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113-701: Internet governance consists of a system of laws, rules, policies and practices that dictate how its board members manage and oversee the affairs of any internet related- regulatory body . This article describes how the Internet was and is currently governed, some inherent controversies, and ongoing debates regarding how and why the Internet should or should not be governed in the future. (Internet governance should not be confused with e-governance , which refers to governmental use of technology in its governing duties.) No one person, company, organization or government runs

226-399: A license to operate from the sector regulator. This license will set out the conditions by which the companies or organizations operating within the industry must abide. Regulatory regimes vary by country and industry. In the most light-touch forms of regulation, regulatory agencies are typically charged with overseeing a defined industry. Usually they will have two general tasks: In

339-1272: A United States centric approach is seen as a reaction to the ongoing NSA surveillance scandal . The statement was signed by the heads of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet Engineering Task Force , the Internet Architecture Board , the World Wide Web Consortium , the Internet Society , and the five regional Internet address registries ( African Network Information Center , American Registry for Internet Numbers , Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre , Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry , and Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre ). In October 2013, Fadi Chehadé, former President and CEO of ICANN, met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia. Upon Chehadé's invitation,

452-575: A bill of rights online during the period between 1999 and 2015, researchers at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center found that the right to freedom of expression online was protected in more documents (26) than any other right. The UN General Assembly committed itself to multistakeholderism in December 2015 through a resolution extending the WSIS process and IGF mandate for an additional decade. It further underlined

565-702: A college-level field of study with many syllabi available. The original ARPANET is one of the components which eventually evolved to become the Internet. As its name suggests the ARPANET was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense . During the development of ARPANET, a numbered series of Request for Comments (RFCs) memos documented technical decisions and methods of working as they evolved. The standards of today's Internet are still documented by RFCs. Between 1984 and 1986

678-470: A conceptualization of Internet governance by the idea of three "layers" of governance: Professors Jovan Kurbalija and Laura DeNardis also offer comprehensive definitions to "Internet Governance". According to Kurbalija, the broad approach to Internet Governance goes "beyond Internet infrastructural aspects and address other legal, economic, developmental, and sociocultural issues"; along similar lines, DeNardis argues that "Internet Governance generally refers to

791-715: A document called "Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs" that brought together a wide range of issues under a human rights and communication rights umbrella. According to the Geneva Plan of Action the WSIS Action Lines are as follows: The second phase took place from 16 through 18 November 2005, in Tunis , Tunisia . It resulted in agreement on the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for

904-552: A goal of bringing 50 percent of the world's population online by 2015. It does not spell out any specifics of how this might be achieved. The Geneva summit also left unresolved more controversial issues, including the question of Internet governance and funding. When the 2003 summit failed to agree on the future of Internet governance, the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was formed to come up with ideas on how to progress. Civil Society delegates from NGOs produced

1017-661: A historic moment in the history of the Internet. The contract between ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for performance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, or IANA, functions, drew its roots from the earliest days of the Internet. Initially the contract was seen as a temporary measure, according to Lawrence Strickling, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information from 2009 to 2017. Internet users saw no change or difference in their experience online as

1130-475: A proposal to replace NTIA’s historic stewardship role. The community, in response to the NTIA’s request for a proposal, said that they wanted to enhance ICANN’s accountability mechanisms as well. NTIA later agreed to consider proposals for both together. People involved in global Internet governance worked for nearly two years to develop two consensus-based proposals. Stakeholders spent more than 26,000 working hours on

1243-524: A result of what ICANN and others called the IANA Stewardship Transition. As Stephen D. Crocker, ICANN Board Chair from 2011 to 2017, said in a news release at the time of the contract expiration, “This community validated the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts, civil society, governments and many others

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1356-518: A statement given by Mr. Ignacio Gonzalez Planas, who is the minister of Informatics and Communications of the Republic of Cuba, he also talked about the concern of only a few countries enjoying these privileges. Mentioning that over half of the world population does not have telephone access, which was invented more than a century ago. A statement by Vice Premier Huang Ju, the State Council of

1469-577: Is an initiative by ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade along with representatives of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil), commonly referred to as "CGI.br"., which was inspired by the 2014 NetMundial meeting. Brazil's close involvement derived from accusations of digital espionage against then-president Dilma Rousseff . A month later,

1582-753: Is carried on by the Internet Research Task Force and overseen by the Internet Research Steering Group . At the first World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in 2003, the topic of Internet governance was discussed. ICANN's status as a private corporation under contract to the U.S. government created controversy among other governments, especially Brazil, China, South Africa, and some Arab states. Since no general agreement existed even on

