<P>I strongly suggest the US gouvernment to send immediately the Marines and the 183th Airborne to Tunis for protecting the beleagered "US driven" Internet. </P>
<P>Jean-Louis Fullsack</P>
<P><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #ff0000 2px solid">> Message du 09/11/05 11:14<BR>> De : "Rui Correia" <R_CORREIA@TELKOMSA.NET><BR>> A : plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> Copie à : <BR>> Objet : [WSIS CS-Plenary] "transfer Internet control into the hands of intrigue-plagued bureaucracies" - quote<BR>> <BR>> [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list. Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people]<BR>> <BR>> Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic translation of this message!<BR>> _______________________________________<BR>> <BR>> From<BR>> http://www.news.vu/en/business/Tech/051108-Vanuatu-tech-news-Beware-a-Digita<BR>> l-Munich.shtml, a news web site for Vanuatu news. <BR>> With this to say in their "About us": news.vu is a reliable source for<BR>> Vanuatu news, sourced both locally and internationally.<BR>> <BR>> I wonder if this was the only place willing to give space to this piece of<BR>> ........ I suppose the caveat does say "reliable source for Vanuatu news,<BR>> not WSIS news - Rui<BR>> __________________________________________________________________________<BR>> Beware a 'Digital Munich' - Internet Under threat<BR>> <BR>> By Norm Coleman - Mr. Coleman is a Republican senator from Minnesota. <BR>> Posted Tuesday, November 8, 2005<BR>> <BR>> It sounds like a Tom Clancy plot. An anonymous group of international<BR>> technocrats holds secretive meetings in Geneva. Their cover story: devising<BR>> a blueprint to help the developing world more fully participate in the<BR>> digital revolution. Their real mission: strategizing to take over management<BR>> of the Internet from the U.S. and enable the United Nations to dominate and<BR>> politicize the World Wide Web. Does it sound too bizarre to be true?<BR>> Regrettably, much of what emanates these days from the U.N. does.<BR>> <BR>> The Internet faces a grave threat. We must defend it. We need to preserve<BR>> this unprecedented communications and informational medium, which fosters<BR>> freedom and enterprise. We can not allow the U.N. to control the Internet.<BR>> <BR>> The threat is posed by the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information<BR>> Society taking place later this month in Tunisia. At the WSIS preparatory<BR>> meeting weeks ago, it became apparent that the agenda had been transformed.<BR>> Instead of discussing how to place $100 laptops in the hands of the world's<BR>> children, the delegates schemed to transfer Internet control into the hands<BR>> of intrigue-plagued bureaucracies.<BR>> <BR>> The low point of that planning session was the European Union's shameful<BR>> endorsement of a plan favored by China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Cuba that<BR>> would terminate the historic U.S. role in Internet government oversight,<BR>> relegate both private enterprise and non- governmental organizations to the<BR>> sidelines, and place a U.N.- dominated group in charge of the Internet's<BR>> operation and future. The EU's declaration was a "political coup," according<BR>> to London's Guardian newspaper, which predicted that once the world's<BR>> governments awarded themselves control of the Internet, the U.S. would be<BR>> able to do little but acquiesce.<BR>> <BR>> I disagree. Such acquiescence would amount to appeasement. We cannot allow<BR>> Tunis to become a digital Munich.<BR>> <BR>> There is no rational justification for politicizing Internet governance<BR>> within a U.N. framework. The chairman of the WSIS Internet Governance<BR>> Subcommittee himself recently affirmed that existing Internet governance<BR>> arrangements "have worked effectively to make the Internet the highly<BR>> robust, dynamic and geographically diverse medium it is today, with the<BR>> private sector taking the lead in day-to-day operations, and with innovation<BR>> and value creation at the edges."<BR>> <BR>> Nor is there a rational basis for the anti-U.S. resentment driving the<BR>> proposal. The history of the U.S. government's Internet involvement has been<BR>> one of relinquishing control. Rooted in a Defense Department project of the<BR>> 1960s, the Internet was transferred to civilian hands and then opened to<BR>> commerce by the National Science Foundation in 1995. Three years later, the<BR>> non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers assumed<BR>> governance responsibility under Department of Commerce oversight. Icann,<BR>> with its international work force and active Governmental Advisory<BR>> Committee, is scheduled to be fully privatized next year. Privatization, not<BR>> politicization, is the right Internet governance regime.