Fwd: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund

[Frannie Wellings]

Hi everyone - Here's the piece from Technology Daily that Bill was 
speaking about.  I've sent an e-mail to someone at the State 
Department to try and get more information about that meeting. I'll 
let you know if I hear anything. - Frannie


International Roundup: March 24, 2004
Net Governance, Airline Security On U.N. Stage
by William New
      Separate U.N. events this week will tackle two of the most 
intractable issues in the technology world: how to govern the global 
Internet and how to improve airline travel security using technology 
that does not trample passenger rights.
      The U.N. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Task 
Force is holding an Internet governance forum Thursday and Friday in 
New York. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked by officials at 
the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 
to form a working group on governance and report back in 2005.
      This week's forum is the preliminary phase of an "open, 
inclusive and transparent process worldwide," said Sarbulan Khan, 
executive coordinator for the ICT Task Force.
      The forum will be followed on Saturday by a closed meeting of 
the 18-member task force, whose mission is to be a multi-stakeholder 
group promoting applications of ICT for development. On Saturday, the 
task force will review results of the forum, as well as the task 
force's business plan. Several tracks such as regulatory reform and 
online education will be pursued, Khan said.
      Other groups -- including the International Telecommunication 
Union, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), 
and International Chamber of Commerce -- have held meetings or issued 
papers on governance since the December WSIS meeting. "We are hoping 
this will widen the net" of people involved in the process, Khan said 
in an interview. The task force expects about 250 people, including 
key Internet leaders and officials from developing countries.
      The task force is "opening up the platform" and has "no preset 
agenda" for the event, Khan said. "There are no preconceived notions 
about where this is headed." Most important is that all the key 
stakeholders be brought together for the "first phase" of the 
process, which will end with the second WSIS meeting in November 2005.
      The aim is to help the secretary-general get the most views, he 
said, and the event is open to anyone. It will look at the roles of 
Internet stakeholders, try to identify the issues relating to 
governance and how are they being handled, and then formulate a plan 
for work.
      The task force will organize regional meetings between this week 
and June, after which the secretary-general will decide on a small 
working group, Khan said. A meeting is planned for Shanghai, China, 
in May, and meetings are being developed for Latin America and Africa.
      Several participants at the recent ICANN meeting said they 
intend to visit New York in part to be part of the 
secretary-general's working group. Asked whether attending the 
meeting would help get on the working group, Khan said, "I can assure 
you it will not be a criterion."
      The other meeting this week is of the U.N. International Civil 
Aviation Organization (ICAO), a 180-nation body that has worked to 
develop standards, technologies and rules for air travel. At that 
meeting in Cairo, Egypt, more than 100 papers have been filed and 
made public. Many of the papers address biometric technology like 
iris scans and transfers of passenger information.

Trips Focus On 'Outsourcing,' Telecom Markets
      Another working group being formed by the U.N. secretary-general 
deals with financing for the use of ICT in development. The State 
Department's David Gross, U.S. coordinator for international 
telecommunications policy, and Phillip Bond, the Commerce 
undersecretary for technology, traveled two weeks ago to Senegal to 
promote the U.S. view that no new financing mechanisms are needed.
      Senegal led the effort at WSIS to establish a new fund. It also 
is the first site chosen for a Bush administration initiative to get 
the private sector to invest in developing countries' tech 
industries. Gross and Bond met with the Senegalese president and 
others. Gross told a State Department advisory group last week that 
he is "cautiously optimistic" that Senegal will accept the U.S. view.
      Gross also traveled recently to India with Michael Gallagher, 
head of the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration. Gross spoke at an international telecom conference 
about the "outsourcing" of U.S. jobs abroad and other issues. His 
message was that India should continue to open its markets and change 
regulations limiting foreign ownership of businesses in India.
      The Business Standard in India reported this week that U.S. 
firms are looking to lease more than 300 million square feet of space 
over the next 10 years because of outsourcing, much from the United 
States. But the Financial Express, another Indian paper, reported 
last week that India is exploring technology alliances with France as 
a way to dilute its dependence on the United States, where 
outsourcing is politically unpopular.
      On a third recent trip, Gross went to Korea, where he discussed 
problems with wireless access and non-tariff barriers in standards 
and other areas. He also traveled to Vietnam and discussed state 
ownership issues and the need for telecom reform. Gross was in Jordan 
this week for an Arab regulators conference and work with a new group 
of information technology associations.

U.N. Makes Progress On E-Commerce Treaty
      The e-commerce working group of the U.N. Commission on 
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on Friday adopted a draft text for 
an international e-commerce treaty. The text covers legal electronic 
transactions, data exchanges and e-mail messages, according to a U.N. 
release. The draft will be submitted to the commission's next full 
session in June.
      Participants argue that a treaty will harmonize disparate 
national laws on e-commerce and help create more confidence in doing 
business online. Jonas Astrup of the International Chamber of 
Commerce said at the meeting that his group favors self-regulation by 
industry. The chamber is working on guidelines for businesses online.

Tidbits From Europe
      The German government on Monday announced plans for a bill aimed 
at reducing unsolicited e-mail along the lines of the new U.S. 
anti-spam law. The European Commission last year criticized Germany 
for not implementing a European Union directive on spam.
      In other news, a coalition of European business groups on 
Tuesday called on heads of state preparing for their annual spring 
summit March 25-26 to move to stimulate research and development.
      The coalition, which consists of EuroCommerce, EuroChambres and 
two organizations representing small and medium-sized companies, also 
urged strategies for education and training, tax breaks, and 
labor-market reform to add flexibility. "Europe is still nowhere 
close to reaching the objective of becoming the most competitive and 
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010," the coalition 
said.
      Also, the new European Network and Information Security Agency 
(ENISA) launched its Web site last week.
      And the European Commission requested proposals by June for 
trans-European telecommunications networks under the so-called eTEN 
program on public electronic services. The eTEN this year is focused 
on online government, health and learning, as well as trust and 
security services. The proposed budget is more than $50 million.
      Finally, the French prime minister's office announced plans for 
a nationwide filtering system in public schools to block students' 
access to racist or anti-Semitic Web sites.





At 08:49 PM +0200 04.02.2004, William Drake wrote:
>Hi,
>
>
>It was reported in Technology Daily, March 24, 2004, in an article 
>by William New called, "International Roundup: Net Governance, 
>Airline Security On U.N. Stage," available by subscription at 
><http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/>http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/. 
>As I said, the report stated that Gross' comments about the 
>possibility of Senegal accepting the U.S. view were made at a 
>subsequent State Dept. advisory committee meeting, which is why 
>Fatimata would not have heard them on her trip.
>
>Best,
>
>Bill Drake
>

-- 

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Frannie Wellings
Policy Fellow, Electronic Privacy Information Center
Coordinator, The Public Voice
1718 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 200 
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wellings at epic.org
+1 202 483 1140 extension 107 (telephone)
+1 202 483 1248 (fax)
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http://www.thepublicvoice.org
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