The 15th meeting of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council working group on the World Summit on the Information Society (WG WSIS) was held last 22-24 June in Geneva.
The meeting served to review various ongoing ITU-related activities with a view to implementing the action lines set out for this organisation, namely action lines C2 (information and communication infrastructure) and C5 (building confidence and security in the use of ICTs). Once a number of alternatives were examined, a decision was made to produce a roadmap for each of the action lines in which the ITU holds a leadership position. The ITU should also, in consultation with its partners, promote the use of that same roadmap format for the other action lines in which the Union intervenes.
Debate also began on the development of a new image for the organisation, which may mean not only revising the ITU basic texts but also changing the ITU's designation. The discussion will continue electronically and the matter will be considered again by this group at its next meeting.
The meeting's second day was entirely given over to the group which covers public policy issues associated to the internet. This group derives from Res. 75 of the 2008 World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA). According to the guidelines approved at WSIS (par. 70 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (TAIS)), it is meant to provide a platform for debate between administrations on public policy matters. This group reported to WG WSIS and the latter thus included the group's conclusions in its report. Via WG WSIS they will be submitted to the ITU Council at its next meeting along with the conclusions drawn by WG WSIS itself.
Plans call for the next and last WG WSIS meeting to take place in Geneva during the month of February 2010. That meeting will serve to complete the report the group will present to the 2010 Council and thereafter to the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference.
Inserted in the WG WSIS meeting was the second meeting of the group dedicated to public policy issues associated to the internet (group deriving from Res. 75 of WTSA-08) and which according to the guidelines approved at WSIS (TAIS par. 70) is meant to provide a platform for debate between administrations on public policy matters.
The group examined a non-exhaustive list of public policy issues, a list which the ITU complemented by indicating ongoing or planned activities within the organisation regarding each one of those issues. As suggested at this meeting, the list should also include, for each one of the listed actions, information on other relevant entities in that area. Note that this list will be forwarded to the ITU Council this coming October for consideration by that body.
Regarding the future of the internet, positions are also divided. Some countries defend the evolution of the current internet, while others open the door to total freedom with respect to the internet’s future. Note that despite the efforts of its chairman and the various attending delegations, the issues the group dealt with are clearly contentious, which explains how difficult it was to approve the meeting's final report.
