In November there is a fourth IGF meeting in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Last week, we had an open consultation (full transcript and an archive of the webcast is now available).
The most interesting findings during the open meeting was not only that that China expressed their view regarding extension of the IGF:
So we repeat that the delegation of China does not agree with extending
the mission of the IGF beyond the five years. We feel that after the
five years are up, we would need to look at the results that have been
achieved. And we need, then, to launch into an intergovernmental
discussion.
…but also that everyone else had interest in extending the IGF another five years. For example the European Union via the presidency:
Also, the European Union, with its 27 member states, would propose that
the U.N. General Assembly, when deciding on the forum's continuation,
decides on its continuation for another period of five years. Once the
second period of five years is over, another review of the desirability
of a further extension should take place in the process of overall
review of WSIS outcomes.
During the closed meeting, we discussed all input during the consultations, and a summary of the closed meeting will be posted shortly (hopefully today).
What some people have noted is that I am no longer a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group. You can see the list of members here. I have though been appointed Adviser to the Chair, and you can see my name and the name of other Advisers here:
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Fältström, Patrik
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Glaser, Hartmut
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Kleinwächter, Wolfgang
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Kurbalija, Jovan
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Shaw, Heather
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Singh, Parminder Jeet
Below you see my notes that I used when I made an intervention on Emerging Issues. Of course I did not say exactly this, but this was the thinking behind it…
The changes started 30 years ago with deregulation of telecommunication.
Competition and separation of incumbent from the governments.
Privatization, and number portability that increased the power of the
end user.
Traditional telecom governance (if you allow me to use that term) is
because of that rooted in a completely different world, and telecom
regulation of today is modernized. Both regarding regulation and
standards that for example IETF and ITU-T develop.
But Internet governance is something different. Specifically I believe
that the number one emerging issue is that the access provider no longer
can (technically) control what services the end user is accessing. We
have different players on different layers.
The old thinking (before deregulation) we had a model of the world where
each access was lik a silo. One player, one set of services. Top down.
Down up.
New world, many players. Both competing and cooperating. Across country
boundaries. That is new. But it is because of this we have innovation
and the evolution we have today.
And because of this we need cooperation, communication and
collaboration, and why we have IGF. Right?