[WSIS CS-Plenary] Internet ICT Governance Caucus Report

[YJ Park]

For clarification of Wolfgang's message as one of co-coordinators 
of this group.

1. Caucus name

The current caucus name is named as ICT Global Governance since Sept.
http://www.wsis-cs.org/caucuses.html

[Internet ICT Governance caucus] is suggested as one of candidates for 
caucus name together with [Internet Governance caucus]. The decision 
will be made in the mailing list through voting.

2. Caucus coordinator election is suggested in the future through mailing list.
In the F2F meeting, Jeanette Hofmann(Wissenschaftszentrum) and Adam 
Peake(GLOCOM) were nominated. Nomination process in the mailing list 
will be continued and more specific election process will be identified.

3. 2nd Governance Caucus Meeting Minutes in WSIS Phase I

https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/private/governance/2003-December/000531.html

4. Governance group is expected to respect its rules and procedures.

YJ Park
Co-Coordinator of ICT Global Governance Caucus
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wolfgang Kleinwächter 
  To: Veni Markovski 
  Cc: plenary at wsis-cs.org ; governance at lists.cpsr.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 7:40 AM
  Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Internet ICT Governance Caucus Report


  FYI

  wolfgang





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  Summary of the meetings of the Civil Society Internet ICT Governance Caucus during the 1st Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Geneva, December, 10 - 12, 2003

  1. The Internet ICT Governance Caucus had two meetings during the summit. The first meeting took place on Tuesday, December, 9, 2003 from 16.15 - 18.00 (26 participants). The second meeting took place on Friday, December, 12, 2003, from 15.00 - 16.20 (13 participants). The two meetings discussed both internal and procedural matters of the caucus as well as strategic policy issued for further activities. 

  2. 'The policy discussion was related mainly to the new consensus language which was adopted by the governments in the WSIS declaration and the WSIS Action Plan. The participants agreed after a first reading of the new text, that a substantial number of civil society input* is reflected in the two documents and the text as a whole is rather acceptable from the civil society point of view. 

  3. With regard to the declaration the following remarks can be made
  . para 48
  a. the recognition of "multilateral, transparent and democratic" was one key issue of the caucus, although the caucus would have preferred instead of "multilateral" multistakeholder"
  b. "full involvement of ... civil society and international organisation" is a success, although "intergovernmental" is not mentioned
  c. "ensure equitable distribution of resources, facilitate access for all and ensure stable and secure functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism". This is mnore or less exactly the language we proposed in Paris and during PrepCom3. 
  . para.49
  a. "should involve all stakeholders", that is we wanted to have
  b. "civil society has played an important role on Internet matters, especially on the community level", this is for the first time, the role of civil society is officially recognized and defined as "important". Certainly, it adds "community level" and does not mention "individual Internet users", but the spirit is there
  . para. 50
  a. "in a coordinated manner", we always said the "coordination, consultation and cooperation" is more important than "govern"
  b. "open and inclusive process", this is we wanted to have
  c. "a mechanism", a word, we introduced as part of the argumentation that no single organization but a networks of organizations should manage different aspects
  d. "full and active particiation of ... civil society from both developed and developing countries", that is what we wanted

  4. With regard to the plan of action the following comments can be made
  . para. 13:
  a. "transparency" was one of the main points for the Caucus, it welcomes also that "incentives" should be given not only to "investment" but also to "community development"
  b. the inclusion of civil society on a more or less equal footing in to the work of the planned mechanism can be seen as an achievement. The mandat for the group follows a number of proposals of the caucus like a workable definition of internet governance, and the clarification of the role of different players, by recognizing that no single organization alone can be responsible for the internet as a whole. 
  c. while civil society had reservations to strengthen too much national souvereignty in connection with ccTLDs, we see the formulation in 13.c.ii with the addition "as appropriate" as acceptable.
  d. it is imporyant that the root server issue is mentioned, although it is unclear what the "promotion of regional root servers" means in practice. (mirroring existing root servers in a vertical way or adding new root servers and establishing alternative roots?). It is also important that iDNs are mentioned in the context of overcoming barriers to access.