1695-429: Is for a global internet where ROAM principles frame regional, national and local diversities. In this context, significant objectives are media freedom, network interoperability, net neutrality and the free flow of information (minimal barriers to the rights to receive and impart information across borders, and any limitations to accord with international standards). In a study of 30 key initiatives aimed at establishing

1808-469: Is often referred to as the digital revolution , and along with it have come new opportunities and threats. Many world leaders hope to use ICT to solve societal problems; yet, at the same time, there are concerns about the digital divide , both international level and domestic levels. This trend could lead to shaping new classes of those who have access to ICT and those who do not. Recognizing that these challenges and opportunities require global discussion on

1921-453: Is the best way to assure that the Internet of tomorrow remains as free, open, and accessible as the Internet of today.” The concerted effort began in March 2014, when NTIA asked ICANN to convene the global multistakeholder community – made up of private-sector representatives, technical experts, academics, civil society, governments and individual Internet end users – to come together and create

2034-733: Is the result of the work led by Francis Muguet as co-chair of Patent, Copyrights and Trademark working group. Some civil society groups expressed alarm that the 2005 phase of the WSIS was being held in Tunisia, a country with serious human rights violations. A fact-finding mission to Tunisia in January 2005 by the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 14 members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange , found serious cause for concern about

2147-475: Is to provide a register of activities carried out by governments, international organizations, the business sector, civil society and other entities, in order to highlight the progress made since the landmark event. Following § 120 of TAIS, ITU has been maintaining the WSIS Stocktaking database as a publicly accessible system providing information on ICT-related initiatives and projects with reference to

2260-534: The 2013 disclosures of mass surveillance by the U.S. government. When the IANA functions were handed over to ICANN, a new U.S. nonprofit, controversy increased. ICANN's decision-making process was criticised by some observers as being secretive and unaccountable. When the directors' posts which had previously been elected by the "at-large" community of Internet users were abolished, some feared that ICANN would become illegitimate and its qualifications questionable, due to

2373-518: The Human Rights in China NGO (due to Chinese government pressure on Tunisia) were refused entry to Tunisia. A Belgian television crew was harassed and forced to hand over footage of Tunisian dissidents. Local human rights defenders were roughed up and prevented from organizing a meeting with international civil society groups. The WSIS stocktaking process is a follow-up to WSIS. Its purpose

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2486-627: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and as it expanded to include management of the global Domain Name System ( DNS ) root servers, a small organization grew. Postel also served as RFC Editor. Allocation of IP addresses was delegated to five regional Internet registries (RIRs): After Jon Postel's death in 1998, IANA became part of ICANN, a California nonprofit established in September 1998 by

2599-477: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is headquartered in Los Angeles, California . ICANN oversees the assignment of globally unique identifiers on the Internet, including domain names , Internet protocol addresses , application port numbers in the transport protocols , and many other parameters. This seeks to create a globally unified namespace to ensure the global reach of

2712-526: The U.S. Department of Commerce as the controller of some aspects of the Internet gradually attracted criticism from those who felt that control should be more international. A hands-off philosophy by the Department of Commerce helped limit this criticism, but this was undermined in 2005 when the Bush administration intervened to help kill the .xxx top-level domain proposal, and, much more severely, following

2825-904: The United Kingdom ; and, in the case of economic regulation , the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets and the Telecom Regulatory Authority in India . Regulatory agencies may be a part of the executive branch of the government and have statutory authority to perform their functions with oversight from the legislative branch. Their actions are often open to legal review . However, some regulatory bodies are industry-led initiatives rather than statutory agencies, and are called 'voluntary organisations'. They may be not-for-profit organisations or limited companies. They derive their authority from members' commitments to abide by

2938-515: The United Nations should have a function in Internet governance. One controversial proposal to this effect, resulting from a September 2011 summit among India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA), would seek to move Internet governance into a "UN Committee on Internet-Related Policy" (UN-CIRP). The move was a reaction to a perception that the principles of the 2005 Tunis Agenda for the Information Society had not been met. The statement called for

3051-573: The "WSIS+10 Statement on Implementation of WSIS Outcomes" and the "WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS Beyond 2015". These outcome documents were developed in an open and inclusive preparatory process, the WSIS+10 Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform (WSIS+10 MPP). "High-Level Track Policy Statements" and a "Forum Track Outcome Document" are also available. The WSIS+10 open consultation process was an open and inclusive consultation among WSIS stakeholders to prepare for

3164-570: The "toughest privacy and security law" globally. Under the GDPR, data subjects have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, profiling, object to automated processing, and data portability. Privacy and security online have been of paramount concern to internet users with growing cybercrime and cyberattacks worldwide. A 2019 poll by Safety Monitor shows that 13 percent of people aged 15 and above have been victims of cybercrimes such as identity fraud, hacking, and cyberbullying in

