Today I've joined Joi Ito to attend the 2005 AP* Retreat at APRICOT 2005.
Joi's attending the APTLD Annual General Meeting, and I'm attending the WSIS/WGIG presentation by Geoff which you can find at the AP* website.
Session II
WSIS & WGIG (from an APNIC/RIR perspective) - Geoff Huston
AtLarge and AP-RALO - Tommy Matsumoto
NOTES:
- Speaker: Geoff Huston (APNIC)
- ITU periodically organizes summits; creates resolutions from summits; creates Intl' bodies to implement those summits
- 1998 Minneapolis meeting, ITU ; tacit contract between US and rest of world; common understanding was that within 2 years US Dept. of Commerce would give up control to ICANN; US Dept. of Commerce did not give control of Internet to ICANN - argument that ICANN was broken; ICANN was too immature;
- Phase 1: 2003 Geneva Summit
- Phase 2: 3004
- Phase 3: 2005 Tunis Summit
- Summit will probably agree that ITU ought to control the Internet
- WSIS Task Force on Financial Mechanisms
- no longer any equity of carrier interconnection
- in the past rich countries supported poor countries' telecom
- Internet has changed that
- WGIG: Working Group on Internet Governance
- created to discuss 2005 Summit
- WSIS information is not practically open
- most national telcos have been deregulated
- open competitive communications markets are leading
- ITU has no enforcement; only recommends
- the model of the ITU DOES NOT WORK with the Internet
- timetable for WSIS is too aggressive;
- WSIS has not solved any problems
APNIC position
- continued stability for IP address distribution
- dispel misconceptions about IP address distribution as well as policy process
- "Internet is not a failure; it is an astounding success," therefore DO NO HARM
APNIC recent activities
- Please see presentation
Presentation thoughts:
- ICANN perceived as being too "private sector" and ITU-T is perceived as too supportive of governments; there ought to be a balance
- governments wish to control communications; ITU-T is essentially (imho) a hand of governments
- IP communications has really impacted the world's telecommunications in many, many ways; follow the money (or rather, in this case, how the floes of money have changed) to see where the pressure points are
THOUGHTS
Today I had a quick peek into the world 'behind the Internet.'
There are a number of important issues that are facing Internet governance in the coming years, but more than anything else, I think, is that there is a huge tension that has been created due to the nature of IP communications. The power players of the past (national telecom monopolies) are quickly being deregulated across the globe, and market forces and private companies have, for the most part, made the Internet successful.
I have a hard time imagining a future Internet world which has reverted back to control by national governmental telecom monopolies. I think the Internet will route around attacks to it, from external forces like the ITU-T.
Let's keep a close eye on November 2005 and the WGIG and WSIS 2005.
