IGF 2010
Vilnius, Lithuania
14 September 10
OPENING CEREMONY SESSION
15:00
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Note: The following is the output of the real-time captioning taken during Fifth Meeting of the IGF, in Vilnius. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the session, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> Markus Kummer Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I now have the honour to introduce Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram to open the 5th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum. But before, we have the pleasure to listen to a short cultural prelude. Let me introduce Vytautas Grubliauskas, the Chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Committee on the Development of the Information Society. He will also chair the IGF session. He has many other functions which I cannot mention here, but he has also a history as a jazz musician. He has been recognized as one of the best Trumpet jazz players in eastern Europe.
Sir, you have the floor.
[ Entertainment ]
[ Applause ]
>> JOMO KWAME SUNDARAM: President Grybauskaite, Minister Masiulis, Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, after that unique opening to the 5th Internet Governance Forum, it is very difficult to have an encore which would match those standards but it's a great pleasure to be with you in this historic city of Vilnius for the 5th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum. On behalf of Sha Zukang, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs who regrets not being able to be here with you today, I would like to thank the Government and people of Lithuania for their warm welcome and very gracious hospitality.
[ Applause ]
The theme of this gathering is "Developing the Future Together." Considering all that has been achieved in the last five years, this is a fitting. It embodies the spirit of the Geneva and Tunis outcomes of the World Summit on the information society and reminds us that we are here in pursuit of development for all and thus a better future. The Internet Governance Forum, IGF, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in early 2006. Since then, it has helped Government ministers, Civil Society representatives, the private sector, technical community, and U.N. agency leaders to understand the challenges and potential solutions to the digital divide. The Forum's central aim is to afford all people the benefits of the Internet.
At this fifth meeting of the Forum, we will carry discussions further and cover new ground. Your insights in topics such as management of critical Internet resources, security, openness and privacy, access and diversity, and Internet Governance are as relevant as ever, as are your views on the emerging issues of cloud computing.
This meeting is especially timely because next week, the United Nations will convene a summit in New York to accelerate global action on the Millennium Development Goals. More than 100 Heads of State and Government are expected to attend, along with leaders from the private sector, foundations and other Civil Society organisations.
With only five years left until 2015, we need to work urgently towards achieving the Goals. There are so many ways that the Internet can help developing countries reach them. Through both simple and sophisticated techniques, the Internet can help eradicate poverty, educate people, sustain the environment, and create healthier populations. Let us recommit ourselves at this Forum to identifying the barriers that prevent stakeholders from using the Internet for development, and to suggest ways to bring down those barriers.
Globally, there were some 1.8 billion Internet users by the end of last year, according to the international telecommunications union. About 60% of them were in developing countries, up from about 30% six years ago. Internet usage has increased sharply in the last few years in all regions. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of users in Africa surged from 16 to 69 million. In Arab states from 26 to 64 million. In the Asia Pacific region, from 347 to 744 million. And in the Commonwealth of independent states, from 30 to 99 million. In the Americas, the number of users went from 322 to 447 million, and in Europe, from 277 to 387 million.
60% of people in developing regions have cellular telephones and more and more are using mobile broadband. These numbers are indeed cause for some celebration. And yet, other metrics show that the digital divide between developed and developing regions has been widening. For example, in 2005, there was a 43% gap in the proportion of people using the Internet between developed and developing countries. By 2009, the gap had widened to 49%. In 2005, there was a 4% gap in the proportion of people with mobile broadband. By 2009, the gap had widened to 37%.
This tells us that while developing countries are making progress, developed countries are moving even faster. Let us use this IGF session to brainstorm on how to address this disparity. What strategies work best when it comes to expanding Internet and broadband access? How can we best influence policy makers? We need your regional and National inputs, experiences, and suggestions.
Feedback from participants from the least developed countries and countries emerging from conflict will be especially valuable in discussions on Internet service during disasters and crises. I hope they will speak openly and often in this session and others. Digital inclusion and multilingualism which will be discussed in the session on access and diversity continue to be paramount concerns. The reach and power of social networks adds new dimensions to these issues. Help us to deepen our understanding of these topics, especially with regard to how poor and vulnerable populations may be positively or adversely affected.
Discussions will also centre on the freedom of expression and the right to privacy in personal, National and regional contexts. I look forward to a dynamic debate among the security specialists and philosophers in the session on security, openness, and privacy. Cloud computing will add an interesting new twist to many of these issues.
As most of you are aware, the five year mandate of the IGF expires this year. The Secretary General has recommended that the Forum's mandate be extended, and that a number of improvements be made to the Forum. These matters are now before the United Nations General Assembly for its consideration before the end of this calendar year 2010. Excellencies, colleagues, friends, the Internet can assist us in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. It can help improve the lives of millions if not billions of people. Its Governance is a serious responsibility. on that note, let us begin an engaging, illuminating and productive discourse.
In accordance with the custom of the Internet Governance Forum, I now have the honour to invite His Excellency Minister Masiulis, Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania to assume the Chairmanship of the meeting on behalf of the host country. Excellency, you have the floor.
>> DALIA GRYBAUSKAITE: We tried to impress you already yesterday by our basketball team and also ourselves because for us, such winning game is historic and for us in Lithuania, basketball is some kind of identity. But that's not only that. You saw that our members of Parliament can sing and make jazz in front of the public, not only on TV shows. It also an identity of our politicians and also of course we have very nice and interesting cuisine which you will be able to taste today during the reception.
I was promised it will be mainly Lithuanian cuisine. Now I want to welcome you very much for such gathering. I see that you actively participate and we're very happy that Lithuania can host you and for three days you'll be here with comparatively nice weather. Usually we have rain but now it's still sun. That means that we're happy to see you.
And now because we have translation, I'm turning to Lithuanian language at least in Lithuania you can hear Lithuanian language also.
Distinguished participants of the Internet Governance Forum, your numerous presence here is very important to us and it proves the necessity of this Forum. The Internet, which was born not so long ago, in the second half of the 20th century, has become an integral part of our everyday life. It is impossible to imagine modern business, public services, the spread of information, cultural exchanges, person to person contacts, entertainment, and leisure without the global electronic network.
The development of the Internet is crucial to worldwide progress. It provides a very special space for people of arts and letters, the business community, researchers, and also human rights activists.
It is very pleasing that the Forum launched in Athens has now moved to Vilnius. This Forum is also known as "northern Athens." Lithuania has achieved truly good results over the past decade. Today we have one of the highest Internet speeds and mobile phone penetration rates in the world. Therefore, we must continue to invest into technological development and accelerate the implementation of National and European digital agendas.
The Internet not only contributes to the development of knowledge society, but also poses new challenges relating to privacy, data security, and is very important for Europe. It also is related to child abuse, e theft, and intellectual property rights.
There is also the problem of dishonest Internet users and they ever more are trying to make personal gain. The number of security incidents on the Internet has increased tenfold in the past several years. The use of illegal software is also on the rise.
The crime is becoming global. That's why only actions taken on the National level will not help to overcome the newly emerging challenges. We, therefore, need to have a more close and open dialogue between the interested stakeholders: National and international institutions, be businesses, consumer protection groups, and other Nongovernmental Organizations.
The international community has no other choice but to work together to find the global necessary solutions. We have to create a more reliable and more secure Internet for tomorrow. We have to consolidate the efforts of all countries to engage in joint research, and to explore for joint new options.
Each and every one of us can make a fitting and appropriate contribution to foster the sustainability and development of the Internet. Let us have the interests and expectations of all legal Internet users at heart. Let us respect the principles of the Internet as a free space. And at the same time, let us search for the means and methods to stop malicious and criminal activity in the cyberspace. Therefore I wish the participants of the Forum many new ideas, resolute can decisions, and meaningful interesting discussions. And very good time in Lithuania.
Please, explore Lithuania, not only for work but also for pleasure. Welcome you here in Lithuania.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, Ms. Dalia Grybauskaite for your expressed belief in our worker and this romantic introduction that opened our fifth Internet Governance Forum. I think this was a case in point that the legendary Louis Armstrong when he wrote this song about the wonderful world never imagined that the Internet could actually make this wonderful world even more wonderful. Your Excellency, Dalia Grybauskaite, President of the Republic of Lithuania, Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, assistant Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, Honourable Ministers, members of Parliament, delegates, distinguished experts, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a great honour for me to be asked to chair the 5th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum 2010. I thank all of you for expressing your confidence in me and I'm counting on the continued and full support of all stakeholders participating in this Forum in the work that lies ahead of us in the next three days to make our meeting a success.
And now, it is my pleasure to deliver my insights, my thoughts, my ideas and to deliver my opening speech.
Your Excellency, President of the Republic of Lithuania, Vice President of the European Commission, your Excellencies ministers, Ambassadors, colleagues, members of Parliament, dear guests, it's indeed a great honour to welcome you here in the 5th Internet Governance Forum that is being launched in the heart of Lithuania, its capital Vilnius. The Internet Governance Forum is one of the biggest events that has ever been launched in Vilnius it's the greatest event in the field of information technologies. This is therefore the for us a challenge and a great opportunity and we're going to available this opportunity in discussing these issues here to the global world. So I welcome you to this Internet Governance Forum 2010. No doubt that the Internet plays an integral and very important role in the Economic Development of all countries. Myself being the Minister, I'm not only responsible for Communications and Information Technologies but also for transports, and I have to say that the Internet development plays an important role in efficiently developing the roads, the railways and other means of transport. It also makes trade better. It also facilitates the export of services, stimulate business environment, and promotes competitiveness. Also it contributes to the growth of GDP of all countries.
