Tunis - 17th November 2005 - Delegates meeting at the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis have affirmed their commitment
to build on the governance mechanisms that have enabled the Internet's
incredibly successful growth.
ISOC welcomes the recognition by WSIS of how the effectiveness of the
existing arrangements for Internet governance has helped make the
Internet the highly robust, dynamic and geographically diverse medium
that it is today.
"We are delighted that there is now much broader recognition of the
achievements of the organisations that support the Internet
community," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet
Society. "These organisations, along with their open, consensus-based
processes clearly have a vital role to play in the further development
of the Internet. It is also significant that the WSIS debate has moved
beyond the details of technical administration and on to broader
issues that require increased coordination by stakeholders in order to
ensure the continued stability of the Internet."
The WSIS recommendation includes a proposal for a new forum for
multi-stakeholder policy dialogue - the Internet Governance
Forum. ISOC, together with partner organisations from the Internet
community, has always worked to encourage full engagement in such
dialogues by all those with an interest in the Internet's future. ISOC
believes that the forum=92s success depends upon the fullest
participation by all stakeholders. At the same time, ISOC is pleased
to note that the proposed forum would have no oversight function and
would have no involvement in the day-to-day operations of the
Internet.
"ISOC will facilitate increased cooperation and information sharing
amongst all parties interested in Internet governance and we look
forward to playing an active role in the new forum as is expected of
us by the global community," said Lynn St. Amour. "We very much hope
that the Tunis summit will lead to some real and positive outcomes
that will help bring the benefits of the Internet to people everywhere
-- especially to those who are yet to be connected."
The Internet Society, along with some of its partner organisations =96
the Number Resource Organisation (NRO), the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), London Internet Exchange (LINX), the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Council of
European National Top level domain Registries (CENTR) - are present at
the ICT 4 all exhibition held in conjunction with WSIS. The Internet
Pavilion is at stand 1323 in the Kram Palexpo.
ABOUT ISOC
The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit
membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in
Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in
Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring
the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the
benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational
home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other
Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring
that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13
years ISOC has run international network training programs for
developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up
the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country
connecting to the Internet during this time.
FOR FURTHER DETAILS:
Peter Godwin
Communications Manager, Internet Society
E-mail: godwin@isoc.org
4, rue des Falaises
1205 Geneva
Switzerland
Peter Godwin (godwin@isoc.org)