Internet Society Welcomes WSIS Proposal to Build on Internet

Tunis - 17th November 2005 - Delegates meeting at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis have affirmed their commitment to build on the governance mechanisms that have enabled the Internet's incredibly successful growth.

ISOC welcomes the recognition by WSIS of how the effectiveness of the existing arrangements for Internet governance has helped make the Internet the highly robust, dynamic and geographically diverse medium that it is today.

"We are delighted that there is now much broader recognition of the achievements of the organisations that support the Internet community," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "These organisations, along with their open, consensus-based processes clearly have a vital role to play in the further development of the Internet. It is also significant that the WSIS debate has moved beyond the details of technical administration and on to broader issues that require increased coordination by stakeholders in order to ensure the continued stability of the Internet."

The WSIS recommendation includes a proposal for a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue - the Internet Governance Forum. ISOC, together with partner organisations from the Internet community, has always worked to encourage full engagement in such dialogues by all those with an interest in the Internet's future. ISOC believes that the forum=92s success depends upon the fullest participation by all stakeholders. At the same time, ISOC is pleased to note that the proposed forum would have no oversight function and would have no involvement in the day-to-day operations of the Internet.

"ISOC will facilitate increased cooperation and information sharing amongst all parties interested in Internet governance and we look forward to playing an active role in the new forum as is expected of us by the global community," said Lynn St. Amour. "We very much hope that the Tunis summit will lead to some real and positive outcomes that will help bring the benefits of the Internet to people everywhere -- especially to those who are yet to be connected."

The Internet Society, along with some of its partner organisations =96 the Number Resource Organisation (NRO), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), London Internet Exchange (LINX), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Council of European National Top level domain Registries (CENTR) - are present at the ICT 4 all exhibition held in conjunction with WSIS. The Internet Pavilion is at stand 1323 in the Kram Palexpo.

ABOUT ISOC

The Internet Society

is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13 years ISOC has run international network training programs for developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country connecting to the Internet during this time.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS:

Peter Godwin Communications Manager, Internet Society E-mail: snipped-for-privacy@isoc.org

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