[WSIS CS-Plenary] The US factor in the WSIS needs highlighting as much as the Tunisian factor

Tue Nov 1 08:54:46 GMT 2005

Dear all,

>> United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control Internet. US Ambassador
David Gross will be conducting an 

online chat about WSIS on November 2......>>>>

There is something very basically funny in the US attitude to change in the
IG regime. 

US says that when it - its executive authority and its territorial law-
exercises oversight control over ICANN it doesn't amount to exercising
control.

But when the same arrangement goes to a UN body (let us assume the
minimalist change in the IG regime where nothing changes except that ICANN
plugs into the UN, and UN exercises the same level of oversight as US does
today, and ICANN even if physically located in the US, gets UN immunities)
the UN is said to be exercising control. 

And the problem is that many in the CS falls for this argument. They are
fixated so much on certain fears about Internet getting 'controlled' that
they entirely forget other issues which are as important. And most of this
CS constituency comes from the North. It is the issues of sovereignty,
legitimacy, and fairness and equity in global governance. They may trust US
more than they do UN, we in the South do not. In debates over IG, countries
like Iran, China and S Arabia are held up as self-descriptive symbols of
certain things - but please do not forget that US is also held as an strong
symbol of many uncomplimentary things for the South.  

We know the problems of bringing old political and bureaucratic governance
frameworks - and what UN or ITU can do - to the free spirit of the Internet.
And the world community has to deal with this issue, very vigilantly. But
that comes second, first of all, US must give up its control. And if it
doesn't we must treat this control as illegitimate and see US as a usurper. 

For us in the South with colonial experience, it is the most blatant form of
imperialism - stay on my side, and you will gain, what if you do not have
self-rule.  We prefer legitimacy of rule to other goodies promised to us. 

A US senator recently justified continued control by US of the Internet by
saying that --- "The United States is uniquely positioned in the world to
protect the fundamental principles of free press and free speech, upon which
the Internet has thrived,"

The same argument can as effectively be used to take over UN bodies, or to
bypass them, in global governance by the US. And this no doubt is
increasingly sought to be done by the US. The North led by US will quote
financial constraints in setting up any new 'global policy body for IS
issues' but will readily spend many times more in taking up these issues in
other forums which either have less political legitimacy or admit of greater
US lordship. 

The US led blocking of effective WSIS implementation/follow-up was presented
in terms which, at the bottom of it, challenge the very logic of WSIS itself
- and certainly its Tunis phase. 

And in prepcom 2 all possibilities of seeing worldwide ICTD investment as a
urgent global need and responsibility - that could usher in a new paradigm
of development - was scuttled again by US led governments of the North. 

So when it is obvious that the Tunis summit is a momentous failure, and US
led Northern governments are responsible for this failure, the CS needs to
be more vocal - both in pronouncing the failure - and the role of US in this
failure of WSIS. `

Tunisian situation is an important issue for the CS, and we aren't going to
let go this opportunity provided to us by the WSIS event taking place in
Tunis, to do all that we can do in aid of improving the rights situation in
Tunis. 

But, as importantly, we cant let US get away with its self-assumed
description of 'uniquely positioned in the world to protect the fundamental
principles of free press and free speech' - and not as strongly condemn what
it has done to the world's hope for the poor and the disadvantaged from the
WSIS process. 

Most in the CS at WSIS are apt to say to this that they of course are
critical of US - but the problem is that they are not strident enough in
their criticism, as, for example, they are of the Tunisians.  

I have heard many say about US's unilateral control over IG that they are
not so strident in opposing it, because it is unlikely that US will give up
its control easily. But neither do I think Tunisia is going to change so
much, easily, on our protests. But don't we still keep making the protest,
as forcefully as we can. 

I think, the Tunis summit should be used by the CS to tell the US - in clear
strong words - what it thinks of its usurping of the Internet oversight -
and its basic responsibility for failure of the WSIS on all fronts. 

Tunis phase has been an even greater failure than the Geneva phase. It is
the responsibility of the CS at WSIS to prepare a score card for Tunis phase
(and WSIS overall) and identify factors of failure. US will outdo everyone
else by a big margin in earning red-marks in such a report card. But US has
for many years now taken such extreme geo-political stance regarding fair
global governance that most global policy related events have been
accompanied by fierce criticism of the US's stand by the civil society. (It
is a necessary corrective to US polices, and one of the most important
responsibility of the global CS to push for reclaiming fairness and equity
in global governance) US must be quite used to it by now. Hope, the WSIS
civil society does not give them a pleasant surprise at Tunis! 

Regards

Parminder 

_________________________________________________

Parminder Jeet Singh

IT for Change

Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 

91-80-26654134

www.ITforChange.net 

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 12:23 AM
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Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control
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_______________________________________

The following WSIS-related article was posted recently on the US State 

Department website. US Ambassador David Gross will be conducting an 

online chat about WSIS on November 2 at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT). 

