Preliminary ICC BASIS input on IGF Rio topics
The world business organization
Preliminary ICC BASIS input on IGF Rio topics
This preliminary contribution is submitted by members of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and its initiative Business Action to Support the Information Society, (BASIS), ahead of the informal consultations scheduled for 23 May 2007 in Geneva. This business input outlines the priority sub-themes for the main meeting topics of Openness, Security, Diversity, and Access for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio de Janeiro on 12- 15 November 2007. It also includes recommendations for consideration by other stakeholders, the IGF secretariat and advisory group, in formulating a productive and focused agenda for the second IGF that builds upon the success of the first IGF in Athens. Supplementary input on the draft programme and schedule will be submitted ahead of the IGF consultation.
General Comments
> Business calls attention to its input on the format and other practical recommendations in the “ICC/BASIS Feedback on IGF Athens” dated 12 January 2007. [see attached]
> The format of the main sessions will have an impact on how the topics are approached, and the added value for participants.
> ICC/BASIS believes that the cross-cutting theme of human and institutional capacity building should feature in all of the main meeting sessions, and urges a true integration of concrete capacity building elements in the agenda for the IGF in Rio.
> A comprehensive approach to highlighting existing best practices and those
under development in other fora on all of the main meeting themes is essential to respond to the input of many participants from all stakeholder groups, and in particular from developing countries. This will also ensure that the IGF discussions are not duplicative. Best practices must be part of the main sessions. They are not a separate subject.
Business supports one reporting session that gives organizations that are addressing Internet governance related issues the opportunity to update the IGF community on developments as a way of building understanding and helping to raise awareness of developments in key Internet related organizations. The IGF should provide a place for stakeholders to get up to date information regarding issues being addressed in existing organizations or which cut across several different organizations in one reporting session. This reporting session
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3 May 2007 AH/apn
can thus be complimentary to the discussions in the main meetings of the IGF and avoid the duplication of discussions taking place in other forums.
> Business believes that the 4 main topics of security, access, openness and diversity cover a broad range of Internet governance issues, and building on the discussions that took place at the IGF in Athens will be important to make the second IGF a productive space for further exchange on these issues.
> Business recommends putting the main meeting discussions on openness and security on the same day, and the discussions on access and diversity on the same day. This would provide a coherent approach to the interrelationship of each of these two sets of broad topics.
> Business supports the idea of having the IGF secretariat suggest subjects for workshops, to supplement the main themes, and to encourage different stakeholders to express an interest in working collaboratively to organize them. The number should be limited so that people will have time to attend.
> Business supports having the emerging issues session towards the end of the IGF in Rio to most effectively highlight new issues that may be discussed throughout the event.
Looking in more detail at the 4 main themes, we offer the following input on sub-themes that participants in the IGF should discuss within each respective session:
Openness
> The roles the Internet and ICTs play in promoting access to information and how governments, business, civil society, and other organizations can work together to maximize openness and the free flow of information on the Internet.
> Build capacity and raise awareness about how existing intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes foster the free flow of information on the Internet, as well as consumer confidence and security.
Security
> The work ongoing in private and public sector bodies with substantial expertise in network security to improve practices in the area of security, with a special focus on work that is relevant to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and emerging economies.
> Practical approaches to raising awareness of existing best practices for network security issues that exist, across all stakeholder groups.
> The roles of governments, business and other stakeholders in adopting authentication technologies to promote trust online.
> Private and public sector organizations that are actively working on privacy issues and improving the state of play and aspects of their work that may be made relevant to emerging economies and SMEs.
Diversity
> The ability of the Internet and ICTs to enhance diversity with limitless capacity to transmit content.
> The role that user-generated content (UGC) plays in advancing cultural diversity, and the exchange of best practices and experiences that promote UGC and its platforms, including profiling related work in other forums and organizations.
> The promotion of cultural diversity through intellectual property protection.
> The standards that facilitate the creation of new software applications and tools such as translation technologies.
> Government and business initiatives to stimulate development of local content production and providers of online services for their local market including, for example, establishing seed funding, training, incubator services and the exchange of best practices and experiences.
> Efforts underway to introduce internationalized domain names (IDNs).
> Existing technologies that increase access to disabled communities, and thus increase the diversity of participants in the Internet and Internet governance issues.
Access
> The legal, policy and regulatory conditions that enable investment and innovation, promote competition and foster entrepreneurship which are essential to establishing the right enabling environment to promote access to infrastructure and the Internet.
> Information and case studies regarding economies that have created successful enabling environments.
> Concrete examples of local build out and case studies that promote the exchange of best practices and experiences regarding improving access for even more people.
Emerging issues
> The need for all stakeholders to work together to ensure an environment that facilitates innovation and cross-border services deployment as more and more complex services are developed for the Internet----many of which include software as a critical element.
> New technology developments, such as the increasing mobility of Internet usage and applications, and policy implications.
Cross-cutting theme: Human and institutional capacity building
Key sub-themes to be reflected in all main meeting sessions:
> Creating multistakeholder dialogue at the national and regional levels on Internet governance issues.
> Creating capacities to access the e-skills value chain.
> Policy development that allows new uses of the Internet in developing countries, [For instance, duty free e-commerce and accredited e-learning could be profiled in the emerging issues session].
What is Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS)?
ICC created BASIS to serve as the voice of business in the global dialogue on the Information Society, following the two World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005). BASIS participates in UN-linked forums set up to continue the dialogue, such as the Global Alliance for ICT and development (GAID), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the WSIS follow-up and implementation processes.
BASIS builds on the activities and network of the Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors (CCBI), which ICC formed to coordinate participation by world business in the processes leading up to and at the Summits in Geneva and Tunis.
To promote the environment in which global business will continue to thrive as an innovator of these technologies, BASIS mobilizes business to help shape the agenda and participate in these global discussions. The initiative aims to unite the business community, to raise awareness among the public, governments, civil society, intergovernmental organizations and technical authorities of what business requires to continue contributing to the development of the Information Society. BASIS relies on policies developed in ICC’s Commission on E-business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT) as the foundation for its efforts.
For further information regarding BASIS, the founding partners, members and activities, please consult the BASIS website at: http://www.iccwbo.org/basis.
About ICC
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