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

[waudo siganga]

Interesting, but not necessarily new comments from the SG. I think
attention needs to be paid as this could be a pointer to the status of
the IG debate in two years time when then the IGF mandate from Tunis
comes to an end. He is right in his comments about the efficacy of the
IGF. It was meant to be a toothless bulldog all along. The more
substative proposals from Château de Bossey did not pass through the
Tunis mincer. So the IGF, being a toothless talkshop, was left with the
hope that its deliberations and outcomes would act as uptakes by the
"implementing agencies" depending to the subject from the broad IG
definition. Personally I have not seen any specific uptakes since
Athens, at least not by ICANN. I am not even aware of a "linking
mechanism" between the IGF and the impelementing mechanisms. Is there
any "decision" or recommendation that was reached in Athens or Rio that
has impacted on global IG? Maybe Marcus Kummer will elucidate while he
is in Nairobi. 
As for GAC again the SG is right. The idea of GAC seems right when
viewed as an element of  multi-stakeholder governance. But GAC is not
the way most governments operate. I think most governments would prefer
some direct contribution in the decision-making of the ICANN Board,
rather than just offering advice.
Waudo

On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:41:20 +0300, "alice" <alice at apc.org> said:
> (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
> 
> 
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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]*)
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *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
> 
> 
> 
Men trip not not mountains, the stumble on stones - Chinese Proverb