The Internet is at the moment the driving force that helps to transmit information flows that are very big. It helps to create jobs. It also helps to promote the implementation of innovations and helps to contribute to sustainable development of our economy. The Internet influences and determines not only economic but also social factors, helps to create the sense of community, increase human capital, helps to communicate between the business and other groups of people.
The investments to Internet infrastructure helps to improve health care and the system of education. In the most advanced countries of the world, the right to the Internet is like a given. It's a fundamental human right, as the right to work, to freedom, to health care, or property. And many new countries have actually enshrined this right into their legal rights. The Internet plays an important role for the Democratic processes, for the rights of people, and it promotes the involvement of people into digital space.
The Internet and Information Technologies is of utmost importance to the contemporary society, and it also plays an important role in the efficiency of private and public sector, in the access and quality of electronic services for people.
The application of technologies have become an inseparable part of our everyday life. According the international Telecommunication Union, in 2009, there were 1.8 billion Internet users, and this number is increasing every day. Every day we send 247 billion emails. The Internet and modern technologies have to serve for the well being of our communities and our people and only then our users can feel confident in exchanging emails and using information technologies and exchanging information. That's why we have to really pay attention to the security and safety of the Internet.
A few factors determine the accessibility and reach of the Internet. National regulation environment could play an important role for the development of the Internet. The National tools can actually promote the growth of Internet, also can create good legal environment for e governance, for e trade. We have to promote the development of broadband and also ensure competitiveness in providing Internet services.
We have to see the vision for our future prospects. We have to have our objectives and aim to implement them. In the digital agenda of the European Union, it is foreseen that by the year 2013, 100% of the inhabitants have to have the opportunity to access the broadband, and by the end of 2015, the usage of Internet should achieve 75% in the European Union, and by the year 2015, more than 50% of the Europeans should be able to use e government services.
I would like to emphasize that Lithuania as a member of the European Union will implement these objectives of the digital agenda. Especially it will focus on the implementation and development of broadband and also safety and security. We believe, we firmly believe, that communication technologies will help Lithuania and the entire world to overcome the crisis to strengthen economic and social potential.
To conclude, I would like to say that I do hope that in the coming four years, we'll discuss the problems, we'll find the solutions, so in the future, we'll avoid the mistakes, and we will never repeat them. Lithuania and understanding the importance of the IGF and in trying to focus on the interest of IGF Forum, it Aims to continue the IGF activity, and I wish you fruitful and interesting discussions in the sessions and the seminars.
[ Applause ]
>> Please remain seated while the President is leaving the room. Thank you. We'll continue our meeting to 3:15.
[ Applause ]
>> Please be seated. Please be seated. We will begin the session.
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: We'll have five more. We'll start from the presentation of the video record by Dr. Tarek Kamel, who is the
minister of communications and information technology at the Arab republic of Egypt, host of last year's IGF, Sharm El Sheikh. Are we
ready?
>> TAREK KAMEL: 2009 last November in Sharm El Sheikh. It was a very well attended event with over 1800 participants and many, many
participation from all over the world.
It was clear that the IGF process was gaining momentum and that there has been excellent outcomes out of this event.
One of the main things I want to mention are the international domain names and multi lingual domain names. It has been announced during the
IGF in Sharm El Sheikh by the ICANN that there will be a process for certification of multi lingual domains globally.
Egypt was glad to be the first country that has applied for a multi lingual TAD, and we're glad to be one of the first countries that were
awarded this last May.
We are now in the sunrise period promoting and branding our norm mal
domain name and CCTNT. This really shows that the IGF process is
committed to openness and to globalizing access.
It is very important to make sure that the normal access becomes
available for people all over the world in their own native languages.
I believe that multi lingual domain names and IDN will gain in the
future additional potential and will provide more and more
opportunities for investment, for content development as well as for
access for newcomers in global -- that is becoming really one village.
I wish the event in Lithuania this year in 2010 a lot of success.
The challenges are immense. But I think that the IGF community has
proven maturity and has proven that it is able to meet the challenges
and to be up to its responsibility.
It is a multistakeholder process that shows success and we hope that
it will continue with the same success within the next five years.
We still have challenges in security issues globally. We still have
challenges in more and more openness. We still have more challenges in
freedom of expression.
We still have more challenges in many issues related to Internet
governance and to -- relating to democratizing the access of the
Internet worldwide. Egypt looks forward to the success of this event
and will contribute to its maximum effort within the process for the
next five years.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Dr. Kamel, and on behalf
of all the members of the forum, I would like to thank you and also all
the community in Egypt for the event that you organised last year. On
our own behalf we do hope to continue your fruitful work here in
Vilnius. Now I would like to invite to speak the representatives of
all delegations and I would like to remind you that each delegate will
speak for a maximum of five minutes and I'll ask you to respect this
time. So we're able to finish on time.
The order of the speakers was selected by lot. The first speaker
will be her excellency Mrs. Neelie Kroes, vice president of the
European commission.
>> NEELIE KROES: It's an honor to address you today and it is a huge
event. And it's well organised by our host. And thank you so much for
doing that.
In a way it reflects the importance Europe attaches to the Internet
governance. And I will particularly like to thank Lithuania for having
made this possible. Yet another example of the Internet from the
Baltic states. As many of you know the European union has been very
active in the field of Internet governance since the early days. In
fact, the first EU activities took place in the 90s even before the
term was first coined. The need for coherent and appropriate public
policy for Internet-related activities has since reached all
continents, as was demonstrated vividly by the attention given to the
subject during the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis
back in 2005.
During this coming week, many different aspects of Internet
governance will be discussed. But there is one particular element that
I believe underlies why we are all here: We all know that the Internet
is a globally important infrastructure and we agree that its governance
must also be global in nature.
And with the number of Internet users growing worldwide, this aspect
becomes even more important. Just look at the figures: The emerging
economies will soon have more Internet users than the EU and the United
States combined. An Internet governance is therefore equally relevant
to all public authorities around the globe and not just the prerogative
of the developed countries. And for that reason, dear friends, five
years after committing to the Tunis Agenda, more progress towards
enhanced cooperation must also now materialize -- we must go beyond
just another round of consultations on the subject.
Public authorities across the world must now be able, on an equal
footing, to effectively carry out their roles and responsibility when
international public policy issues are at stake.
There are already some signs of progress: And I see that ICANN is
reviewing its working methods. And I'm hopeful that similar steps can
be made when it comes to IANA functions. We need reform; but we don't
need a revolution. And the IGF can help us get new ideas for this, in
a sensible manner.
And for the IGF, as a platform for international multistakeholder
dialogue, is a unique opportunity for debate between stakeholders from
around the globe. And that is why the EU supports the continuation of
the IGF as a nonbinding forum, and we therefore particularly welcome
that Kenya has already formulated and offered to host the IGF for next
year. That will certainly help to continue to reinforce the diversity
of perspectives towards Internet Governance. Anyhow, one is just
applauding. And I think we should all applaud for Kenya. Yeah?
(Applause.)
>> NEELIE KROES: By the way, it doesn't mean we should also
continuously seek to improve the IGF itself. For instance there is
certainly a room for even more outreach. Even if, I believe, in the
past four years the IGF has achieved quite good results in terms of the
diversity of participants. And having said that, the rotation of the
forum across geographic regions also constitutes an important factor in
bringing new voices.
Still, if we want to see more outreach and more diversity, and
eventually richer debates taking place here, we will all benefit, and
all of us have to continue to put more efforts into this.
Dear friends, I'm particularly pleased that more and more
parliamentarians, in particular from the European Parliament and
national Parliaments in the EU are participating in the IGF. For there
are many reasons we need to address. One important debate is that
related to multilingualism online. And there, we have seen progress
regarding the launch of some internationalized domain names at the top
level. And I believe that it is of most importance that citizens now
have the option to use the scripts of their language for their domain
names, e-mail addresses and so on, just like in their everyday life.
A key underlying principle in those processes is of course the
respect for governments and other relevant public authority
decisions -- allowing each territory to decide for itself how it wishes
to implement Internet developments.
And the open character of the IGF is also very important in this
context. Its open to all stakeholders and to all themes; just as the
Internet should be. Further more, the openness of exchanges in the IGF
is facilitated by the lack of pressure to achieve negotiated outcomes.
In a way, the IGF is shaped like the Internet itself: Openness is,
and will remain, the key to the Internet's success. You know my
attachment to net neutrality. It must also be said that there are
other ongoing challenges amongst many successes of the Internet.
The IGF, ladies and gentlemen, is also right in addressing issues
that concern citizens directly such as security and privacy.
And the need to ensure freedom of expression and combatting the
digital divide are other examples where efforts must be continued.