Participating is open to the public, but you need to register first by 

emailing iipchat at state.gov. They'll then supply you with the URL, login 

and password. -andy

United States Says No U.N. Body Should Control Internet

Ambassador Gross to discuss WSIS summit during Internet chat November 2

The U.N.-sponsored WSIS will convene on November 16-18 in Tunis, Tunisia

http://usinfo.state.gov/eur/Archive/2005/Oct/25-499.html

By Tim Receveur

Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - The United States says that transferring control of the 

Internet to the United Nations would stifle innovation with excessive 

bureaucracy and may help repressive regimes curtail free expression 

online, according to the U.S. coordinator for international 

communications and information policy.

In a November 2 Internet chat, Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. 

coordinator, will preview an upcoming summit on Internet governance and 

discuss his views on why the very nature of the Internet as an 

innovative and dynamic medium is at stake.

The United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society 

(WSIS) will convene on November 16-18 in Tunis, Tunisia, to discuss the 

future of Internet governance and ways to bring the benefits of 

technology to the developing world.

The Internet has become "an extraordinary mechanism for freedom of 

expression. Each year, publications are available on the Internet; 

people are able to directly communicate with them, with each other, 

through the Internet," Gross said at a roundtable with journalists in 

Washington October 6.

The current system of Internet governance "is extraordinarily 

participatory," he said. "Not just by other governments, which all of 

whom already played an important role in this, but also by what's called 

civil society, by private enterprise, by a whole host of actors, by 

technical people, academics and the like," Gross said. (See related 

article and transcript.)

The U.S. government has maintained a consistent hands-off approach that 

has allowed the Internet to grow and develop without substantial 

restrictions.

Since 1998, a nonprofit organization named ICANN -- Internet Corporation 

for Assigned Names and Numbers -- has been responsible for managing and 

coordinating the Internet's domain names, according to ICANN.

ICANN's role has been to facilitate and smooth the explosive growth of 

the Internet. Its president directs an international staff, working from 

three continents, who ensure that ICANN meets its operational commitment 

to the Internet community.

FEARS BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL WOULD STIFLE INNOVATION

Gross expressed concern over some other countries' proposals for sharing 

or ceding private sector oversight of the Internet -- including what 

ICANN now does -- to the United Nations.

A recent European Union proposal, for example, outlined a new framework 

for international cooperation that would see the creation of a new, 

multistakeholder "forum" to develop public policy, and international 

government involvement in allocation of Internet Provider (IP) 

addressing systems.

"As we read the EU proposal, there will be a group of bureaucrats from 

countries around the world that will be able to restrict the innovation 

that the technical people in Italy, for example, currently bring to the 

Internet and their ability to be able to continue to innovate," Gross 

said. "We would like to see people -- whether it's in Italy, Russia, 

United States, around the world -- be free to continue to innovate and 

not have to seek permission or make sure that they structure what they 

do in a way that meets some predetermined outcome set by a bunch of 

international government bureaucrats.

"What the EU seems to propose is a top-down bureaucratic structure that 

was the way of the last century and that seems to us to be 

counterproductive because it stifles innovation, it stifles the very 

thing that's made the Internet as successful as it is," he said.

He also noted that support for the EU proposal, which was made at a 

preparatory conference (PrepCom-3) for the Tunis summit in September, 

was expressed by Cuba, Iran and China, among others. "These are not, I 

submit, the types of people who necessarily see eye to eye with us in 

terms of the importance of the growth and the participatory nature of 

the Internet," Gross said.

PrepCom-3 failed to reach agreement on a number of contentious issues, 

and the United States is working with other governments, private 

enterprise and nongovernmental organizations to craft an agreement that 

will bridge diverse positions on how, by whom and to what degree the 

Internet should be governed or regulated.

"We see the way in which the Internet has worked so far, and we support 

its continuing evolution. What we don't want to see is an 

intergovernmental group coming in to stifle that," Gross said.

He noted that the preparatory meeting would resume for three days on the 

eve of the WSIS summit in Tunis. "Between now and then, we are already 

and we'll continue to be very actively engaged in bilateral discussions, 

not only with governments but with other groups -- industry, civil 

society and the like. And, you know, we are very hopeful that when the 

world leaders gather in Tunis in November, that they will have a 

document to endorse that we can all be proud of," he said.

During the live Internet chat on November 2, Gross will be available to 

answer questions about the upcoming WSIS summit in Tunis and the U.S. 

position on various issues relating to Internet governance. The chat 

will be held at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

To ask a question or make a comment, please register at 

iipchat at state.gov. If you already have participated in one of our 

previous discussions, there is no need to register again. Just use the 

same user name and password. We neither require nor encourage the use of 

full names. You may identify yourself by the user name of your choice.

As always, your questions and comments are welcome in advance of the 

program and at any time during it.

-- 

-----------------------------------

Andy Carvin

Program Director

EDC Center for Media & Community

acarvin @ edc . org

http://www.digitaldivide.net

http://katrina05.blogspot.com

Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com

-----------------------------------

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