  5. The key issues for the next time is the question, how the caucus is included into the creation of the new "Kofi Annan Group". Two options has been discussed: Writing an official letter to Kofi Annan, offering the Internet ICT Caucus as the CS platform for further cooperation or continuing with bilateral consultations of caucus members with key players from government and private industry by organizing a series if events which would demonstrate the competence and capacity of the caucus and to which other stakeholders should be invited. The majority supported the second approach.

  6. The following timetable for the forthcoming events was elaborated
  . February, 5-6, 2004, Zuerich, Domain Plus ccTLD Meeting
  . March, 2 - 5, 2004, Rome, ICANN Meeting
  . March, 30 - 31, New York, UN ICT Task Force
  . April, 20 - 24, 2004, Berkeley, CPF Conference
  . May, 10 - 14, 2004, Barcelona, INET/ISOC
  . June 2004, WSIS II PrepCom
  . July, 20 - 23, 2004, Kuala Lumpur, ICANN Meeting
  . September, 24 - 25, 2004, Aarhus, ICANN Studienkreis 
  . December, 1 - 5, Cape Town, ICANN meeting

  7. These and other events should be used by individual members either to make statements on behalf of the caucus or to organize Sessions and Round Tables on issues, related to the mandate of the "Kofi Annan Group". Furthermore, it was discussed that members of the caucus should start to produce academic papers on 
  a. a definition of Internet Governance and
  b. on the inter-relationship between public policy and technical issues in internet governance

  8. The next main F2F event for the Caucus itself should be in connection with the ICANN Rome meeting in early March. This meeting would give also an opportunity to discuss the further relationship between the emerging At lagre Structures of ICANN and the WSIS CS Internet ICT Caucus.- 

  9. On procedural issues the Caucus discussed the following issued and supported the relevant recommendations
  . The Caucus should be renamed into "CS Internet ICT Governance Caucus"
  . The main mission of the Caucus should be related to the framework, set by the WSIS Declaration and the WSIS Plan of Action
  . The Caucus should have an own Website (Affilias offered to sponsor Webspace under .info)
  . The Caucus should start a series of Online Publication Series under "CS Internet ICT Governance Caucus Papers". A Logo should be developed
  . Discussions and other material should be archived and made accessible via the website
  . The governance list should be extended and more outreach should bring more members

  10. There was a discussion on the need for an evaluation of the work of the Caucus, the further clarification of its mission and the outreach to new members. It was discussed, whether individual members should be seen mainly as "academic experts" or as representatives of their institutions and organisations. Members said, that there is no conflict between the two options. 

  11. As new Co-Chairs Jeanette Hofmann, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, and Adam Peake, GLOCOM Tokio, were proposed. 


  Wolfgang Kleinwæchter
  Co-Chair

  Aarhus, December, 15. 2003


  * Input of the CS Internet ICT Caucus into the WSIS Process included next to numerous individual bilateral consultations with governmental representatives and representatives of the private sector and concrete contributions to the Civil Society Declaration and the benchmark document
  . a round table discussion during PrepCom2, Geneva, June 2003
  . a statement on Internet Governance in the Plenary during PrepCom2, Geneva, June 2003
  . two statements on Internet Governance in the Plenary during the InterSessional meeting in Paris, July 2003.
  . One Round table discussion during PrepCom3 in Geneva, September 2003
  . two statements in the Plenary and in the working group during PrepCom3, Geneva, September 2003
  . two oral statements in the informal Internet governance working group during PrepCom3, geneva, June 2003, 
  . one statement in the Working Group in PrepCom3bis, Geneva, November 2003
  . one oral statement in the informal working group in PrepCom3bis, Geneva, November 2003 


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