Set up of the Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group

By EDRi · May 24, 2006

The Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group (IGF AG) to the UN
Secretary-General, selected by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
on 17 May, met in Geneva on 22-23 May to discuss the agenda and the
programme of the Athens Meeting (31 October – 3 November 2006).

Members of the group and observers had a two-day meeting meeting under the
leadership of Nitin Desai and Markus Kummer.

In an open and transparent discussion, the draft of the program included
main topics for each day of the coming IGF meeting in Athens. These are :
– Access ( Internet connectivity, policies and costs with following
workshops on: open (file) standards, investment incentives, etc.)
– Security ( building trust online, protecting users from spam, phishing,
viruses, maintain security while protecting privacy and workshops with
people from technologies, ISP, CERT, law enforcement and human rights,
workshops by ITU (cybersecurity) and OECD (spam toolkit) )
– Diversity ( Promoting multilinguism through IDN, and local content and
Respecting geographical diversity)
– Openness ( Free flow of information, ideas and access to knowledge)

The IGF AG consists of 46 people from different countries and cultures and
is a good example of the way the UN opened up during the WSIS process. This
includes 20 representatives from the governmental sector, 10 from the
business sector, 7 representing civil society and 9 from the ICANN system.
All stakeholders are well represented – governments, civil society,
business, and the relevant international organizations, e.g. ITU, ICANN,
ISOC, IETF, International Chamber of Commerce, UNESCO, Internet registries
and registrars, and others.

People involved in the proceedings say that the IGF will be launched this
year in Athens, but will continue in 2007 in Brazil, and in 2008.

IGF website – includes webcast and transcripts of the session
http://www.intgovforum.org/index.htm

EDRI-gram : Consultations on Internet Governance Forum (1.03.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.4/igf

(Contribution by Veni Markovski – EDRi-Member ISOC Bulgaria)