July 5, 2012

WCIT Prep Dénoument?

An excellent article by Bill Smith, Sr. Policy Advisor, Technology Evangelist at PayPal, on the upcoming WCIT in Dubai and why proposals that made their way into the Council Working Group preparatory working group for the WCIT are flawed. (Jun 27, 2012 3:44 PM PDT)

Bill Smith

WCIT Prep Dénoument?. via CircleID http://www.circleid.com/posts/20120627_wcit_prep_denoument/

His conclusion:

“The Internet and Internet Governance will almost certainly be topics of discussion at WCIT 2012 in Dubai. Perusing the ITU documents developed in preparation for the Conference should make that clear. If that is unconvincing, read the Secretary General’s Draft Report for the May 2013 World Telecommunications Policy Forum (WTPF) to know that the ITU, and Member States plan on a perhaps decisive discussion on the Internet and Internet Governance.

It would appear we have a choice, and in fact we do as the President of Estonia has expressed, “We must choose between two paths — either we can change the nature of the Internet by placing a Westphalian regulatory structure on Internet governance, or we can change the world.” Our choice is to return to 19th century principles and policies or to recognize that we have entered the 21st century, have established principles, and now have a responsibility to align our policies and processes with them.

We can learn from history but we should not repeat it when better options are available to us as they now are.”