Freedom of expression is not only a basic human right -- it is also a
key element for tomorrow's social and economic development: It allows
the free movement of ideas, it allows the free movement of innovation.
And the Internet is defining communications technology of our age.
We should all work hard to ensure its full potential as a medium for
creativity, for innovation, and expression if realised.
Having said that, part of the challenge is to ensure that the
benefits of the Internet accrue to all on the planet, and not just a
privileged few. CTs play a critical role in helping shrink social and
economic disparities around the world.
In conclusion, Mr. President, in follow-up to meeting of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council, I see many opportunities to move
from reflections to action on enhanced cooperation and improvements of
the IGF as an open, multistakeholder and nonbinding forum. And I'm
absolutely certain that this week's exchanges in Vilnius will generate
some innovative ideas. And at the same time we have to capture the
best thinking and turn it into actions. That is what people are
expecting us to do.
And I sincerely hope that all the exchanges over the coming days will
be truly fruitful, Mr. Minister. Hard on ideas, easy on people.
Please allow me to thank once again our hosts and all of you, ladies
and gentlemen, for your participation and involvement.
The citizens deserve it. Thank you.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: I would like to thank her excellency, Neelie
Kroes, vice president of the commission and all the commission of
digital policy for her presentation, for her every day input, for her
work. So the digital agenda of the European union became the flesh.
Ladies and gentlemen, now I see on my list Ms. Maud de
Boer-Buquicchio, deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Madam, the floor is yours.
>> MAUD DE BOER-BUQUICCHIO: Mr. Chairman, excellency, ladies and
gentlemen. It is said that the best way to predict the future is to
create it. This IGF is devoted to the development of the future
together.
To achieve a meaningful result we have first to share a vision of
what we want to have that future to be. We then have to contribute to
shape it with the means each of us have.
As a Human Rights organisation the Council of Europe's vision of the
future can only be a world in which fundamental rights and freedoms are
respected both on line and off line. We have therefore invested in the
development of a modern set of legal instruments which take into
account the challenges of evolving technology and complement our main
Human Rights instruments. These instruments are made in Europe but
they are not meant for Europe only. They contain standards that are
inspiring legislations and policies around the globe.
Let me just mention the most important ones.
Our convention on cybercrime has become the legal framework of
reference to protect Internet security and fight cybercrime at the
global level. It is legally binding instrument for 30 countries
already, and more than 100 countries use the convention as a guideline,
reference, standard or model law.
Through our convention on the prevention on terrorism, we have
criminalized and are monitoring the practices of public provocation,
recruitment and training of terrorist acts on the Internet. The
Council of Europe on the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation
criminalizing the grooming of children and adults in on line
environments. It also contains provisions concerning on line child
important on if I. The child convention on human rights and
biomedicine protects people against inappropriate offers over the
Internet, of direct consumer genetic testing. Moreover two draft
Council of Europe conventions contain reported Internet regulations.
Our draft convention on violence against women and domestic violence
protects women and girls from all gender-based forms of violence
including abuses such as stalking and harassment committed via the
Internet.
The draft Council of Europe convention on the counter fitting of
medical products and similar crimes that threaten public health
includes Internet related provisions. Last, but not least, through the
modernization of our convention for the protection of individuals with
regard to automatic processing of personal data, we expect to address
the challenges emerging from new technology, globalization, and
increasing storage and surveyance powers of computers.
For the years to come our ambition is also to provide guidance for
privacy-compliant legislation and practice regarding profiling.
The idea is to address profiling by state and nonstate actors who are
capable of creating personality profiles of virtually all citizens and
track their movements, thus creating diffusely threatening feeling of
being watched, which can impair a free exercise of fundamental rights.
Our freedom to connect should be enjoyed without interference and
regardless of functions.
We are mindful of the need to preserve the openness and universality
of the global Internet and trance boundary flow of content. We are
therefore developing legal standards on the trans boundary flow of
content and freedom of expression.
The Council of Europe believes in the multistakeholder approach to
Internet govern and is supporting Euro dig the European Internet
governance forum. States in cooperation with other actors have the
responsibility to ensure that activities within their control or
jurisdiction do not cause damage to the connectivity, stability,
security and openness of the Internet in other states. The Council of
Europe is currently addressing issues such as what are the rules and
responsibilities of states to deter and protect the Internet from
interference, attack?
How can states cooperate together and with other actors to protect
and preserve Internet freedom?
How can cybercrime be fought effectively by respecting the
fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals?
How can we effectively protect privacy in a borderless world while
ensuring trans border flows of personal data that are vital for our
economic well being and a fight against crime?
Ladies and gentlemen, Abraham Lincoln once said that the best thing
about the future, that it comes only one day at a time.
So let us use each of our future days to improve our governance
skills and progressively shape the Internet as a space of freedom,
justice, and democracy.
Such a wonderful world. Thank you for your attention.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: I would like to thank Ms. Maud de
Boer-Buquicchio. And you no it's my honour to invite the next speaker
on my list, is Ms. Lynn St. Amour, who is the director general of the
Internet society, ISOC.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: It's a pleasure to be here in Vilnius for the 5th
IGF meeting. I'd like to thank the government of Lithuania, and the
multistake advisory group for once again organising an interesting and
challenging programme.
The theme for this Internet governance forum, developing the future
together, is a very important one. And it raises many of the key
principles that the Internet itself was built on and on which it
continue toss thrive.
We've given this collection of principles a name -- the Internet
model.
And this togetherness, or collaborative model, lives in an even
larger context called the Internet ecosystem. The Internet ecosystem
encompasses the diverse set of organizations and communities that work
together, guided by the shared principles of the Internet model to
develop, manage, and operate the Internet.
The Internet model, the Internet ecosystem, and the Internet itself
depend on collaboration, openness, transparency, inclusiveness, and a
broad, uncensored input and often robust debate. Clearly there is a
lot in common between the Internet's development and the IGF. And one
could legitimately say the Internet model was a forerunner for what is
now referred to as multistakeholderism. Since the last IGF, the
Internet society, its global community of chapters, as well as all the
other Internet organizations have undertaken many impressive and
enabling activities with the aim of expanding access to and
participation in the Internet, and in the organizations and communities
that make up the Internet ecosystem.
I invite everyone to stop by our booth and the booths at the other
Internet organizations here at IGF to find out more about us as well as
the rich and varied developmental activities we all so actively engage
in.
As we meet this week, the challenge remains to extend the Internet to
the billions more who should also be benefiting from it. With almost 2
billion people on line, the Internet model's decentralized approach,
enabling permission-less innovation, and promoting shared
responsibility for the development, operation, and management of the
Internet -- has been the catalyst for boundless innovation and
creativity. It is the key to reaching those next billions, as well as
to addressing the new challenges the Internet is facing. Just as it
has always been. The Internet is a platform that intrinsically enables
new developments and hence is imminently suitable to addressing current
and emerging challenges.
So I would like to speak briefly about one of these challenges. The
Internet society firmly believes that in order to preserve the
long-term health of the global, open Internet, we must remain true to
the principles of the transparent, open, and inclusive Internet model.
And I hope you agree that it seems extremely unlikely that closed
processes will lead to policies that support a truly open Internet.
Again, there is a lot of commonality between the IGF and the Internet
itself. Some stakeholders approach this novel form with trepidation,
expressing fear, uncertainty, or doubt. And the same could be said of
the early days of the Internet's development. But along the way, we
have seen the value of an open, global Internet, just as we have seen
the value of healthy, open debate as embodied in the IGF here today.
The issues we face are complex and have many dimensions, making it all
the more important that we work together in open, multistakeholder,
easily accessible, and mission-appropriate venues.
The forum's leadership and the willingness of all stakeholders to sit
and work together with the aim of contributing to making Internet
governance work have been key enablers of this fascinating and
rewarding journey. Yet, while the road we are on has perhaps become
more clear, our final destination has not. We find ourselves in a
curious place -- where it is possible today that key Internet policies
may be decided by small groups of people or companies.
For example, some national net neutrality policy processes, while
initially quite open, are increasingly being held as closed sessions
with small numbers of participants. Yes it is we, the Internet users,
who have to live with the outcome of these closed discussions.
And the anticounterfitting trade agreement, ACTA, while affecting
individuals across the world, was initially negotiated behind closed
doors with little to no transparency or active multistakeholder
engagement. Steps were taken earlier this year to address this
shortcoming. And we hope to see continued progress in this direction.
Similarly, many current discussions about cyber security, which often
masquerade as protection for citizens, are more about hardening or
locking down the Internet than about finding the right balance between
openness and protection. Rather than focussing on a single solution,
innovative approaches such as trust, privacy, and identity management
being considered in venues such as the Internet engineering task force,
as well as other communities, can help to address these very real
challenges and must also be considered.
To truly realise the benefits the Internet promises us, all of us,
requires that we all support the Internet model of development and work
even more collaboratively to develop the Internet together.
This will ensure we have an Internet that will be all it can be --
for each and every one of us on this planet. The IGF is one venue, and
a very important venue, that embodies this approach.
