U.S. Urges WSIS to Preserve Web Structure, Foster ‘Enabling Environment’ for Internet

The U.S. called for public contributions on the matter before WGIG released its long-awaited report(WID July 19 p1). A similar announcement was made by State in 2003 to collect comments during Phase 1 of WSIS. Important high-tech players that commented include the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, Center for Democracy & Technology, Information Technology Assn. of America and the Computing Technology Industry Assn.

State’s filing to WSIS addressed issues cited in the WGIG report, but also voiced concerns absent from WGIG’s paper -- an enabling environment’s impact on Internet diffusion and development. “To maximize the economic and social benefits of the Internet, governments must focus on creating, within their own nations, the appropriate legal, regulatory and policy environment that encourages privatization, competition and liberalization,” State said, calling business and civil society “critical” to innovation and private investment in the Internet. Value is added at the edges of the network in developed and developing countries when domestic policy environments encourage investment and innovation, State said.

The U.S. restated the importance of freedom of expression and free flow of information, themes of WSIS’s first phase. “A free, independent print, broadcast and online media is one of the key institutions of democratic life,” State said. “No nation can develop politically or economically without the ability of its citizens to openly and freely express their opinions.” Changes to Internet governance, especially those imposed on grounds of security or to fight crime, should not lead to infringements on freedom of expression, the document said.

Building confidence and security in use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) systems and networks should be a priority in defending against cyberattacks, the U.S. said. National action and international collaboration in many legal, enforcement, administrative and technical areas are required to build a global culture of cybersecurity. As they hone national cybersecurity strategies, govts. should draw on structures and processes such as the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and, among other highly regarded guidance efforts, actions taken by computer security incident response teams, the group said.

American high-tech leaders continue to back the private sector-led technical coordination and management of the Internet’s domain name and addressing system (DNS) under ICANN, with advice from its Govt. Advisory Committee. State said it recognizes that govts. have “legitimate public policy and sovereignty concerns” regarding management of country code top level domains (TLDs). The U.S. pledged to work on those matters, while noting the fundamental need to ensure stability and security of the Internet’s DNS. Regarding international coordination of the DNS, WSIS should recognize existing institutions’ role, encourage effective, bottom-up decision making at the local level, continued deployment of mirror roots and responsible address allocation policies, State said.

For a truly global Internet, the world needs technologies enabling use of domain names in languages besides Latin-based ones, State said. WSIS should encourage collaboration and other work on internationalized domain names by standards bodies, and processes by which agreement can be reached on language tables.

Arrangements to fund international Internet connections should continue to be addressed in private commercial talks, the document stated. The international settlement system that applies under the telecom regime cannot apply to Internet traffic, officials emphasized. The report pushed WSIS to look to ongoing work on the topic in existing institutions, such as the ITU and the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, while encouraging national govts. to “take steps to open markets to competitive entry and promote increased competition in the market place.”

The report stressed the need to protect intellectual property (IP) rights, saying the U.S. supports a “comprehensive, effective and properly enforced” system. “Any information society envisioned by the WSIS must clearly and explicitly recognize that such a system is essential to the information society because it creates an incentive for creativity and innovation,” State said: “WSIS and its documents must recognize, respect and support the existing international intellectual property system.” The appropriate UN forum for dealing with IP issues is the World Intellectual Property Organization, the document said.

Industry must play a lead role in developing tools to fight spam, State added. While the Convention on Cybercrime and the U.S. CAN SPAM Act provide a framework, statutes alone can’t solve the problem, officials said. An effective tack on spam “relies on a combination of legal tools for effective law enforcement, development and deployment of technology tools and best practices by the private sector and consumer and business education,” the document said. Govts. should educate consumers and enforce spam laws and national leaders should encourage spam enforcement agencies to join the London Action Plan on international spam enforcement cooperation (WID July 6 p3), State said.

Meanwhile, a brochure summarizing an Internet governance report released in March by the National Academies’ Computer Science & Telecom Board (CSTB) is available to those expecting to be in on the WSIS deliberations. The report assessed DNS performance and prospects technically and institutionally and at how navigation tools and institutions help find and access Internet resources -- www.cstb.org/dns/signpost.html.

WSIS’ first phase, in Geneva in Dec. 2003, was hosted by the Swiss govt. During it, 175 nations adopted a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. The 2nd phase will take place in Tunis, Tunisia, Nov. 16-18.