai also noted that at present, there is no forum bringing together all the relevant actors to discuss new issues that are emerging with respect to the Internet such as identity theft. What is needed is a forum to continue discussions on these new issues, he said.
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