Clearly, the Internet society supports the continuation of the
Internet governance forum. We believe that the IGF has more to offer
going forward; we believe for it to founder now would be a serious blow
to advancing Internet governance. And we urge that the future of the
IGF be decided in ways true to its multistakeholder foundation.
The Internet society and the other organizations that make up the
Internet community take the responsibilities for the overall health of
the Internet, for the benefit of end users, very seriously. As such,
we do not make calls like this lightly.
We urge all stakeholders -- governments, private sector, civil
society, the Internet community, and intergovernmental organizations --
to come together to protect and preserve the open Internet and its
collaborative development model, for the undeniable benefits it
provides to all of us.
The new opportunities and challenges created by the Internet bring
technology and policy together in ways not previously experienced. We
believe it is vital that all stakeholders actively strive to make their
policy and decision-making activities open and inclusive.
Where this has been done, it has clearly shown its worth N closing,
let us build on the success of the Internet model, the Internet
ecosystem, the IGF, and the Internet itself, and not Schwann Squander,
a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Internet to be all it can be
to all of us. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Ms. Lynn St. Amour for
her interesting presentation. Before giving the floor to the next
speaker I would like to remind each and every one of you that we have
agreed that the presentations as interesting as they are should be no
longer than five minutes. So please adhere to this practice.
Now I would like to give the floor to Mr. Agusto Gadelha Vieira, who
is the minister of science and technology in Brazil.
Agusto Gadelha Vieira: Good afternoon, language, it is my privilege
to address the opening session of the 5th Internet governance forum.
First of all, I would like to express my delegation's recognition to
the government and people of Lithuania for their hospitality. I am
sure that the diversity of cultures of Lithuania will be an inspiring
factor for this meeting.
I would also like to commend the United Nations Secretariat, the IGF
staff, the moment members of MAG and all those involved in the
preparation of this meeting, for all the hard work they have dedicated
to the cause of Internet advancement.
The Internet is now the main support for communications between
people and organizations, for financial transactions and a cultural
life of our time. It's a dynamic and powerful tool for development.
Hence, public policies must guarantee universal access to the
technological infrastructure as well as the knowledge it produces.
At the same time when addressing Internet's continued evolution, the
key word is openness. Openness of its governance, of its technologies
and standards of the opportunities it enables. Nonetheless, to
establish the Internet as a domain of the human rights in all its
scope, we should always seek the difficult, but feasible, balance
between security and privacy.
In 2007 Brazil was honoured to host in Rio, the second edition of the
IGF. Since then we have seen in our society a steep increase in
awareness and interest on issues related to management and use of the
Internet.
The Brazilian government has taken seriously the task of providing
quality access to the Internet and bridging the digital divide.
We are actively promoting public policies related to Broadband
deployment, e-government, open standards, local content, e-education,
e-health, among other initiatives. Our aim is to take advantage of
what Internet can offer to empower Brazilians to develop their skills
in creativity to their full potential.
However, the widespread use of the Internet has also brought about
challenges in terms of providing universal access, guaranteeing
security, promoting diversity, avoiding malicious conducts, safe
guarding vulnerable groups, and applying the law.
The solution we have invisaged in Brazil is establishment of a civil
rights framework for the Internet, which will set the basic rights and
principles for the use and management of our interconnected society.
In this way we hope to set the stage for reaping the full benefits of
the Internet in the context of our development policies.
However, international collaboration and coordination on the use and
management of the Internet is crucial if we want to succeed. That
explains the strong presence of the Brazilian delegations in Vilnius.
You will notice that we brought here a true multistakeholder
delegation, reflecting the path we have chosen to manage the Internet
in our own country.
We are convinced that it is through dialogue and cooperation in a
spirit of openness and democracy, respect for diversity, freedom of
expression, and participation that we will achieve our collective goals
of making sure the Internet is a safe and reliable tool for
development.
Five years after our first meeting in Athens it's time to appreciate
the progress we made and the goals we achieved at the IGF. This is
much needed discussion in light of the perspective of IGF's
continuation and improvement. And cooperation Brazil supports. We
must strengthen and institutionalize existing mechanisms of
participation in the IGF such as the regional process, dynamic
coalitions and best practice such as remote participation, while
preserving the agility, independence and openness of such mechanisms.
More over, it's timing to discuss ways on how to move forward when we
are able to achieve general consensus on important matters, as well as
how to account for differences of opinion between us -- something that
should be viewed as a natural and enriching part of the Internet
governance process N order to contribute to the IGF debate, I would
like to share with you, very shortly, the ten principles for the
governance and use of the Internet in Brazil. That was created in July
last year by the Brazilian Internet steering committee and which has
been the main reference for the formulation of regulations and of a
Bill proposition on civil rights framework for Internet in Brazil.
These principles are contained in a small green brochure that has
been distributed to this audience and considers important themes that
go from human rights to unaccountability of the supporting infra stuck
are yours of the network wrong doings to limits of legal and regulatory
environments. I wish success in -- at this IGF 2010. Thank you very
much.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: I would like to thank Mr. Gadelha Vieira for his most interesting presentation. Next on my list of speakers is Ms. Nathalie Kosciusko Morizet Secretary for Forward Planning and the Development of the Digital Economy from France. Now the floor is yours.
>> NATHALIE KOSCIUSKO MORIZET: First of all, I would like to echo those who have spoken before me in thanking very warmly our Lithuanian hosts not only for their excellent basketball results but also for the warm welcome and excellent organisation of this Forum. It is in Europe once again and I think for myself as for all Europeans it is an honour and a great pleasure to see the entire world coming to close this first phase of the IGF on the shores of the Baltic.
For five years the Forum has been debating bringing together communities, professionals end users, nations around an essential objective, understanding the information society and drawing benefits, preserving it from political and economic slippages that could enter into the Internet. That first phase is coming to a close and soon the U.N. General Assembly will pronounce on extending this experience and of course, with all Europeans, and those who have appreciated these meetings, France supports our renewal of the IGF's mandate, and calls for the next few months to be used to strengthen the capacities. The multistakeholder approach and the broad freedom in the selection of themes for the discussions are an example which I have tried to follow with my colleagues in the French Government, particularly since my last visits to you in Sharm el Sheikh.
We spoke of the right to be forgotten the protection of privacy. I'm happy to announce the forthcoming signature in France on targeted publicity and another on control by Internet users. I hope this step which is only a beginning will incite many of you to join the fight for our own personal data to remain personal.
We've spoken of Internet neutrality. Several months of debate and consultations later after Sharm el Sheikh it is clear that we need to guarantee by law in the long term the openness and universality of the Internet and ensure that innovation can continue to prosper there.
What France seeks to do and what Europe will do under the impetus of Neelie Kroes the commissioner will not be enough if we do not have international level reflection, and discussion on Internet Governance including the subjects that come under ICANN. We need this to deal with this major challenge of respecting human rights, and particularly freedom of expression on the Internet.
Thus, our Minister for foreign affairs Bernard Kouchner is bringing together a pilot group of ministers on 15th October in Paris seeking to protect, promote and strengthen basic rights on the Internet. If we allow the Internet to be diverted from its purpose and become a tool for representation, censorship and hunting down opposition, we're signing the Internet's death warrant and abandoning our own ideals.
All stakeholders present here, governments, NGO's, private sector are responsible for and able to build a sustainably free, open Internet, respectful of private life, privacy, property, the rights to freedom of association, expression and opinion. All of us are concerned by this and the Forum of Internet Governance has work ahead of us. I wish it and us every success. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Ms. Nathalie Kosciusko Morizet, who is Secretary of State for Planning, for Forward Planning and the Development of the Digital Economy in France. And now I would like to give the floor to Mr. Andrew McLaughlin who is from the United States of America. He's the Deputy Chief technology officer at the White House.
>> ANDREW McLAUGHLIN: I should also say Facebook friends, LinkedIn contacts, Foursquare contacts. On behalf of President Obama I'd like to express thanks to the Government of Lithuania and its Government for sponsoring and hosting the IGF. It's a difficult undertaking one that involves some cost and we're grateful for the excellent organisation that we've seen. It's also an opportunity to highlight how the Internet is fueling Lithuania's transformation into a global Hub for services and innovation.
I'd like to also say a personal world of thanks to Markus Kummer. You've been tireless in keeping the IGF alive and going.
[ Applause ]
And without you, we would not have reached this point so thank you.
So let me say a few words about why we're here, why it matters, and what comes next. Fundamentally the reason that we're here is because the very architecture of the Internet itself embodies a mode of social organisation, a mode of technical organisation, which is decentralized, which is cooperative and which is layered. Each three of those characteristics are fundamental to the benefits the Internet has brought. It fuels the freedom of innovation that enables economic growth. It fuels the freedom of expression that enables social and political growth, and the functioning of Democratic societies worldwide.
It's especially important for the developing world. And I want to stress this today. The very open nature of the Internet which is to say, the Internet's ability to support innovation without permission, the ability of the paradigm attic two kids in a garage to create a new service, to create a new application, to create a new website and immediately reach every potential consumer in the world is one of the things that is going to fuel economic growth throughout the developing world and enable access to global markets in a way that has been much more difficult with physical goods and services in the past.