3277-547: The 11 WSIS Action Lines. ECOSOC Resolution 2010/12 on "Assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society" reiterated the importance of maintaining a process for coordinating the multi-stakeholder implementation of WSIS outcomes through effective tools, with the goal of exchanging of information among WSIS Action Line Facilitators; identification of issues that need improvements; and discussion of

3390-540: The 2003 Geneva Declaration and 2005 Tunis Commitment of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Given the crossborder, decentralized nature of the internet, an enabling environment for media freedom in the digital age requires global multi-stakeholder cooperation and shared respect for human rights . In broad terms, two different visions have been seen to shape global internet governance debates in recent years: fragmentation versus common principles. On

3503-507: The DNS root zones from NTIA to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) during a period that ended in September 2016. The technical underpinning and standardization of the Internet's core protocols ( IPv4 and IPv6 ) is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. On 23 November 1995,

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3616-816: The Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, mandated by the United Nations General Assembly , have deliberated on norms such as protection of critical infrastructure and the application of international law to cyberspace. In the period 2012–2016, the African Union passed the Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection and the Commonwealth Secretariat adopted

3729-554: The Forum attracts more than 1000 WSIS Stakeholders from more than 140 countries. Several high-level representatives of the wider WSIS Stakeholder community graced the Forum, and more than 20 Ministers and Deputies, several Ambassadors, CEOs, and Civil Society leaders contributed passionately towards the program of the Forum. Remote participation was an integral component of the WSIS Forum over 1000 stakeholders followed and contributed to

3842-846: The Forum renewed for five years by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2010. In addition to the annual global IGF, regional IGFs have been organized in Africa, the Arab region, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in sub-regions. in December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly renewed the IGF for another ten years, in the context of the WSIS 10-year overall review. Media, freedom of expression and freedom of information have been long recognized as principles of internet governance, included in

3955-641: The Future of Internet Governance (NETMundial)" will include representatives of government, industry, civil society, and academia. At the IGF VIII meeting in Bali in October 2013 a commentator noted that Brazil intends the meeting to be a " summit " in the sense that it will be high level with decision-making authority. The organizers of the "NETmundial" meeting have decided that an online forum called "/1net", set up by

4068-556: The I* group, will be a major conduit of non-governmental input into the three committees preparing for the meeting in April. NetMundial managed to convene a large number of global actors to produce a consensus statement on internet governance principles and a roadmap for the future evolution of the internet governance ecosystem. NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement – the outcome of the Meeting –

4181-483: The Information Society ( WSIS ) was a two-phase United Nations-sponsored summit on information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis . WSIS Forums have taken place periodically since then. One of the Summit's chief aims is to bridge the global digital divide separating rich countries from poor countries by increasing internet accessibility in

4294-609: The Information Society , and the creation of the Internet Governance Forum . Just on the eve of the November 2005 Tunis event, the Association for Progressive Communications came out with its stand. (APC is an international network of civil society organizations—whose goal is to empower and support groups and individuals working for peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment, through

4407-561: The Internet threatened to derail the conference. However, a last-minute decision to leave control in the hands of the United States-based ICANN for the time being avoided a major blow-up. As a compromise there was also an agreement to set up an international Internet Governance Forum and Enhanced Cooperation, with a purely consultative role. The summit itself was marred by criticism of Tunisia for allowing attacks on journalists and human rights defenders to occur in

4520-515: The Internet's global technical infrastructure, loosely known as the "I*" (or "I-star") group. Among other things, the statement "expressed strong concern over the undermining of the trust and confidence of Internet users globally due to recent revelations of pervasive monitoring and surveillance" and "called for accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing". This desire to move away from

4633-569: The Internet. ICANN is governed by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet's technical, business, academic, and other non-commercial communities. There has been a long-held dispute over the management of the DNS root zone , whose final control fell under the supervision of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce . Considering that

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4746-420: The Internet. It is a globally distributed network comprising many voluntarily interconnected autonomous networks. It operates without a central governing body with each constituent network setting and enforcing its own policies. Its governance is conducted by a decentralized and international multistakeholder network of interconnected autonomous groups drawing from civil society, the private sector, governments,

4859-514: The Internet. The Holy See strongly supports freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas, but argues that the moral order and common good must be respected. One must approach it with sensitivity and respect for other people's values and beliefs and protect the distinctiveness of cultures and the underlying unity of the human family. Whiteman from Jamaica agreed on the issue of facing digital dilemmas as well. He stated that information resources combined with technology resources are available to

