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Story: MP welcomes UN indecision on Internet policy
Posted by: Anonymous (Tuesday 19 July 2005, 3:10 PM)
I believe that the main premise of this article is incorrect - the WGIG did agree - to provide multiple options to the negotiating body. The report as presented is a consensus document, on which the group agreed.
The WGIG is NOT the UN. The mandate of this group was to provide input to the negotiation sessions, not to negotiate.
The negotiations will start soon, and after the Intergovernmental negotiations conclude, only then the UN can be said to decide (or fail to) on the way forward for Internet Governance.
There is no "status quo" option in the WGIG report. All of the models presented include some change. The most basic change, and common to all, is the recommendation to remove edit control of the root zone file from the US DoC and place it under International control. The models are not specific as to where the oversight and edit functions would reside, whether in the UN system or elsewhere.
Mr. Wyatt's statements are not relevant at this time, as :
a) In the first case re: failing to reach agreement - he is responding to something that does not exist, as the UN hasn't yet failed to agree on IG.
b) In the 2nd case: As the UN was mandated by the governments in the Geneva phase of the Summit in 2003 to create the IG working group and to tackle the thorny and complex issue of Internet Governance, in time for the Tunis phase of the Summit, the other part of his comment (It would be singularly inappropriate ... governance") is well after the fact, as this mandate was given in December 2003.
Last week, I sent Mr. McCullagh the links to the WGIG website and the documents that are archived there. The mandate of the WGIG is very clearly stated there. There are links to the history of this process, and the specific circumstances that led up to the creation of the WGIG, as well as the steps (open consultation process) that the group took to get to the report that was published. The website also contains a verbatim transcript of the presentations yesterday by WGIG members and the Chairman on the details of the report. If these documents and others available on the WSIS website had been considered, then many of the inaccuracies in this story might have been avoided.
Sincerely.
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