So for the developing world, we're seeing this dramatically reduced cost of communication and information, bringing increasingly accelerating benefits. Local entrepreneurs in the developing world can innovate locally, and reach global markets. Same thing for educational institutions, the same thing for Governments and movements in the nonprofit world.
By way of historical example, I think it's important to note that when you compare the pace of innovation that we've seen on the Internet with the pace of innovation that we saw with the previous primary communications network, namely the telephone system, you get a sense of how dramatic the benefits of this architectural model can be.
Over the course of decades, the telephone system innovated really a couple of features: Voice mail, call forwarding, caller I.D. and that was about it. The major Telecom companies even resisted fax machines, and the adding of data across the top, until they were essentially forced to accept it. In the Internet by contrast where no permission is needed to deploy new services we've seen an unbelievable staggering explosion of new capabilities and tools at ever reduced prices.
Today we have 5 billion mobile phone subscribers, a billion mobile data subscribers, more than 2 billion Internet users worldwide and those numbers are accelerating everywhere especially in the developing world. So why does this matter? It matters because the architecture of the Internet needs to be actively maintained. It needs to be actively supported. And as I said that architecture is decentralized, it is cooperative, it is layered and the governance institutions, governance processes, have to mirror and in many ways model that architecture in the way that they function. That's why the IGF is so important because it is a critical element of the multistakeholder process applied to the problems of Internet Governance. Even the term governance is a little bit strange and requires something of a new definition. It is in English anyway a singular term. What it really needs to be is a plural term, governances. We need mechanisms and institutions that respect each other and cooperate with each other to strengthen their own core competencies and to enable others to pursue their distinct roles in that broader ecosystem.
One very encouraging step in this direction has been the proliferation of regional and National IGFs which enable us to take the multistakeholder model down to the National level and then raise issues up to the global Internet Governance Forums like we are today. We have to acknowledge at the same time some of the anxieties that go along with this process. Governments want and they need and are entitled to the ability the pursue public policy objectives on the Internet as well. We also have to recognize we can't solve all of the problems of the Internet in one Forum, not one treaty organisation, not one multistakeholder Forum, we need multiple institutions.
On the technical side the Internet Engineering Task Force, the World Wide Web Consortium, the IEEE, the ICANN, these are all organisations that play specialized roles that have to work in concert with one another. The critical point is to respect those different roles and to foster cooperation among them, and as I said that's what the IGF is here to do.
So what next? Well, from the perspective of the U.S. Government and the Obama administration we're strongly committed to maintaining the IGF, to maintaining it in its current form as one key mechanism of Internet Governance. And one that models as I said the Internet decentralized cooperative architecture. In closing, I want to say we greatly appreciate Kenya's offer to host the next IGF and we look forward to seeing everybody there. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much on behalf of each and everyone to Mr. McLaughlin and the next speaker on my list is Mr. Ravi Shanker from India, the Joint Secretary of the Department of Information Technology at the Ministry of Information Technology.
>> RAVI SHANKER: Excellencies, dignitaries, delegates, at the outset on behalf of the Government of India I'd like to facilitate the Republic of Lithuania for organising this IGF so well. Solicitations to you and your team. I'd like to mention the IGF Secretariat ably spearheaded by Mr. Markus Kummer who have seen it for the fifth year in a row. The Internet has been a game changer. It's been a democratizing element and I think that is what inspires all of us to come to a common platform.
The IGF is a Hub of activities. It's a Hub of activity in which each one has a different thought. There is a moment towards consensus and yet there's a lot of respect for diversity and differences. I think this is a democratizing platform which in itself is a harbinger of change. The Government of India fully recommends the continuance of the IGF. We recommend it because of its multistakeholder participating approach. We recommend it because it is in pursuance of the Millennium Development Goals. We recommend it because it's a transformer. It's a Democratic element.
I'd like to say in India the hosting of the third IGF brought a lot of excitement. The Internet for all excited the people of India. but there again, I would like to say that at the third IGF, we felt that the inclusive growth can come about only through a multilingual platform, and multilingualism has been an important instrumentality of growth among the Internet and the IGF itself. The spirit of multilingualism has transmuted from the IGF to the ICANN and the on set of the ccTLDs itself is an indicator towards the convergence of the thought of multilingualism both in the IGF and the ICANN platform.
I would think the Internet is like the renaissance of our times. It's unleashed the creative talent of people. It's brought out the creative forces which are embedded, and whether it's the Facebook, whether it is the twitter, or whether it is any new platform that is likely to emerge, I think it all is very well.
I would like to think that the IGF itself as a model would be talked about in business schools of the future. It will be talked about as a management model as to multistakeholderism. We have had a century of the management thoughts of tailorism. I think now we would have the thoughts of the multistakeholder approach which is bottom up approach. With these few words I would like to solicitate the organizers of this fifth IGF for having put on a great show. And our best wishes to Kenya for the next one. Thank you.
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Mr. Ravi Shanker, for his very short but very inspiring presentation. And now, I have Mr. Janis Karklins, the Director General of UNESCO, the Assistant Director General of UNESCO.
>> JANIS KARKLINS: I'm pleased to address the fifth edition of Internet Governance Forum on behalf of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Let me first thank our hosts, the Lithuanian Government, for their hospitality and the excellent facilities they have provided us. I also would like to express my appreciation to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group and the Secretariat of IGF and Mr. Markus Kummer for their excellent preparation for the Forum. UNESCO has been an ardent supporter of and contributor to the IGF, which we have always seen as an essential platform for multistakeholder discussions.
The Forum provides an important channel for exchanges of opinions, ideas, and concerns. It provides us all with inspiration and ideas for our work to improve Internet Governance.
UNESCO's interest in the IGF stems from our conviction that the Internet has a key role to play in fostering pluralistic equitable knowledge societies. Let us look just five years back, the end of the World Summit on Information Society. ICANN was reporting to the United States Government under the terms of memorandum of understanding. During the IGF in Athens, the first one, the community began discussing the management of resources, critical resources, of the Internet. A year later a memorandum of understanding was replaced by the Joint Project Agreement, and three years later by the Affirmation of Commitments. I have no doubt that the heated debates in the IGF meetings contributed significantly to gradual evolution of the oversight mechanisms of the technical coordination of the Domain Name System which was one of the key issues during discussions of the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society.
During this preparatory process and the first IGF, calls for internationalization of domain names were very persistent. I remember Ms. Manal Ismail from Egypt informing us about the work of the Arab states on language tables for Arab script based languages. Today international domain names are a reality not only for the Arab states but for dozens of other countries as well. UNESCO has always advocated linguistic diversity on the Internet. It is not acceptable that as recently as 2008 only 12 languages accounted for 8% of all Web pages on the Internet, considering that people on our planet speak approximately 6,000 languages.
English is clearly the dominant language on the Web and was two years ago only used by 72% of Web pages. However, speakers of other languages also need to be able to express themselves on the Internet. To help achieve this, UNESCO signed a cooperation agreement with ICANN late last year, providing for cooperation in promoting multilingualism on the Internet.
We will return to this topic in more depth during UNESCO's open Forum session on Thursday, when we will present the report: 12 years measuring linguistic diversity in the Internet: Balance and perspectives.
But let me say that during this session of the Forum, UNESCO hopes to move on the stage of practical cooperation in promoting lingualism on the Internet. Ladies and gentlemen, in recent months, UNESCO has grown increasingly concerned about growing efforts in some parts of the world to limit freedom of expression on the Internet. It is not acceptable for our organisation whose Constitutional goal is to promote the free flow of information by word and image.
Freedom of expression is central to building strong democracies, contributing to good governance, promoting civic participation and the rule of law. It is also essential for human development and security. The principle of freedom of expression as stated in Article 19 of universal Declaration of human rights, must apply to the Internet just as it should to traditional media.
Therefore, during this edition of IGF, UNESCO will continue engaging with all stakeholders to address this issue, advocating for the free and unfettered flow of information. Before closing, I would like to emphasize our great responsibility to respect the interests and fulfill the aspirations of the billions of people who have yet to connect to the Internet. Therefore, let me reiterate UNESCO's commitment to the IGF and its multistakeholder approach. Less than a year ago, UNESCO's 193 Member States adopted a decision during the general conference to strengthen UNESCO's involvement in the field of Internet Governance. UNESCO shares the enthusiasm of IGF participants to increase multistakeholder participation in, and understanding of, the Internet.
Our ultimate goal is to create conditions in which the Internet will provide development opportunities for all. I wish all participants fruitful deliberations and look forward to engaging with you in the coming days. Thank you. Very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Mr. Janis Karklins. And our next speaker is Mr. Rod Beckstrom, who is the Secretary General and the President of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
>> ROD BECKSTROM: I'm delighted to be here at Vilnius, capital of unique historic and beautiful Lithuania, now a member of the European Union. I begin my remarks with a simple reminder: The Internet works. Every minute of every hour of every day. The Domain Name System processes hundreds of billions of transactions every day, hundreds of billions. More transactions than the world's financial markets, and more than the world telephone systems.