4972-758: The Millennium Development Goals. Since 2006 the WSIS Forum has been held in Geneva around World Information Society Day (17 May) to implement the WSIS Follow-up. The event is organized by the WSIS facilitators including ITU , UNESCO , UNCTAD and UNDP and hosted by ITU . Until 2010 the Forum was held in ITU building and since then it has been held in International Labour Organization building. Every year

5085-720: The NSF ended its sponsorship of the NSFNET Backbone Service and the service ended. Today almost all Internet infrastructure in the United States, and large portion in other countries, is provided and owned by the private sector. Traffic is exchanged between these networks, at major interconnection points, in accordance with established Internet standards and commercial agreements. During 1979 the Internet Configuration Control Board

5198-802: The Netherlands. INTERPOL recommends using encrypted internet to stay safe online. Encryption technology serves as a channel to ensuring privacy and security online. It is one of the strongest tools to help internet users globally stay secured on the internet, especially in the aspect of data protection. However, criminals leverage the privacy, security, and confidentiality of online encryption technology to perpetrate cybercrimes and sometimes be absolved of its legal criminal consequences. It has sparked debates between internet governors and governments of various countries on whether encryption technology should stay or its use stopped. The UK Government, in May 2021, proposed

5311-714: The Online Safety Bill, a new regulatory framework to address cyberattacks and cybercrimes in the UK, but without a strong encryption technology. This is in a bid to make the UK the safest place to use the internet in the world and curb the damaging effect of harmful content shared online, including child pornography. However, the Internet Society argues that a lack of strong encryption exposes internet users to even greater risks of cyber attacks, cybercrimes, adding that it overrides data protection laws. The position of

5424-776: The Panel On Global Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms (convened by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) with assistance from The Annenberg Foundation ), supported and included the NetMundial statement in its own report. On 1 October 2016 ICANN ended its contract with the United States Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration ( NTIA ). This marked

5537-447: The People's Republic of China, said that the information society should be a people centered society in which all peoples and all countries share the benefit to the fullest in greater common development in the information society. Second the digital dilemma, which the Holy See emphasized as a disadvantage to the information society and urged caution to avoid taking the wrong steps. It is a real and present danger with technology especially

5650-432: The Report of the Working Group of Experts on Cybercrime. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) compelled all 15 member states to implement data protection laws and authorities through the adoption of the Supplementary Act on Personal Data Protection in 2010. Again in 2011, the ECOWAS adopted a Directive on Fighting Cybercrime to combat growing Cybercrime activities in the West African region. In response to

5763-407: The Root Zone file, participants agreed on a compromise to allow for wider international debate on the policy principles. They agreed to establish an Internet Governance Forum (IGF), to be convened by the United Nations Secretary General before the end of the second quarter of 2006. The Greek government volunteered to host the first such meeting. Annual global IGFs have been held since 2006, with

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5876-432: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Regulatory agency These are customarily set up to strengthen safety and standards, and/or to protect consumers in markets where there is a lack of effective competition . Examples of regulatory agencies that enforce standards include the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in

5989-424: The Senators present expressed support for the transition, a few expressed concerns that the accountability mechanisms in the proposal should be tested during an extension of the NTIA’s contract with ICANN. Two weeks later, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz introduced the “Protecting Internet Freedom Act,” a bill to prohibit NTIA from allowing the IANA functions contract to lapse unless authorized by Congress. The bill never left

6102-402: The TMG launched an update to the report that found no improvements in the human rights situation. The Digital Solidarity Fund , an independent body aiming to reduce the digital divide , was established following discussions which took place during the Tunis summit in 2005. Two main concerns seemed to be the issue and talk of the UN World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis, (i)

6215-404: The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) created the NSFNET backbone, using TCP/IP , to connect their supercomputing facilities. NSFNET became a general-purpose research network, a hub to connect the supercomputing centers to each other and to the regional research and education networks that would in turn connect campus networks. The combined networks became generally known as the Internet. By

6328-527: The U.S. Department of Commerce could unilaterally terminate the Affirmation of Commitments with ICANN, the authority of the DNS administration was likewise seen as revocable and derived from a single State, namely the United States. The involvement of NTIA started in 1998 and was supposed to be temporary, but it wasn't until April 2014 in an ICANN meeting held in Brazil, partly heated after Snowden revelations, that this situation changed resulting in an important shift of control transitioning administrative duties of

6441-410: The U.S. government and awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Commerce . Initially two board members were elected by the Internet community at large, though this was changed by the rest of the board in 2002 in a poorly attended public meeting in Accra , Ghana . In 1992 the Internet Society (ISOC) was founded, with a mission to "assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for

