Apologies for the cross-posting. Available at:
http://www.ipjustice.org/WSIS/IGF_070106.shtml
IP JUSTICE CALL FOR PARTICIPATION AT UN INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM:
15 July Deadline for Contribution to IGF "Synthesis Papers"
24 Aug Deadline for Athens Workshop Proposals
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.
Four Main Themes in Athens: Openness, Security, Diversity, Access
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.
15 July 2006 – Deadline for submitting written contributions to be
included in synthesis papers.
Papers submitted after the 15 July 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:
- Freedom of expression rights
- Free flow of information
- Access to knowledge
- Appropriate balance of intellectual property rights for protecting
free expression and free flow of information
- Promotion of accessible public domain
- Government censorship on Internet
- Corporate censorship on Internet
- Impact of technological protection measures and anti-circumvention
laws on the free flow of information
- Impact of software patents on freedom of expression
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
- Impact on freedom of expression from spam and content filtering
- Privacy right violations from publication of ICANN's "WHOIS" database
on Internet
3. DIVERSITY - Promoting multi-lingualism, local content, and
geographical diversity:
- Ability of ICANN to meet needs of international Internet community
- 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
- Role of Internet to promote democratic participation
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
4. ACCESS - Internet connectivity, policies and costs:
- Open standards
- Interoperability of technology
- Role of free and open source software to provide access
More Info:
IP Justice Recommendations regarding Substantive Agenda for UN Internet
Governance Forum <http://www.ipjustice.org/IGF033106.shtml>
UN Press Release Announcing Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group
<http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sga1006.doc.htm>
IP Justice Statement at UN IGF "Open Consultations" - 19 May 2006
<http://www.ipjustice.org/WSIS/IGF_051906.shtml>
UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) webpage <http://www.intgovforum.org/>
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