The fact that the Internet works is a testament and a tribute to the multistakeholder governance model. Governments could not do it alone. The Internet has the power to transform the human experience. It enables communication on an unprecedented scale and is woven into billions of lives around the planet.
Its openness, its inclusiveness, its relative lack of regulation make it a fertile field for innovation and competition, an engine for much needed economic growth. Why mention inclusiveness? Because everyone using the Internet should and must have a voice in its governance.
If governance were to become the Province exclusively of nation states or captured by any other interests, we would lose the foundation of the Internet's long term potential and transformational value. Decisions on its future should reflect the widest possible range of views and the wisdom of the entire world community, not just Governmental organisations.
ICANN is a multinational institution working for the common good: A stable, and unified global Internet. This is reflected in the increasingly global nature of its work and in ICANN's international staff, international Board of Directors, Supporting Organisations, and Advisory Committees. ICANN's role in Internet Governance represents a unique form of consensus based governance, global outlook, bottom up decision making, decentralized control, inclusiveness, transparent processes, and attention to community voices at all levels.
As coordinator of the domain name system and Internet add are dresses ICANN is a vital steward of the Internet's future. The support of the global community and its multistakeholder, private sector led decision making model, are and will continue to be cornerstones of ICANN's success. Our international advisory and policy making groups represent a full range of shareholders. This includes a Government Advisory Committee representing the legitimate role of Governments in public policy and a Board of Directors from around the world.
ICANN's achievements since the IGF meeting in Sharm el Sheikh last year speak forcefully of the benefits of the multistakeholder model. With the 2009 Affirmation of Commitments the United States and ICANN formally recognized that no single party should hold undue influence over Internet Governance. The affirmation acknowledges the successes of the ICANN model. It commits ICANN to remaining a private, not for profit organisation, validates the role of the Governmental Advisory Committee, and declares ICANN as an independent and not controlled by any one entity.
Another significant achievement is the historic deployment of the Domain Name System Security Extensions, or DNSSEC. At the very root of the Internet. The biggest structural improvement to the Internet in over 20 years. When it is fully deployed, the threat of certain types of cyberattacks will be greatly reduced.
International domain names or IDNs allow the use of non Latin scripts in Top Level Domains. The IGF prioritized it. ICANN and the community delivered it. Billions of users are now using, accessing the Internet entirely in their primary scripts. Since the 2009 launch of the IDN fast track process ICANN has received 33 requests for IDNs covering 22 different language scripts. 14 have been delegated and more will be soon. The 22 include Arabic, Chinese, and Cyrillic scripts together used by 1.5 billion people worldwide.
Some want to bring Internet Governance into the framework of intergovernmental organisations exclusively. What would that mean? Most Internet users, businesses, service providers, nonprofits, consumers, would be shut out of the governance debate. Make no mistake, if we do not address this now effectively, together, the multistakeholder model that has enabled so many successes will slip from our grasp. We must work in partnership to continue the innovation and openness that are the hallmarks of this multistakeholder model. The IGF is an important public Forum where all interested party can come together equally to address these issues for the common good. Its greatest values are its egalitarian philosophy and inclusiveness. Here the doors are open.
The IGF derives its strength and legitimacy from its multistakeholder composition. Bringing it into a traditional intergovernmental framework would undermine what the U.N. itself has been pursuing in recent years. Private and public community partnerships. All stakeholders must make their views known to their respective Governments. It is Government alone that will decide the future of this body at the U.N. General Assembly this fall in New York. In conclusion each of us can call on the U.N. to retain this successful IGF format that is so valuable. But what matters most is that we further strengthen the multistakeholder model by continuing to welcome diverse and occasionally contradictory voices. Together we can ensure that the Internet's future rests in the hands of its most important constituency: The people.
The Internet works. Let's keep it that way. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much. And now I would like to
give the floor to Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai, who is the chair of
international chamber of commerce, he's vice chairman of the
consultancy services.
>> SUBRAMANIAN RAMADORAI: Ladies and gentlemen, I address you toss
as vice chairman of the Tata Consultancy Service, the chair of the
ICC's business action support and the long term supporter of the IGF.
I would like to thank the government of Lithuania for hosting the forum
and thank the IGF Secretariat for mulistakeholder advisory group
for their tireless efforts to thrive to make IGF a success.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the businesses worldwide BASIS
brings business expertise to and encourages the business participation
in the IGF. Like the IGF, business firmly believes in the vast
potential of the Internet and other electronic communication tools to
drive social and positive economic changes. There has been a huge
democratization of the Internet. People all over the world are
accessing the Internet through different device, mobile and smart
phones, personal digital assistants. And even certain domestic
appliances.
In a country like India, mobile phones are available at $30 and
online services reach the masses of a cost of a few pennies through
government kiosks. There is a long way it to go.
Global statics on Internet users per 100 inhabitants reveal the
disparity between developed and developing countries. 66 out of every
100 inhabitants in the developed world compared with every 18 in the
100 inhabitants developing world have access to the Internet. In
developing countries there are also glaring disparities. In India
there are only 51 million active Internet users. There is a huge
investment to provide access by 2012. This will bring millions in the
Internet family.
Internet access combined with mobile technologies will spawn a wave
of local entrepreneurs and crate greater access to social service,
transport and education and finance and healthcare. India businesses
are partnering with government to make this possible. The world is
collaborative mode because we are increasingly becoming independent.
The recent economic crisis and challenges have demonstrated the
solution to such problems lies in the joint effort involving all
stakeholders.
The Internet belongs to all, to the poorest, to the richest.
Therefore the governance of the Internet concerns all and getting
governance right is more crucial than ever. All stakeholders must keep
working through issues together so we avoid conflicts and barriers that
could impede growth and development of the Internet. The future
development of the Internet must include the engagement of all relevant
stakeholders. The IGF provides us all with a unique opportunity for
the generation of new partnerships, ideas, discussion of real
experiences and challenge, and the sharing of best practices, which are
all necessary for the successful development of Internet-related
policies.
Over the past five years, the IGF has made a lot of progress. Policy
discussions of key governance issue, such as critical Internet
resources, access and diversity, and security and privacy, openness
have taken place and built on previous discussions. There has also
been a greater focus on developmental issues. The range of
stakeholders participating in the IGF has not only become larger but
more diverse and looking ahead businesses recognize the need to
continue working together, addressing new issues and expanding
participation.
In a global economy with global supply chains and markets the
Internet is critical for businesses around the world. Working with all
stakeholders we can establish the right environments and new business
models to help the Internet, and those using it reach full potential.
Allow me to share an example from India.
At Bagapali village in India feel they are blessed. The turning
point in their lives was a creation of a business process out sourcing
centre in town.
Such rural BPOs offer jobs to young people who would have otherwise
migrated to bigger cities. By training them in communication skills
and processes for six to eight weeks they are ready to take up
assignments. More than 50 percent of the employees at the rural centre
are women. Working at the centre helps the employees to save money for
their marriage, pay off debts, buy sewing machines and cows and
buffalos for their families. This is social transformation in action.
Today I have a platform to share the story with you because here at
IGF we can engage in candid and open exchanging on range of existing
and emerging issues. Cloud computing promises to empower developed and
developing countries alike. However like many issues we discuss here
at the IGF cloud computing races array of policy issues from access and
security to applicable law and jurisdiction. Consider the many
benefits of cloud computing and the challenges to its adoption, join us
for a workshop jointly hosted with the government of Kenya on Thursday
morning at room 1 at 11:30.
We also extend an invitation to our open forum on data protection
Wednesday on 11:30. For the first time we showcase ICC transborder
data.
Ladies and gentlemen, business is a leading partner in establishing
the kind of programmes and initiative this is are helping people in
cities and rural areas extend use of Internet for economic and social
benefit. Businesses worldwide have come to trust IGF as a venue to
gain insights and new perspectives and come away with ideas and best
practices that have an impact on our respective communities. There is
no other forum that includes all relevant stakeholders and allows the
kind of exchange we have at IGF. We strongly support the continuation
of the forum with its founding multistakeholder principles. We look
forward to engaging with you over the next three days and developing
the future. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Once again, I would like to thank
Mr. Subramanian Ramadorai for his intervention. The next speaker on my
list is Mr. Sami Al-Basheer, from international telecommunications
union. He's from the telecommunication development bureau. He's the
director.
>> SAMI AL-BASHEER: Friends of the ICT community, I am very pleased
to join you here in Vilnius. I would like to thank the government and
people of Lithuania for hosting this 5th IGF meeting and for giving us
the opportunity to discover this beautiful city and enjoy warm
hospitality of its citizens.
Ladies and gentlemen, the international telecommunication union is a
natural partner of the IGF. The ITU organised the World Summit on the
Information Society, which created the IGF and which resulted to be the
most comprehensive and inclusive debate ever held to discuss and design
the principles of the information society.
The WSIS process, since its inception in Geneva and Tunis, has been
promoting dialogue and cooperation between all stakeholders:
Governments, the civil society including the private sector, as well as
international organizations.
The whole nature of the ITU reflects the WSIS collaborative
principles. The ITU is the sole international organisation within the
UN system, which is open to representatives of governments, civil
society, private sector, and other international and regional
organizations.