6554-540: The United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Tunis , established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to open an ongoing, non-binding conversation among multiple stakeholders about the future of Internet governance. Since WSIS, the term "Internet governance" has been broadened beyond narrow technical concerns to include a wider range of Internet-related policy issues. The definition of Internet governance has been contested by differing groups across political and ideological lines. One of

6667-416: The WSIS + 10 High-Level Event. It focused on developing multistakeholder consensus on two draft outcome documents. Eight open consultation meetings among stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, and relevant regional organizations, were held between July 2013 and June 2014. Two draft outcome documents were developed and submitted for consideration at

6780-421: The WSIS Declaration and Plan of Action. In Germany, a WSIS working group initiated by the Network New Media and the Heinrich Böll Foundation , has been meeting continuously since mid-2002. Similarly in Pakistan, PAK Education Society/Pakistan Development Network had taken the initiative to build Pakistan Knowledge Economy or Information Society. It has honour to be pioneer in promoting ICT in Pakistan and

6893-467: The WSIS process. The WSIS follow-up works towards achieving the indicative targets, set out in the Geneva Plan of Action and serves as a global reference for improving connectivity and universal, ubiquitous, equitable, non-discriminatory and affordable access to, and use of, ICTs, considering different national circumstances, to be achieved by 2015, and to using ICTs, as a tool to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including

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7006-508: The WSIS+10 High-Level Event: The final WSIS+10 High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly took place on 15–16 December 2015 in New York , and concluded with the adoption of the Outcome Document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society was adopted. A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scientific institutions, community media and others participated as "civil society" in

7119-423: The academic and research communities and national and international organizations. They work cooperatively from their respective roles to create shared policies and standards that maintain the Internet's global interoperability for the public good. However, to help ensure interoperability, several key technical and policy aspects of the underlying core infrastructure and the principal namespaces are administered by

7232-409: The active and founding members of the Global WSIS Youth Caucus having founded youth caucuses in their home countries: Canada WSIS Youth Caucus, Tunisia WSIS Youth Caucus, and Pakistan WSIS Youth Caucus. Young leaders participated in both the Geneva and Tunis phases. Youth Day was celebrated and youth showcased their projects and organised events at the summit. Youth also participated in the preparation of

7345-447: The agenda of the Summit, decide on the modalities of the participation of other stakeholders, and finalize both the draft Declaration of Principles and the draft Plan of Action. In 2003 at Geneva, delegates from 175 countries took part in the first phase of WSIS where they adopted a Declaration of Principles. This is a road map for achieving an information society accessible to all and based on shared knowledge. A Plan of Action sets out

7458-426: The benefit of all people throughout the world". Its members include individuals (anyone may join) as well as corporations, organizations, governments, and universities. The IAB was renamed the Internet Architecture Board , and became part of ISOC. The Internet Engineering Task Force also became part of the ISOC. The IETF is overseen currently by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), and longer-term research

7571-445: The benefit of the public at large). The existence of independent regulatory agencies is justified by the complexity of certain regulatory and directorial tasks, and the drawbacks of political interference. Some independent regulatory agencies perform investigations or audits , and other may fine the relevant parties and order certain measures. In a number of cases, in order for a company or organization to enter an industry, it must obtain

7684-485: The concept of Internet Universality and the 'ROAM Principles', which state that the internet should be ‘(i) Human Rights-based (ii) Open, (iii) Accessible to all, and (iv) Nurtured by Multistakeholder participation ’. The ROAM Principles combine standards for process (multi-stakeholderism to avoid potential capture of the internet by a single power center with corresponding risks), with recommendations about substance (what those principles should be). The fundamental position

7797-433: The country, both to retain regulatory authority over such data and to strengthen the case for greater jurisdiction. Countries in the Central and Eastern European, Asia-Pacific, and African regions all have legislation requiring some localization. Data localization requirements increase the likelihood of multiple standards and the fragmentation of the internet, limiting the free flow of information, and in some cases increasing

7910-423: The creation and control of generic top-level domains (.com, .org, and possible new ones, such as .biz or .xxx), the control of country-code domains , recent proposals for a large increase in ICANN's budget and responsibilities, and a proposed "domain tax" to pay for the increase. There were also suggestions that individual governments should have more control, or that the International Telecommunication Union or

8023-424: The current state of freedom of expression and of civil liberties in the country, including gross restrictions on freedom of the press, media, publishing and the Internet. The coalition published a 60-page report that recommends steps the Tunisian government needs to take to bring the country in line with international human rights standards. At the third WSIS Preparatory Committee meeting in Geneva in September 2005,

