Russia has called for international regulations cementing state control over the Internet, arguing that national governments are otherwise left vulnerable to information attacks by foreign powers.Speaking at a gathering of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) earlier this week, Russia’s Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said the field of information and communications technology requires “international norms and rules” that should be developed “under the supervision of [United Nations] institutions.”
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/509809.htmlAlso see:Holding the Multistakeholder Line at the ITU
The United States heads to the 2014 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea, looking to defend its approach to Internet governance. Washington and its allies favor the “multistakeholder” model: a bottom-up policy process that includes organizations representing technical experts, governments, businesses, civil society, and individual users.On the other side of the discussion are authoritarian states like China and Iran, which see the multistakeholder model as favoring U.S. economic and security interests. They are pushing for greater involvement of multilateral organizations like the ITU. In addition, many developing countries, which often lack independent civil-society actors or businesses capable of participating in multistakeholder governance, prefer multilateral organizations like the United Nations, where governments are the primary actors.
http://www.cfr.org/internet-policy/holding-multistakeholder-line-itu/p33644ITU gives public more access to talks on future of the Internet [IDG]
Members of the public will be able to eavesdrop on intergovernmental negotiations about the future of the Internet that began Monday in Busan, South Korea, after participants voted to webcast the meetings.Following pressure from civil society organizations to open up the discussions, committee meetings at the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body, will be webcast. At this top policy making event, ITU member states will decide on the future role of the organization, determining its ability to influence and affect the development of information and communication technologies worldwide for the next four years.
http://www.techworld.com.au/article/557762/itu-gives-public-more-access-talks-future-internet/India may dilute stand on Net control
India could dilute its stance on the issue of who will control the Internet by supporting participation from the private sector and civil society alongside governments.A note prepared by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) proposes backing for the popular view on a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet Governance.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/smartbuy/tech-news/india-may-dilute-stand-on-net-control/article6524088.eceHere’s how the U.S. plans to avoid a U.N. vote on the future of the Internet
The latest battle over who should run the Internet will be waged in the South Korean port city of Busan over the next three weeks. For U.S. officials headed to the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference, the goal is simple: prevent a vote.In short, the State Department’s approach is this: Convince the representatives of the other 192 member countries attending the conference that the 150-year-old U.N. technical body is the wrong forum for existential questions about how the Internet should work. That could buy time to improve the current “multi-stakeholder” model that has been used to govern the Internet’s operations for years, and make it better able to handle the knottiest questions, from e-mail spam to government-conducted digital surveillance.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/20/heres-how-the-u-s-plans-to-avoid-a-u-n-vote-on-the-future-of-the-internet/China Hosts Its Own Cyber Conference
Not wanting to be left out, after the United Kingdom, Hungary, and South Korea all held conferences on cyberspace governance, China has announced that it will be hosting the World Internet Conference from November 19 to 21. The conference, planned by the Cyberspace Administration of China (formerly named the State Internet Information Office), has the stated mission to promote the “development of [the] Internet to be the global shared resources for human solidarity and economic progress.”The conference seems somewhat hastily planned; invitations went out last week and the first I heard of it was a month ago. Perhaps Beijing wanted the get the conference out the door before the next conference meets in 2015 in the Netherlands (the UK, Hungary, South Korea, and the Netherlands are all part of a series that began in London). The agenda, covering global Internet governance, cybersecurity, the role of the Internet in promotion of economic and social development, and technological innovation, is very similar to the topics covered in the UK (2011), Hungary (2012), and South Korea (2013). There is, of course, no explicit reference to human rights, but it could be discussed under “social development.” In process, it will probably be most like South Korea, where there was criticism that the conference showed a low degree of inclusiveness to civil society groups.
http://blogs.cfr.org/cyber/2014/10/21/china-hosts-its-own-cyber-conference/