[kictanet] ITU and ICANN – a loveless forced marriage: ITU & ICANN in Cairo

Sun Nov 9 20:41:20 EAT 2008

(Apologies for cross posting)

Hi all
At the just ended ICANN meeting in Cairo, the ITU Secretary General 
spoke very provocatively about ICANN, ITU and the global IGF and the 
relationship/s or lack thereof. See his statement attached and below a  
press article on the same.

best
alice

-------- Original Message --------

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http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/print/111914

7 November 2008, 12:30

  ITU and ICANN – a loveless forced marriage

ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré has called for better collaboration 
between the *International Telecommunication Union[1]* (ITU) and the 
*Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers[2]* (ICANN). "Our 
members have unnecessarily attacked and criticised each other and I 
think we should put an end to that," said Touré on Thursday at the 33rd 
ICANN meeting in Cairo. According to Touré, the two organisations need 
to get to know each other better and learn to love each other, as 
telecommunications and the internet are ultimately condemned to a 
"forced marriage".

Despite the outstretched hand, the ITU Secretary General did not spare 
the criticism in his first appearance at an ICANN meeting. Touré made it 
clear to the assembled experts that he saw his organisation as playing 
the dominant role in the forced marriage and made his opinion of the 
other party clear – provocatively describing ICANN's Governmental 
Advisory Committee as purely cosmetic.

The depth of the chasm between the two – the UN organisation, which has 
its roots in the telecommunications world, and the 
quasi-internet-regulator ICANN – was stressed by a series of further 
statements in the half-hour talk given by the head of the ITU. Touré 
repeatedly spoke of the "war" between the two organisations. According 
to Touré, who was elected in 2006, "The best way to win a war, is to 
prevent it."

In the course of his 'marriage proposal', he referred extensively to the 
ITU's outstanding role. Key topics for his organisation, he noted, 
include the internationalisation of domains, something with which ICANN 
is currently engaged, the *transition to IPv6[3]*, standardisation for 
the all-IP *Next Generation Network[4]* (NGN), cyber-security, the fight 
against online terrorism and child protection online.

Touré rejected concerns that the ITU was appointing itself as global 
regulator of internet resources and processes, "The ITU has clear 
boundaries. We do not perform the operative business." However, he 
underlined the organisation's demand, set out in its *Cybersecurity 
Agenda[5]*, to be responsible for a global framework in the fight 
against online terrorism and criminality. He also defended the 
controversial *IP traceback[6]* standard proposal. "There is not one 
country which isn't doing it, it's just that each country is doing it 
differently," said Touré.

Touré also rejected criticism that the ITU operates behind closed doors. 
He stated that the organisation has around 700 sector members from the 
telecommunications industry and also admits NGOs as members. Touré also 
praised the ITU's openness – a nod to the *World Summit on the 
Information Society[7]* (WSIS). The summit, organised under ITU 
auspices, is, according to Touré, the first UN summit at which civil 
society has also been invited to sit at the table, rather than 
demonstrating outside.

In the same breath, Touré expressed strong criticism of the *Internet 
Governance Forum[8]* (IGF), which was called into being by the WSIS, "I 
am personally of the opinion that the IGF is continuously going round in 
circles and avoiding issues – it is becoming more and more a waste of 
time." Therefore, the ITU is planning a global forum for internet policy 
next year as a rival event.

Touré also fired a further undiplomatic broadside at the work performed 
by governments within ICANN. "The Governmental Advisory Committee is 
ICANN's weak point," said Touré. His criticism was directed at the 
advisory function of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) in 
developing rules for the domain name system. "If someone gives me 
advice, I am free to take it or leave it." The ICANN's GAC is therefore 
nothing more than "cosmetic", noted Touré forthrightly.

In a short statement following Touré's speech, the Brazilian government 
representative on the GAC demanded, in the name of his and the 
Argentinian government, the "strengthening of the GAC". Latvian diplomat 
Janis Karklins, re-elected as GAC chairman, by contrast noted that the 
ITU and ICANN operated according to very different political models, 
"From the viewpoint of an international organisation, the ICANN model 
may appear weak, because governments are merely advisory, whilst in an 
international organisation they run the show." ICANN is, he opined, 
based on the novel idea of collaboration between interested parties. He 
noted that both models have their advantages and disadvantages, and that 
governments need to learn to operate within both models.

(/Monika Ermert/)

(*lghp[9]*)

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*URL of this Article:*
http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/111914

*Links in this Article:*
  [1] http://www.itu.int/
  [2] http://www.icann.org
  [3] http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/OECD-member-states-throw-their-weight-behind-IPv6--/110960
  [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Generation_Networking
  [5] http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/
  [6] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html
  [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSIS
  [8] http://www.intgovforum.org/
  [9] mailto:lghp at heise-online.co.uk

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