8136-482: The days leading up to the event. The Tunisian government tried to prevent one of the scheduled sessions, "Expression Under Repression", from happening. French reporter Robert Ménard , the president of Reporters sans frontières , (Reporters Without Borders) was refused admission to Tunisia for phase two of the Summit. A French journalist for Libération was stabbed and beaten by unidentified men after he reported on local human rights protesters. The representatives of

8249-409: The definition of what comprised Internet governance, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan initiated a Working Group on Internet Governance ( WGIG ) to clarify the issues and report before the second part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis 2005. After much controversial debate, during which the U.S. delegation refused to consider surrendering the U.S. control of

8362-610: The developing world. The conferences established 17 May as World Information Society Day . The WSIS+10 Process marked the ten-year milestone since the 2005 Summit. In 2015, the stocktaking process culminated with a High-Level meeting of the UN General Assembly on 15 and 16 December in New York . A WSIS+20 review will take place in 2025. In the last decades of the 20th century, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has changed modern society in many ways. This

8475-519: The digital divide and (ii) the digital dilemma. First the digital divide, which was addressed in Archbishop John P. Foley's address before the WSIS and in the Vatican document, Ethics in the Internet . According to Archbishop Foley the digital divide is the current disparity in the access to digital communications between developed and developing countries and it requires the joint effort of

8588-454: The end of 1989, Australia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK were connected to the Internet, which had grown to contain more than 160,000 hosts. In 1990, the ARPANET was formally terminated. In 1991 the NSF began to relax its restrictions on commercial use on NSFNET and commercial network providers began to interconnect. The final restrictions on carrying commercial traffic ended on 30 April 1995, when

8701-478: The entire international community. The digital divide is considered a form of discrimination dividing the rich and the poor, both within and among nations, on the basis of access, or lack of access, to the new information technology. It is an updated version of an older gap that has always existed between the information rich and the information poor. The term digital divide underlines the reality that not only individuals and groups but also nations must have access to

8814-787: The event that the regulated company is not in compliance with its license obligations or the law, the regulatory agency may be empowered to: In some instances, it is deemed in the public interest (by the legislative branch of government) for regulatory agencies to be given powers in addition to the above. This more interventionist form of regulation is common in the provision of public utilities , which are subject to economic regulation . In this case, regulatory agencies have powers to: The functions of regulatory agencies in prolong "collaborative governance" provide for generally non-adversarial regulation. Ex post actions taken by regulatory agencies can be more adversarial and involve sanctions, influencing rulemaking , and creating quasi-common law. However,

8927-399: The fact that it was now losing the aspect of being a neutral governing body. ICANN stated that it was merely streamlining decision-making, and developing a structure suitable for the modern Internet. On 1 October 2015, following a community-led process spanning months, the stewardship of the IANA functions were transitioned to the global Internet community. Other topics of controversy included

9040-597: The final Summit in Tunis in November 2005. APC proposed specific actions in each of the following five areas: The summit itself attracted 1,500 people from International Organizations, 6,200 from NGOs, 4,800 from the private sector, and 980 from the media. Funding for the event was provided by several countries. The largest donations to the 2003 event came from Japan and Spain . The 2005 event received funding from Japan , Sweden , France and many other countries as well as companies like Nokia . A dispute over control of

9153-615: The former static database into a portal to highlight ICT-related projects and initiatives in line with WSIS implementation. The platform offers stakeholders interactive networking opportunities via Web 2.0 applications. In the framework of the WSIS Stocktaking Platform, all types of stakeholders can benefit from the "Global Events Calendar", "Global Publication Repository", "Case Studies" and other components that tend to extend networking and create partnerships in order to provide more visibility and add value to projects at

9266-678: The growing need for ICT infrastructures, Cybersecurity, and increasing Cybercrime, the ECOWAS, on 18 January 2021, adopted the regional strategy for Cybersecurity and the fight against Cybercrime. In a bid to unify data protection across Europe and give data subjects autonomy over their data, the European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation on 25 May 2018. It replaced the insufficient Data Protection Directive of 1995. The EU describes it as

9379-692: The highest level, the government of Tunisia made a proposal at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis in 1998 to hold a World Summit on the Information Society . This resolution was then put forward it to the United Nations . In 2001, the ITU Council decided to hold the Summit in two phases, the first from 10 to 12 December 2003, in Geneva , and

9492-465: The implementation of WSIS outcomes. The contest is open to all stakeholders: governments, private sector, civil society, international organizations, academia, and others. The 18 prize categories are linked to the WSIS Action Lines outlined in the Geneva Plan of Action. The annual contest is organized into four phases: (1) Submission of project descriptions; (2) Voting by the members of the WSIS Stocktaking Platform; (3) Compilation of extended descriptions of

