IP Justice Call for Participation at
UN Internet Governance Forum:
2 Aug Deadline for Contribution to IGF “Synthesis Papers”
24 Aug Deadline for Athens Workshop Proposals

Deadline extended until 2 August for written contributions

The 30 Oct. – 2 Nov. 2006 inaugural meeting of United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Athens, Greece provides plenty of opportunity for discussion on a wide variety of topics related to “Internet governance”.

This is IP Justice’s call for participation for civil society contributions to the Athens IGF meeting.  Participation at the Athens IGF meeting can be through written contributions, workshop proposals, prepared video statements, and a “plaza” to showcase institutions and projects.

IGF’s Four Main Themes in Athens: Openness, Security, Diversity, Access
Overall Theme: “Internet Governance for Development” with capacity building as a cross-cutting priority


1. OPENNESS

– Freedom of Expression
– Free flow of information and ideas
– Access to knowledge

2. SECURITY

– Building trust online
– Protecting users from spam, phishing, viruses
– Maintain security while protecting privacy

3. DIVERSITY

– Multilingualism including IDN
– promoting local content
– Respecting geographical diversity

4. ACCESS

– Internet connectivity, policies and costs
– Interoperability and open standards

IGF Written Contributions:
The IGF Secretariat has issued a “Call for Contributions” on its website. Written contributions are intended to shape the discussion at the Athens meeting.  The IGF Secretariat will prepare synthesis papers of all written contributions that will be translated into all UN languages and submitted to the Athens meeting as official conference documents.

  New Deadline: 2 August 2006 – Deadline for submitting written contributions to be included in synthesis papers.

Papers submitted after the 2 August deadline will be included on the IGF website, but not included in the synthesis papers.

Many more details regarding the submission of written contributions are available on the IGF’s website:
http://www.intgovforum.org/athens_outline.htm

IGF Work Shop Proposals:
The IGF Secretariat has issued a call for “Work Shop Proposals” and template for submitting proposals on its website.

24 August 2006 is the final deadline for submitting workshop proposals in English. The deadline for submitting proposals in UN languages other than English is 31 July 2006.

The Secretariat encourages proposals to be submitted as early as possible, as proposals will be accepted on an ongoing basis.  The final selection of workshops will be made by the IGF Advisory Group at its meeting on 7-8 September 2006.  All valid proposals will be posted to the IGF website.

Many more details and the template for submitting workshop proposals is available on the IGF’s website:
http://www.intgovforum.org/workshops.html

IP Justice recommends submitting written contributions and workshop proposals on the following sub-issues (non-exhaustive):

1. OPENNESS – Freedom of expression, free flow of information, ideas and access to knowledge:

– Internet as tool to promote Freedom of Expression
– Internet as tool to enable free flow of information and ideas
– Barriers to free flow of information on Internet
– Role of Internet to promote Access to Knowledge (A2K) and development
– Appropriate balance of intellectual property rights for protecting free expression and free flow of information
– Role of Internet in promoting accessible public domain
– Government censorship on Internet
– Corporate censorship on Internet
– Governments and corporations working together to censor Internet or punish online behavior
– Impact of digital locks and anti-circumvention laws on the free flow of information
– Impact of software patents on freedom of expression
– What should an “Internet Bill of Rights” aim to protect?
– Role of Internet to promote a “Development Agenda” at WIPO
– Threat to liberty of online journalists for critical speech
– Role of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) software to encourage exchange of information
– Role of online libraries and open access journals to archive and preserve culture and information
– Open Document Formats (ODF)

2. SECURITY – Building trust online, protecting users from spam, phishing, viruses, maintain security while protecting privacy:

– Civil liberties concerns from government surveillance programs
– Relationship of protecting privacy rights and promoting consumer trust on Internet
– Role of free and open source software in promoting information security and online trust
– Balance between need for security with need to protect privacy and other civil liberties
– Impact on freedom of expression from spam and content filtering
– How anti-circumvention laws and Digital Rights Management (DRM) weaken computer security
– Privacy right violations from online publication of ICANN’s “WHOIS” database
– Privacy issues related to “Trusted” computing and “Broadcast Flag” hardware mandate
– Impact of online freedom from government spying under the US Patriot Act
– Voluntary code of conduct for online behavior of businesses
– Privacy enhancing tools for Voice Over IP (VOIP)

3. DIVERSITY – Promoting multi-lingualism, local content, and geographical diversity:

– Ability of ICANN to meet needs of international Internet community
– Diversity of participation for accountability in Internet Governance
– Role of Creative Commons licenses to promote local content
– Ability of non-proprietary development and licensing schemes to meet local needs
– Management of critical Internet infrastructure resources
– Overcoming barriers to local content
– Appropriate role of US government in oversight of Internet root
– Role of Internet to promote democratic participation
– Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
– Role of Internet to promote independent press and provide media outlet for minority views
– Role of national governments to establish an enabling environment for Internet

4. ACCESS – Internet connectivity, policies and costs:

– Open standards
– Interoperability of technology
– Role of free and open source software to provide increased access
– “Network Neutrality” policies and costs
– Impact of software patents on interoperability
– Importance of open standards and interoperability to build stable and secure Internet
– Role of free and open source software to lower costs
More Info:
IP Justice Recommendations regarding Substantive Agenda for UN Internet Governance Forum

UN Press Release Announcing Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group
IP Justice Statement at UN IGF “Open Consultations” – 19 May 2006
IP Justice Webpage on Tunis Summit of UN World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS)

UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) webpage

Webcast of Open Consultations of Internet Governance Forum – 19 May 2006