Working Group on Internet Governance

WGIG (Working Group on Internet Governance) is a multi-stakeholder working group established by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan who was mandated by the Declaration of Principles and Action Plan as a result of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on Internet Governance which was held in Geneva on December 10-12, 2003. WGIG has 40 members from different governments, private sector and civil society. Nitin Desai, Special Advisor to the Secretary General serves as Chairman of WGIG.

Purpose of WGIG

Based on the WGIG Chairman's Summary on Consultations on the Establishment of the Working Group on Internet Governance, the purpose of the establishment of WGIG is to facilitate the negotiations, which will take place at the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis and it is expected to have credibility.

Role of WGIG

Based on the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, WGIG's role is to “investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of the Internet by 2005.” It is also expected to:

• Develop a working definition of Internet governance;
• Identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet governance;
• Develop a common understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of governments, existing international organizations and other forums as well as the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries.

Timeline of Activities

Between September 2004-July 2005, WGIG recorded the following activities:

• September 20-21, 2004- Consultations regarding the establishment of WGIG was held in Geneva which was participated by more than 250 individuals representing civil society groups, government and private sectors. The purpose of the meeting is to create a common ground for the structure and functions of the working group as well as its scope and working methods and the qualifications of its members.
• November 11, 2004- Nitin Desai was appointed Chairman of WGIG and its members
• November 25, 2004- First meeting and open-ended consultation of WGIG was held. During the meeting the group agreed to identify a wide range of issues before setting up it priorities. The issues identified include: equitable distribution of resources, access for all, stable and secure functioning of the Internet, multilingualism and content, other issues for consideration based on the Declaration of Principles.The group also discussed the preparation of issue papers, organization of its work and timeline of activities, take measures to improve the representation of developing countries in the various Internet governance mechanisms and arrangements and to develop working methods and processes that would make best possible use of ICTs.
• December 2004-January 2005- Online Consultations
• February 14-18, 2005- Second Meeting of WGIG was held and different comments were voiced out by the participants which include: the need for Internet public policy issues to be dealt within international institutions where governments had a clear role and set of responsibilities, strengthening the role and status of developing countries in Internet governance arrangements, future work of WGIG and the evolutionary of the internet and many other issues.
• February 15-16, 2005- Open-ended consultations with governments and all stakeholders
• February 25, 2005 - Presentation of preliminary report to PrepCom-II
• March 2005 Online consultations
• April 18, 2005- Open-ended consultations with governments and all stakeholders
• April 19-20, 2005 Third meeting of WGIG was held and discussed how to improve current Internet governance arrangements in order to bring them more in line with the WSIS principles.
• May 2005- Online consultations
• June 14, 2005- Open-ended consultations with governments and all stakeholders
• June 15-17, 2005- Fourth meeting of WGIG (final drafting of Report)
• July 2005- Submission of Report to the UN Secretary-General
• July 18, 2005- Presentation of Report to all stakeholders
• July 19, 2005- Workshop on Internet Governance at the national level

Keys Issues on Internet Governance

Based on the WGIG Report on Internet Governance, four key public issues needs discussion and investigation. These issues include:

1. Infrastructure and Management of critical internet resources such as Domain Name System (DNS), IP addresses administration, root server system, technical standards etc.
2. Internet Security (spam, network security, cyber crime)issues
3. Intellectual Property Rights issues
4. Capacity building and internet governance in developing countries

World Summit on the Information Society