9605-542: The importance of human rights and media-related issues such as the safety of journalists . Growing support for the multistakeholder model was also observed in the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) stewardship transition, in which oversight of the internet's addressing system shifted from a contract with the United States Department of Commerce to a new private sector entity with new multi-stakeholder accountability mechanisms. Another support of

9718-496: The local, national, regional and international levels. Since the first edition of the WSIS Stocktaking Report was issued in 2005, biannual reporting has been a key tool for monitoring the progress of ICT initiatives and projects worldwide. The 2012 report reflects more than 1,000 recent WSIS-related activities, undertaken between May 2010 and 2012, each emphasizing the efforts deployed by stakeholders involved in

9831-422: The main debates concerns the authority and participation of certain actors, such as national governments, corporate entities and civil society, to play a role in the Internet's governance. A working group established after a UN-initiated World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) proposed the following definition of Internet governance as part of its June 2005 report: Law professor Yochai Benkler developed

9944-413: The modalities of reporting the overall implementation process. The resolution encourages all WSIS stakeholders to continue to contribute information to the WSIS Stocktaking database (www.wsis.org/stocktaking). Furthermore, regular reporting on WSIS Stocktaking is the outcome of the Tunis phase of the Summit, which was launched in order to serve as a tool for assisting with the WSIS follow-up. The purpose of

10057-458: The multi-stakeholder approach to use all stakeholders including civil society and private sector beside the governments. The resolution gave ITU the leading managerial role to organize the event in cooperation with other UN bodies as well as the other international organizations and the host countries and recommended that preparations for the Summit take place through an open-ended intergovernmental Preparatory Committee – or PrepCom – that would define

10170-700: The multistakeholder approach has been the Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, the updated and considerably expanded second edition of the 2013 Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. The annual conferences linked to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and meetings of the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in

10283-427: The new technology in order to share in the promised benefits of globalization and not fall behind other nations. In a statement delivered by Senator Burchell Whiteman from Jamaica he stressed that Jamaica realizes the importance of bridging the digital divide which he sees as promoting social and economic development for 80% of the countries that are still struggling with this gap and the impact that it has on them. In

10396-461: The one hand, some national governments, particularly in the Central and Eastern European and Asia-Pacific regions, have emphasized state sovereignty as an organizing premise of national and global internet governance. In some regions, data localization laws—requiring that data be stored, processed and circulated within a given jurisdiction—have been introduced to keep citizens' personal data in

10509-404: The outcomes of the event in a remote manner from all parts of the world. Onsite networking was facilitated by the imeetYouatWSIS online community platform. More than 250 on-site participants have actively used the tool before and during the event which facilitated fruitful networking leading to win-win partnerships. WSIS Forum meetings were held in Geneva as follows: This initiative responds to

10622-563: The policy and technical coordination issues related to the exchange of information over the Internet". One of the more policy-relevant questions today is exactly whether the regulatory responses are appropriate to police the content delivered through the Internet: it includes important rules for the improvement of Internet safety and for dealing with threats such as cyber-bullying, copyright infringement, data protection and other illegal or disruptive activities. Internet governance now constitutes

10735-542: The potential for surveillance, which in turn impacts on freedom of expression. On the other hand, the dominant practice has been towards a unified, universal internet with broadly shared norms and principles. The NETmundial meeting, held in Brazil in 2014, produced a multistakeholder statement the 'internet should continue to be a globally coherent, interconnected, stable, unfragmented, scalable and accessible network-of-networks.' In 2015, UNESCO's General Conference endorsed

10848-508: The potentiality of it turning into a nightmare. The Holy See's caution of the information society is being heard and echoed by other countries especially those that were present at the WSIS in Tunis. Echoing the statement made in Ethics in the Internet , "The internet can make an enormously valuable contribution to human life. It can foster prosperity and peace, intellectual and aesthetic growth, mutual understanding among peoples and nations on

10961-474: The preparations for the summit as well as the High Level Event itself, drawing attention to human rights, people-centered development, freedom of speech and press freedom . Youth and civil society representatives played key roles in the whole WSIS process. Young leaders from different countries, notably Nick and Alex Fielding from Canada, Tarek from Tunisia, and Mr. Zeeshan Shoki from Pakistan were

11074-530: The progress made in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes under the mandates of participating agencies and took stock of developments in the last 10 years based on reports of WSIS stakeholders, including those submitted by countries, action line facilitators, and other stakeholders. The event reviewed the WSIS Outcomes (2003 and 2005) related to the WSIS Action Lines and agreed on a vision of how to proceed beyond 2015. The WSIS+10 High-Level Event endorsed