<BR>> <BR>> We do not stand alone in our pursuit of that goal. The majority of European<BR>> telecommunications companies have already dissented from the EU's Geneva<BR>> announcement, with one executive pronouncing it "a U-turn by the European<BR>> Union that was as unexpected as it was disturbing."<BR>> <BR>> In addition to resentment of U.S. technological leadership, proponents of<BR>> politicization are driven by fear -- of access to full and accurate<BR>> information, and of the opportunity for legitimate political discourse and<BR>> organization, provided by the Internet. Nations like China, which are behind<BR>> the U.N. plan to take control, censor their citizens' Web sites, and monitor<BR>> emails and chat rooms to stifle legitimate political dissent. U.N. control<BR>> would shield this kind of activity from scrutiny and criticism.<BR>> <BR>> The U.S. must do more to advance the values of an open Internet in our<BR>> broader trade and diplomatic conversations. We cannot expect U.S. high-tech<BR>> companies seeking business opportunities in growing markets to defy official<BR>> policy; yet we cannot stand idly by as some governments seek to make the<BR>> Internet an instrument of censorship and political suppression. To those<BR>> nations that seek to wall off their populations from information and<BR>> dialogue we must say, as Ronald Reagan said in Berlin, "Tear down this<BR>> wall."<BR>> <BR>> Allowing Internet governance to be politicized under U.N. auspices would<BR>> raise a variety of dangers. First, it is wantonly irresponsible to tolerate<BR>> any expansion of the U.N.'s portfolio before that abysmally managed and<BR>> sometimes-corrupt institution undertakes sweeping, overdue reform. It would<BR>> be equal folly to let Icann be displaced by the U.N.'s International<BR>> Telecommunication Union, a regulatory redoubt for those state telephone<BR>> monopolies most threatened by the voice over Internet protocol revolution.<BR>> <BR>> Also, as we expand the global digital economy, the stability and reliability<BR>> of the Internet becomes a matter of security. Technical minutiae have<BR>> profound implications for competition and trade, democratization, free<BR>> expression and access to information, privacy and intellectual-property<BR>> protection.<BR>> <BR>> Responding to the present danger, I have initiated a Sense of the Senate<BR>> Resolution that supports the four governance principles articulated by the<BR>> administration on June 30:<BR>> <BR>> Preservation of the security and stability of the Internet domain name and<BR>> addressing system (DNS).<BR>> <BR>> Recognition of the legitimate interest of governments in managing their<BR>> own country code top-level domains.<BR>> <BR>> Support for Icann as the appropriate technical manager of the Internet<BR>> DNS.<BR>> <BR>> Participation in continuing dialogue on Internet governance, with<BR>> continued support for market-based approaches toward, and private- sector<BR>> leadership of, its further evolution.<BR>> <BR>> I also intend to seek hearings in advance of the Tunis Summit to explore the<BR>> implications of multinational politicization of Internet governance. While<BR>> Tunis marks the end of the WSIS process, it is just the beginning of a long,<BR>> multinational debate on the values that the Internet will incorporate and<BR>> foster. Our responsibility is to safeguard the full potential of the new<BR>> information society that the Internet has brought into being.<BR>> <BR>> Mr. Coleman is a Republican senator from Minnesota.<BR>> <BR>> ________________________________________________<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Rui Correia<BR>> Coordinator, Southern Africa WSIS Partnership<BR>> (Media Institute of Southern Africa, SACOD, Highway Africa)<BR>> 38 Finch St, <BR>> Ontdekkers Park, Roodepoort, <BR>> Johannesburg, South Africa<BR>> Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336<BR>> Cell (+27) (0) 83-368-1214<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Plenary mailing list<BR>> Plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary<BR>> <BR>> </BLOCKQUOTE>