igf2006.info

Civil society representatives have been debating various formulations of a joint statement on principles for the reform of the IGF’s structure and processes. Although it seems unlikely that a consensus position will be reached ahead of the commencement of the IGF’s first meeting, one of the statements under discussion has been placed online as a petition. The three key improvements sought include:

• better equipping the IGF to fulfil its mandate, which includes the ability to make recommendations;
• allowing the IGF’s agenda to be shaped from the bottom-up; and
• facilitating the establishment of groups to work on particular issue areas within the IGF.

Doubtless the same points will be made in the IGF’s plenary sessions and workshops regardless of whether a consensus statement is published.

GigaNet is the Global Internet Governance Academic Network. It is to hold its first Annual Conference at the Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Hotel on 29 October 2006, immediately preceding the opening day of the Internet Governance Forum meeting. The conference is open for all interested persons to attend.

There are three main sessions, each with several panelists who will speak for ten minutes individually, followed by discussion between the panel and the audience. The topics of each session are:

• Theorizing Internet Governance: The State of the Art
• ?¢‚Ǩ?ìEnhanced Cooperation?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and Interaction among Stakeholders in Internet Governance
• The Distributed Architecture of Internet Governance

Further information is available, as are the slides and notes for my own presentation.

Nitin Desai is chair of the IGF Advisory Group and the man chosen by UN Secretary General Kofin Annan to convene the first Internet Governance Forum.

He spoke at the recent pre-IGF meeting in London, outlining his hopes for the IGF, the Forum’s approach and intention and what he had picked up from the London meeting overall.

Here are some brief notes and an audio recording of what he said.

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The Latvian government and ICANN co-sponsored a meeting on the IGF in Riga, Latvia on 4 October, with the remit “to make all the stakeholders better aware and informed about the Internet governance process, Internet solutions and future development trends that will be discussed at the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum.”

Representatives from the Latvian and Swedish government and business spoke, as well as ICANN Board member Hagen Hultzsch, IANA representative Kim Davies, Nominet director of policy Emily Taylor and IGF secretariat Markus Kummer.

You can review the agenda, and well as copies of all presentations online.