With the recent addition of Timor-Leste, the IT U now counts 192
member states as well as more than 700 sector members and associates,
ranging from industry to academia, from regional organizations to civil
society entities.
We, at the ITU, firmly believe in this open and inclusive approach.
This also explains why ITU is one of the most active international
organizations in the promotion of the WSIS and its core values:
Building together a inclusive information society. With its mission in
mind, and within our mandate, the ITU has been continuously encouraging
an open and transparent dialogue among the relevant stakeholders and
among the wider Internet community.
All players in the ICT fields can join this global platform, and
indeed a number of them have already done so.
Several extremely active entities of the Internet community, such as
ISOC, and some of the regional Internet registries, have -- are members
of the ITU already.
Let me seize this opportunity to invite the entities you represent
and who haven't done so yet, to join the ITU and enrich the dialogue,
design even more inclusive solution and shape the future of the
information society.
Ladies and gentlemen, in a few weeks I will be in Guadalajara, in
Mexico, with the ITU is holding its plenipotentiary conference at the
invitation of the government of the Mexico. ITU membership will decide
on the priorities of our work for the four years to come.
And our members have already put on the agenda a number of issues of
interest to the IGF community.
These include Internet-related issues such as Internet public
policies and the role of intergovernmental organizations in promoting
and facilitating access to ICT infrastructure, services and
applications, as well as IT literacy. We should also discuss issues
such as cybersecurity, child online protection, migration to IPv6, as
well as the role of ICTs in mitigating the effects of climate change.
I have noted that several debates and workshops will take place
during the IGF on issues of great interest for our next conference and
for our membership.
This is why I have come to Vilnius: I intend to listen with great
attention and interest to the messages coming out of this year's IGF
discussions. Indeed, the opinion of the IGF community matters to me
and to the ITU and its membership.
Therefore our debates here at the IGF will help me in my future
discussion with ITU members as setting our priorities for our future
work.
Ladies and gentlemen, ITU has been supporting the IGF process as well
as the component of the WSIS, and I am convinced that this interaction
must be pursued for the benefits of the world and particularly for the
benefits of the developing countries, who need our full support in
their efforts to bridge the digital divide.
International cooperation is key in building of the information
society. Let us work together to connect the world and to make it a
better place for all. I thank you for your attention. And I wish you
all the success in your delegation. Thank you.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you, Mr. Sami Al-Basheer. I would like
to point out that we still have four interventions. And the next
speaker on my list is Mr. Jean-Paul Philippot. He's the president of
the European broadcasting union. Also the secretary general of radio
television Belge, communication of France.
>> JEAN-PAUL PHILIPPOT: It's a pleasure for me to be here on behalf
of the European broadcasting union. I would like to take this
opportunity to speak about some public broadcast issue. And I will
present my speech in my mother tongue, French.
Public radio and television specifically was created because of the
continent produced, information, investigation, a concern for openness,
concerns such as democracy and by the means of communication used,
universal coverage, access for all.
Associations such as the world broadcasting union since the outset
have sought along with national governments and also with national
institutions to defend and promote these values.
It is for this reason that today we are particularly pleased to be
associated with this work, the work of the IGF and that we consider
this to be an important partner bringing together all stakeholders in
an Internet group which constitutes our common future.
Internet for public radio and television requires a complete
overhaul. We need to change the way we do things and the way we view
interactivity. But this is also based on the conviction that we need
to modernize.
We have several concerns which of course go along the same lines as
those explained.
I shall try to explain these very briefly. The first concern is to
ensure freedom of access to the Internet. Convergence is a reality.
The public no longer distinguishes between venue and on demand
services. Soon the new hybrid services will enable consumers to have
access on the same screen to contents distributed both through
broadcasting technology and through Internet on demand.
Public service media adapt to this convergence to ensure that the
public can have access to all our programming of high quality and
varied content.
Some believe that there are market imperatives which oppose openness
and are in favor of paying services. Today stakeholders which are
traditional or new ones are seeking sometimes to limit free service to
operate according to new business models. This is a concern for us
that feel that this can limit access to Internet. We feel that there
are other means such as cooperation.
The second concern, guaranteeing copy right today in the Internet age
and to modernize it. Obviously access to all platforms is for the
public considered to be a need for others, it is a tricky thing.
Sometimes it is believed that there are threats to variety on the
Internet. For this reason the EBU has just proposed updating the copy
right system. This copy right system should make it possible for
operators to develop their contents on all platforms and also to offer
the public access to hundreds and thousands of audio visual works which
today are difficult or impossible to access because of these rights.
Finally, it will create a framework to use this content which is
completely lawful and transparent. This brings me on to the third of
my concerns, which is digital piracy. We have to adapt behaviors.
This is something to with I we are attached. We must educate the
public to make lawful use of Internet content, particularly younger
audiences, but also we have to increase lawful use of easy to access
platforms with varied content in a lawful way. This should no longer
be an exception.
The next concern, number four, is the reliability of information
sources. Clearly we should combat the confusion that exists concerning
information. We shouldn't consider that an Internet user is the same
thing as a journalist. Today the quality of information services can
increase the credibility of Internet.
Another concern is freedom of expression of we have spoken of this.
But we need to live the ideal of the Web and make sure it is not a dead
letter. There have been a series of barriers globalization has opened
up new horizons and also has broken down a balance which sometimes has
been fragile. We need to avoid the use of a dominant partner to ensure
that it's no longer -- happens today. There is clearly a risk if we
were to limit pluralism. And also we need to finance creation.
The model of the media is based on the richness of content. And this
means that there's a certain cost. We are always obliged to invest in
new and varied content. And the operators on the Web and not
necessarily -- aware of the situation. In a world tomorrow where
content is no longer paid for, the variety and diversity of this the
suppliers, richness will disappear and this will be bad for everyone.
We need mutual enrichment through the Web instead of common
impoverishment. For this reason we believe that we should work
actively to promote IGF, not to defend special interests that you
understood, but because of certain values of citizenship, creating
value, democratization and emancipation. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, Mr. Jean-Paul Philippot.
The next speaker on my list is her excellency, Ms. Annemie Turtelbloom,
the minister of internal affairs of Belgium.
>> ANNEMIE TURTELBLOOM: First of all I would like to thank the lit
Lithuanian government for hosts the meeting in the city of Vilnius
which ranks among the UNESCO heritage.
I also would like to thank the IGF secretary who accomplished a
Titanic job for the various meetings can take place under the very best
conditions.
Now this has become an essential means of communication in our
society. And is created already comparable to the telephone. It
enables the world's citizens to communicate with each other wherever
they are in the world.
However, the Internet is not only a means of communication; it has
also become an unavoidable medium for the "knowledge society." The pro
fusion of contents uploaded to the Internet and to fantastic
opportunities it creates in terms of education or health turned it into
a primary necessity tool which should be accessible to all citizens of
the world.
It is important to explore the possibilities of ensuring that
everybody has the opportunity to access to Internet. I firmly believe
that measures regarding end users' access to, or use of, services and
applications through electronic communications networks should fully
respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons.
Never the less, in numerous parts of the world, the Internet remains
an inaccessible luxury. That is why we must join forces in order to
fight the world digital gap, we must propose and adopt measures aiming
to reduce it.
Nowadays there are nearly 2 billion Internet users, and an increasing
proportion of whom come from developing countries. The European member
states want to face such a technological gap. The European member
states support and will continue to support the developing countries in
improving their telecommunication infrastructures.
As I said before, the Internet is a fabulous knowledge and sharing
medium, but it also presents risks, regarding, for instance, the
protection of privacy, of underage users and consumers.
The authorities, without regulating all aspects of Internet, ought to
take whatever measures are necessary to protect the Internet users in
the best possible way. The authority also must guarantee the security
of communication networks in the same way they have to watch over the
energy supply of their population, for instance.
However, governments are not the only actors. The private sector
also has to continue to play a leading role in the development of the
Internet to ensure it reaches its full potential.
This brings me to the fundamental role of the IGF. The IGF is the
only place in the world where all the Internet actors can gather,
whether public or private. IGF is the place of exchange and experience
sharing. For four whole days experts and stakeholders of the entire
world will be able to share their experiences and exchange best
practices.
We are sure that one of the benefits of the IGF is bringing together
stakeholders that might not have met otherwise and hold different
views.
That is why the European union advocates a renewal of the IGF mandate
in its current structure, in a situation where public and private
sectors are partners.
Like the overwhelming majority of speakers at the consultations in
Sharm El Sheikh, the European union is absolutely convinced that the
Internet governance forum should be continued beyond its initial time
frame of five years.
In our view, the IGF has to remain a nonbinding, democratic,
transparent, multi lateral forum which brings together all the
stakeholders of the Internet.
Of course the European union will support any efforts to further
improve the IGF, as well as supporting wherever possible the
participation of the developing countries.
The European union welcomes to that the space is foreseen to take
account of national and regional IGF activities. The Danish and
British IGF meetings have recently taken place. And we encourage all
organisers of national and regional dialogues to provide their input
into the global IGF.