11187-608: The proposal, exchanged more than 33,000 messages on mailing lists, held more than 600 meetings and calls and incurred millions of dollars of legal fees to develop the plan, which the community completed, and ICANN submitted to NTIA for review in March 2016. On 24 May 2016, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held its oversight hearing on "Examining the Multistakeholder Plan for Transitioning the Internet Assigned Number Authority.” Though

11300-465: The regular reports is to update stakeholders on the various activities related to the 11 Action Lines identified in the Geneva Plan of Action, that was approved during First Phase of the WSIS. The WSIS stocktaking platform is the new initiative that was launched by Mr Zhao, ITU Deputy Secretary-General and chair of ITU's WSIS Task Force, in February 2010 to improve existing functionalities and transform

11413-417: The requests of participants of WSIS Forum 2011 for a mechanism to evaluate and reward stakeholders for the success of their efforts in implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The first WSIS Project Prizes were awarded in 2012 and have been awarded each year thereafter. The prizes provide a unique recognition for excellence in

11526-578: The roles of regulatory agencies as "regulatory monitors" provide a vital function in administering law and ensuring compliance. World Summit on the Information Society Early research and development: Merging the networks and creating the Internet: Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet: Examples of Internet services: The World Summit on

11639-658: The second from 16 to 18 November 2005 in Tunis . On 21 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly by approving Resolution 56/183 endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to discuss on information society opportunities and challenges. According to this resolution, the General Assembly related the Summit to the United Nations Millennium Declaration to implement ICT to facilitate achieving Millennium Development Goals . It also emphasized on

11752-465: The standards applied by the regulator, for instance as the UK's Advertising Standards Authority says "The self-regulation system works because it is powered and driven by a sense of corporate social responsibility amongst the advertising industry." Regulatory agencies deal in the areas of administrative law , regulatory law , secondary legislation , and rulemaking (codifying and enforcing rules and regulations, and imposing supervision or oversight for

11865-458: The strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including the internet). APC said it had participated extensively in the internet governance process at the World Summit on Information Society. It says: Out of this participation and in collaboration with other partners, including members of the WSIS civil society internet governance caucus, APC has crystallized a set of recommendations with regard to internet governance ahead of

11978-622: The subordination of independent technical organizations such as ICANN and the ITU to a political organization operating under the auspices of the United Nations. After outrage from India's civil society and media, the Indian government backed away from the proposal. On 7 October 2013 the Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation was released by the leaders of a number of organizations involved in coordinating

12091-435: The two announced that Brazil would host an international summit on Internet governance in April 2014. The announcement came after the 2013 disclosures of mass surveillance by the U.S. government, and President Rousseff's speech at the opening session of the 2013 United Nations General Assembly, where she strongly criticized the U.S. surveillance program as a "breach of international law". The " Global Multistakeholder Meeting on

12204-587: The winning projects and preparation of "WSIS Stocktaking: Success Stories"; and (4) the WSIS Project Prize Ceremony and release of the "Success Stories" publication at the WSIS Forum. The WSIS Project Prizes are now an integral part of the WSIS Stocktaking Process established in 2004. The WSIS+10 High-Level Event, an extended version of the WSIS Forum, took place 9–13 June 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland . The event reviewed

12317-414: The world and they have the power to transform the world for good or ill. In a statement made by Mr. Stjepan Mesic, President of Croatia, it was stated that we are flooded with data and we think that we know and can find everything about everyone but we also must remember that we don't know what so easily accessible is like. He states that although the information society is a blessing one should not ignore

12430-477: Was elaborated in an open and participatory manner, by means of successive consultations. This consensus should be qualified in that even though the statement was adopted by consensus, some participants, specifically the Russian Federation, India, Cuba, and ARTICLE 19 , representing some participants from civil society expressed some dissent with its contents and the process. The NetMundial Initiative

12543-594: Was founded by DARPA to oversee the network's development. During 1984 it was renamed the Internet Advisory Board ( IAB ), and during 1986 it became the Internet Activities Board. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was formed during 1986 by the U.S. government to develop and promote Internet standards. It consisted initially of researchers, but by the end of the year participation was available to anyone, and its business

12656-649: Was performed largely by email. From the early days of the network until his death during 1998, Jon Postel oversaw address allocation and other Internet protocol numbering and assignments in his capacity as Director of the Computer Networks Division at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California , under a contract from the Department of Defense. This function eventually became known as

12769-614: Was the only Pakistani NGO who participated in UN World Summit on Information Society, Geneva and also organised Seminar at ICT4 Development Platform. The Idea of Third World Silicon Valley was also conceptualised. One of the most significant results of civil society participation in the WSIS first phase was the insertion, in the final declaration signed by the nation's delegates, of the clear distinction between three societal model of digitally-driven increase in awareness : proprietary, open-source and free software based models. It

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