Re: UN mulls internet regulation options

[John Curran <jcurran () arin net>]

On Dec 19, 2010, at 7:43 PM, Eric Brunner-Williams wrote:

> fred, and others with (misspent) wsis++ / ig++ travel nickles,
>
> it would _really_ help me if you provided more context, off-line if necessary, as i spent the week before last more 
> involved with the gac than at any prior point in my decade of icann involvement.

Eric (et al) - 

On Tuesday, December 14th, I spoke in NYC on behalf of the Number Resource Organization (NRO) at the "Open 
Consultations on the process towards Enhanced Cooperation on International Public Policy Issues pertaining to the 
Internet" held by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).  This consultation was being 
held to get multistakeholder inputs regarding the "process towards the implementation of enhanced cooperation in order 
to enable governments, on an equal footing to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy 
issues pertaining to the Internet".  This was specifically not about the Internet Governance Forum, but a second 
initiative for a more decisional body regarding the Internet that some governments assert was already agreed to by 
means of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Tunis Agenda in 2005[1].

I presented an NRO prepared statement[2]  which outlined the considerable progress that had been made in enhanced 
cooperation between governments, business, and Internet technical organizations in dealing with Internet policy issues, 
emphasized the increasingly complex nature of the Internet, and asked keeping these factors in mind when considering 
next steps.  I also intervened twice requested clarification of exactly how a government-only decision body for 
Internet policy would fulfill the "consultation with all stakeholders" paragraph specified in the Tunis agenda. The 
answer from several countries was not encouraging, suggesting the consultation could be done in the UN manner through 
their Member State delegations.  This government-only view is being asserted by several countries, but India, Brazil, 
South Africa and Saudi Arabia are carrying it most strongly, and it is likely to result in a recommendation in this 
matter from the Under Sec General to the UN General Assembly sometime next May.  While we had many interventions 
speaking in favor of a more multistakeholder approach (including the US and UK, the Internet Society on behalf of 
itself and the IETF, and ICANN), several other presenters did not stay on topic of enhanced cooperation and fulfilling 
the Tunis Agenda, but instead explored a wide range of topical Internet concerns (those interested in detailed 
positions of presenters are recommended to review the filed positions, statements as presented or listen/view the UN 
archives all of which are available online [3].

Overall, I believe that the Internet community did well in presenting its points, and am hopeful that if a more 
decisional intergovernmental body is formed for addressing these matters, some functional mechanism for consultation 
with non-governmental parties will receive some consideration. I do not believe that there is much more that can be 
done until we see the draft recommendation that emerges from this process early next year.

I hope this helps provide some context as you requested.

Happy Holidays,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN

=== REFERENCES

[1] WSIS Tunis Agenda: http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html
[2] NRO statement: http://www.nro.net/documents/pdf/StatementbyJohnCurran.pdf
[3] DESA / WSIS Folloup website:  http://www.unpan.org/dpadm/wsisfollowup