I am happy to confirm that the European union has high expectations
for the workshops and discussions during this IGF meeting. I have no
doubt that these exchanges will be an inspiration again for all of us
in our quest to assure access to the Internet and to the knowledge
society for everyone.
I thank you for your attention and I already wish you an excellent
workshops. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you very much, thank you very much Her Excellency Ms. Turtelbloom. The next speaker on my list is Ms. Ginger Paque, the Coordinator of the Internet Governance Caucus.
>> GINGER PAQUE: Good afternoon, Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to think that I am speaking for the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus or IGC for Civil Society and, in fact, for everyone here today. How can that be? Many of us wear several hats indicating our profession or affiliation. Today, I am speaking as Co Coordinator of the Civil Society Internet Governance caucus but I'm also Internet Governance capacity building programme online course coordinator for DiploFoundation, two different Civil Society hats. Some of us represent Government, business, academia, Civil Society in different or overlapping areas of our lives or at different types of the day.
But in the end, we all take off our hats and we are members of society, individuals, Internet users. We are parents, worried about our children's online safety. We are Internet users concerned about the security of our financial data. We are citizens seeking to protect our basic rights to access, freedom of expression, and information.
Multistakeholderism recognized in the Tunis agenda 2005 was the biggest conceptual achievement in WSIS. It was accepted as a guiding principle for Internet Governance, and the IGF in contrast to the intergovernmental stakeholder approach previously applied. This success demands that the IGF continue with its core structure basically unchanged, while emphasizing the further application of enhanced cooperation.
The Civil Society in each of us worries about our human rights, about child porn, and about being scammed. We worry about finding information in our native languages. We worry that the richness and diversity of our traditions will be replaced by a new SMS text language. The Civil Society Internet Governance caucus asks that we continue to work on these issues together by appropriately applying the principles of the basic human rights instruments, such as the universal Declaration of human rights, and supporting the principle of indivisibility of rights highlighted in the WSIS Declaration of principles.
This enhanced cooperation is not just a process that will address the issue of critical Internet resources. It also allows the IGF to set a precedent to address all global Internet Governance issues. It includes the imperative of developing policies in addition to the IGF process, a process which is oriented towards taking wide inputs, deliberating on options, and feeding into the policy developing processes. These two actions are complementary though clearly distinct and both must be achieved.
In this regard, we salute the ECOSOC report E2009.92 adopted last month that makes these two points. We also note happily that the once stalled process of enhanced cooperation is now being prioritized as was mandated by the WSIS, through planned open consultations later this year.
We acknowledge the achievements of the commission on science and technology for development Working Group on the IGF reform, and express our desire and commitment to work closely with it, as well as the Association for Progressive Communications, and other Civil Society initiatives. We continue to support the regional IGF meetings, with closer focus that will address problems at every level, spreading the impact of the IGF around the world in physical meetings and including the themes discussed regionally.
We support the unique model of dynamically engaged hubs and remote the participation as innovative development of the IGF. Local meetings and remote participation have increased inclusion to the point where this IGF has individual remote participants engaged online around the world and with an unprecedented 33 local hubs registered.
We reiterate the importance of capacity development to improve inclusion, to allow us each to build the resources and knowledge necessary to reach our goals.
Finally, we invite all of you to join Civil Society in addressing specific Internet Governance issues such as net neutrality vis a vis wireless Internet. We invite progressive Civil Society and other players to make themselves clearly heard, working towards a user centric, a people centric Internet. We musts continue the IGF model of providing a new set of means and processes for openness and participation that will become the default global standard. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Thank you, Ms. Paque, and I would like to announce that now we will hear the last but not least speaker from my list, Mr. James Rege, the representative of Kenya. He's the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Transport and Communications.
>> JAMES REGE: Let me start by thanking the Government of Lithuania. Thank you IGF, Mr. Markus Kummer, ladies and gentlemen.
And all protocols observed. First I would like to join the previous speakers in thanking the Government of Lithuania and other ICT stakeholders for hosting the 5th UN IGF Forum. Kenya has been involved throughout the World Summit on the information society and with the Internet Governance Forum since its inception. Kenya has pioneered and continues to convene the East African Internet Governance Forum using a bottom up and multistakeholder approach, of which we are very proud.
The IGF, the East African IGF continues to bring together the East Africa Internet community to discuss public policy issues affecting the Internet in the East African region, and is usually a culmination of National level Internet Governance discussions in the respective East Africa countries.
Further, Kenya's new Constitution enacted in August this year, has made Kenya a favorable destination for investment. The Constitution has recognized ICTs as an enabler for development by having provisions that promote intellectual property rights, privacy and confidentiality, freedom of expression, and information, that's FOI, the right of access to public information, press freedom and consumer rights, among others.
In the area of managing the critical Internet resources, the management of Kenya's ccTLD registry, that's the KENIC, is a model that has been emulated regionally and internationally. The KENIC Board membership is multistakeholder with its members drawn from the private sector, Civil Society, academia, and the public sector.
Further, Kenya formed a National Internet Protocol version 6, this IPv6, Task Force whose mandate is to develop strategies for the deployment of IPv6 in the country. The Task Force membership is based on multistakeholder model.
In addition, this year's Kenya National and East Africa regional IGF meetings focused on addressing and discussing the governance of critical Internet resources. The regional East African IGF proposed the development of a Working Group to strengthen East Africa's ccTLDs. Kenya is also will also be also form a Working Group.
In the area of National cybersecurity management, the Kenya communications amendment act of 2009 recognizes the need to enhance and create public confidence in the use of electronic transactions through the establishment of national cybersecurity management framework.
Further, Kenya chairs the East Africa communications organisations cybersecurity Task Force whose mandate is to facilitate the establishment of National computer incident response teams.
In this regard, Kenya is currently in the process of establishing a National computer incident response team, whose purpose is to manage cybersecurity issues in the country through a coordinated response to cybersecurity incidences, awareness creation, research and the provision of cybersecurity advisories among others.
In the area of access, already three undersea fiber optic cables, SEACOM, EASSY and TEAMS have landed in Kenya. Kenya is also in the process of putting in place an elaborate National network called "the National optic fiber backbone infrastructure," otherwise dubbed as NOFBI. Satellite links coverage are all in place to serve as backups. Kenya has over 100 licensed ISPs which are interconnected via peering arrangements at the Kenya Internet exchange point, KIXP. Further, Kenya has 4 mobile telephone operators. The number of mobile telephone subscribers has grown from a meager 20,000 in the year 2000 to about 2 million this year, that's over 1,000% growth. And the number is still growing, as we stand here today. This translates to 86% of the population under mobile coverage.
The number of Internet subscribers stand at about 3 million, out of these, 2.7 million subscribers are using mobile Internet access through GPRS/EDGE and 3G networks.
Mobile money applications like M PESA and ZAP are used to transfer and receive money across the country. And further, 3G and 3G plus technologies are widely entrenched in Kenya and some operators are currently testing 4G pending deployment. By the way, the use of mobile money transfer is also being used by people in the remote areas as banking facilities.
Kenya appreciates the value of the UN IGF and would like to take this opportunity to thank the UN IGF Secretariat for facilitating the mandate of the UN IGF for the past five years. Special thanks go to all participants from various stakeholders for giving the IGF concept a sense of life.
As seen over the last five years, the value of the UN IGF process has been replicated in various ways in Kenya and in other parts of the world, and has led to a more inclusive process for dialogue on Internet policy issues. Kenya has already endorsed the continuation of the UN IGF mandate beyond this current five year tenure, and we would wish to ensure that its current multistakeholder model is retained.
Further, we would wish to see a more concrete involvement of National and regional IGFs particularly in the development of issues and themes.
Finally, Kenya has offered to host the 6th UN IGF meeting in 2011, and in this regard, we would therefore like to take this opportunity to seek your support towards Kenya's expression of interest. Thank you, and thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ELIGIJUS MASIULIS: Once again, I would like to thank Mr. James Rege for his presentation. And that was the last speaker on our list. So once again, thank you. I would like to thank all the speakers for their insights, for their presentations, for their discussions, and feedback.
You actually presented a lot of ideas for the meetings that are going to be held over the next 3 days. Excellencies, distinguished experts and delegates, remembering the theme of the IGF 2010, it is clear that our overall objective of our meeting of our event is to develop the future together by joint efforts. We are not here to negotiate on some wordings, on some texts, but to understand our conditions under which we live, to understand our opportunities, and to further understand and promote the development and the deployment of the Internet.
Recalling the Geneva Declaration of principles, let us work together to create an Internet and information society that enables individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting sustainable development and improving the quality of their life.
I would like to thank each and every one of you, and by these words I would like to close the first day's session of IGF 2010. And I have another responsibility to invite each and every one of you at the reception at 7:00 p.m. at the National arts gallery where the reception will be hosted by the host country, Lithuania.
Please come at 7:00 p.m. You'll be able to taste the National Lithuanian cuisine, to discuss in an informal setting the things you would like to discuss, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania is going to participate at the reception.
The buses will be waiting for you after this event just by the door of this building. And they will take you to the reception place.
Thank you very much, and I'll see you at the reception.
[ Applause ]
[ End of Session ]