World Summit on the Information Society: Difference between revisions

The idea of holding a UN Summit on the Information Society had been floating in diplomatic circles already for some time in the late 1990s. UNESCO was thinking about holding such a Summit, but the political situation at UNESCO (in political conflict with the USA) was not conducive for such a proposal. In 1998, Tunisia initiated the idea of conducting a World Summit on the Information Society at the [[ITU|International Telecommunications Union]] (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference of Minneapolis. While the first tunisian draft of the resolution was talking about an information technology Summit (clearly an ITU theme), the final draft adopted by ITU as Resolution 73 of the Minneapolis Plenipotentiary Conference went beyond mere technology and spoke about the Information Society as a whole (which meant a UN Summit going beyond the boundaries of ITU and involving the UN system as a whole). In 1999, the United Nations Secretary General expressed enormous support to the proposed Summit and the UN General Assembly created the framework for the Summit under Resolution 56/183. UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 adopted the idea of a Summit in two phases (a novelty for UN Summits, due to the fact that two countries, Tunisia and Switzerland, offered to hold the Summit) and also defined the role of ITU as the lead agency for the Summit in cooperation with all other interested organizations and partners of the UN System. By 2001, ITU started the preparations for holding the WSIS (with 3 PrepComs each for the Geneva and the Tunis phase). The first phase of the Summit was held in Geneva on December 10-12, 2003 and the second phase in Tunis on November 16-18, 2005.<ref>[http://www.itu.int/wsis/basic/background.html WSIS Background and Origins]</ref>

The High-Level Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) was established with the support of UN Secretary General [[Kofi Annan]] to coordinate the efforts of the United Nations in the preparation, organization and holding of WSIS. The ITU Secretary General served as Chairman of HLSOC, and it was further composed of a representative of the UN Secretary General and Executive Heads of other international organizations such as the [[WIPO|World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO), World Bank, [[WTO|World Trade Organization]] (WTO), [[ILO|International Labor Organization]] (ILO), [[UNDP|United Nations Development Programme]] (UNDP), etc.<ref>[http://www.itu.int/wsis/basic/roles.html HLSOC]</ref>

During the Geneva meeting, EU IT Commissioner [[Viviane Reding]] warned that the internet will not succeed if governments will not be able to agree on a multilateral approach on Internet governance. According to her, it is possible for countries like China, Russia, Brazil and Arab nations to operate their own versions of the Internet. She said, ''"We have to have a platform where leaders of the world can express their thoughts about the Internet, If they have the impression that the internet is dominated by one nation and it does not belong to all the nations then the result could be that the Internet falls apart."'' The proposal of the EC was supported by some countries like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, however a majority of countries were uncomfortable with the proposal and rejected it.<ref>

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carld Bildt strongly criticized the recommendation of the EC. He said, ''"It would be profoundly dangerous to now set up an international mechanism, controlled by governments, to take over the running of the Internet. Not only would this play into the hands of regimes bent on limiting the freedom that the Internet can bring, it also risks stifling innovation and ultimately endangering the security of the system."'' According to him, the EC seem to have gone too far in its proposal to set up a mechanism that would limit the access to the internet. He pointed out that ''"Europeans should be as keen as anyone to preserve the essence of a system that has worked amazingly well."''<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/10/opinion/10iht-edbildt.html Keep the Internet free By Carl Bildt]</ref>