“ICANN Reform and Government Participation” Dr Paul Twomey Chair, Governmental Advisory Committee Tuesday, October 10, 2002 Mexico City

ICANN’s Founding Private-Public Partnership

Founding of ICANN l US government’s Green Paper (1988) – responses from Australia, Canada, European Commission, Japan, United Kingdom l Support for industry self-regulatory approach to interest expression, resolution and policy making and internationalisation of the function l Preference to not have this resolution challenge in national capitals nor in a traditional international treaty organisation l BUT recognition that the internet was an essential piece of economic and social infrastructure – overlaps with public policy

OrganizationWhat does it do?Who participates? Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Global coordination of Internet’s naming and addressing systems Technology companies, ISPs, technical engineers, security experts, registries and registrars, country code registries, governmental representatives, academic institutions, civil society organizations, intellectual property interests International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Specialized UN agency for coordination of the global telephony system Governmental representatives, telecommunications providers and equipment manufacturers World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Specialized UN agency to promote protection of intellectual property rights Governmental representatives, legal experts Internet Society (ISOC) Voluntary membership association that promotes “Internet for everyone”, discussion of Internet issues, support for Internet Engineering Task Force Free individual membership, organizational members, local chapters

Governmental Advisory Committee

GAC’s Role and Makeup l Advise the Board on issues of Governmental interest, public policy and international law l Membership open to all countries and Distinct Economies as Recognized in International Fora –Open Invitations issued to all ITU members/others –80 members (around 90 percent of internet users) –Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Panama l International Treaty Organisations members by invitation of Chair –WIPO, OECD, ITU, EU, APT South Pacific Forum –ATU

GAC’s Influence l WIPO 1 review of domain names and intellectual property: ICANN adopts Universal Dispute Resolution Process l GAC Principles on Redelegation of ccTLDs l Reservation of country names under.info l WIPO 2 review of domain names and geopolitical terms l Policy advice on no confusion between ccTLDs and new GTLDs. l Security advice and Registry Best Practice l Not reports: advice and communiqués and then ICANN action

ICANN Evolution and Reform

Evolution and Reform l Very fast moving arena l Natural need for some amendment of the model as change takes place l Increased role for Governments through the GAC –Board appointments –Board position –Liaison with all constituencies and Supporting Organisations l Outreach and regional program l GAC reform: secretariat, role, and form of meetings

Latin American participation

LAC’s voice needs to be heard l Governments - consistency important l Private sector (ISPs, registries, trade mark) l Representation projects LAC’s interests l ICANN is where the full internet community meets (not replaceable by other institutions) l Internet culture means that: –It is noisy! –It moves quickly –Respect for the small and the innovative not just the powerful –Awareness of developing country dilemmas

ICANN and GAC now facing the big time of international coordination l Need for governmental departments involved in internet/e-commerce policy to recognise need for ongoing international coordination through GAC l Natural jostling with other existing international coordination mechanisms with different constituents (private and governmental) l Need for regional coordination as well as global l Important for academic, technical and private communities to understand the price of not having a functional sector-specific international coordination regime – politics abhors a vacuum and ignorance never precluded political action