​PP-14 Public Views

• Comments from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance, on the briefing note from Access
  2 November 2014 - Access has published a paper titled “What to Watch at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2014”. In this paper, we comment on some portions of that paper. The Access paper starts by referring to the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) and provides a reference to a web site that contains material regarding WCIT and the 2012 International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs)...
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• Briefing note from Access: What to Watch at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2014
  30 October 2014 - While the Plenipot is usually a relatively administrative conference, there is a sense that the 2014 meeting may revisit many of the controversial issues and contentious debates of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), an extraordinary treaty conference the ITU hosted in 2012 in order to update the 1988 International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs)...
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• Joint information to the conference from a group of civil society organisations: Notes and Recommendations to ITU 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference, Busan, Korea
  28 October 2014 - The International Telecommunication Union’s 2014 Plenipotentiary conference is taking place at a watershed moment. The growth of the open, borderless Internet and the increasing availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are revolutionising access to knowledge, commerce and creativity. The free flow of information and communications has never been so critical to the prosperity of nations or the realisation of human rights as it is now...
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• Information to the conference from JustNet Coalition: Governing the global Internet - is the status quo the only option?
  28 October 2014 - The Just Net Coalition wishes to express strong concerns and disagreement with certain viewpoints that are being expressed in the context of the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, viewpoints which would have the effect of “casting in concrete” the current structures and processes of global Internet governance. We speak here particularly of the positions of the USA and its ally governments as expressed in their submissions to the conference2 and in their statements at the conference, and also a recent statement by some civil society organizations3 that effectively mirrors these positions and supports the existing Internet Governance status quo. As we have indicated elsewhere, we consider this status quo to be unacceptable...
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• Remarks from the Association for Progressive Communications on the occasion of the ITU's 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference
  26 October 2014 - The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) extends our good wishes to delegates at this important meeting. We welcome incoming Secretary General Houlin Zhao to his new position, and express our sincere appreciation for the contributions made by outgoing Secretary General Hamadoun Toure. APC looks forward to working with the ITU's new leadership...
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• Information to the conference from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  20 October 2014 - Civil society can participate in ITU activities in two ways: by becoming a Sector Member, or by being included in a national delegation. Most civil society organizations are not in a position to be able to pay the annual membership fees. ITU does grant exemptions from payment of membership fees, but the criteria for granting exemption should be revisited to make exemption the default, normal case, for non-profit organizations. Indeed other UN agencies have processes for accrediting non-profit organizations as observers, and they do not require payment of membership fees from those organizations...
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• ITU Secretary-General response to Members of Civil Society
  14 October 2014 - I very much welcome and appreciate the open civil society letter on transparency at the ITU Plenipotentiary which was published online on 8 October 2014. This open letter reflects a positive approach, and I am very pleased to see that our efforts in reaching out to civil society have been recognized. ...
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• Statement to the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (JustNet Coalition)
  14 October 2014 - This statement is addressed to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that will take place from 20 October to 7 November 2014, in Busan, South Korea. As we stand on the cusp of a social revolution mediated through ICTs, of which the Internet is a central paradigm, it is important for the Conference to take note of key global issues that are in its ambit so as to address them and contribute positively to the further development of ICTs in general and the Internet in particular. It will be a missed opportunity and a great disservice to the world if the Conference gets bogged down over the issue as to whether Internet is telecommunication or not, and accordingly whether the ITU should be dealing with Internet related public policy issues. Surely it is more productive to recognize, as many have done, that the ITU does have an important role to play with respect to certain issues, and to concentrate on agreeing on a program with respect to those issues...
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• Open civil society letter on transparency at the ITU Plenipotentiary
  8 October 2014 - Dear Secretary-General Touré, We write to you as a group of civil society organisations who are keen to engage with the important work of the ITU and its upcoming Plenipotentiary Conference. At various ITU meetings in the recent past, positive steps have been taken to facilitate and encourage the engagement of stakeholders in the work of the ITU and to increase transparency of the organisation and its processes. Efforts were made at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) and the WSIS+10 Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform (MPP), all of which helped to further increase recognition within the ITU of the importance of opening up its processes more generally...
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• Information to the conference from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  Thoughts on Best Practices for Multistakeholder Participation Mechanisms
  08 October 2014 - ... In order for something to be considered as possibly a “best practice”, it must first be an acceptable practice. Anything that is inconsistent with democracy is certainly not an acceptable practice in any area of governance.
  The outcome documents of both the recent WSIS+10 High Level Event and NetMundial emphasize both the need for multi-stakeholder Internet Governance (IG) processes and also that these must be democratic.
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• Information to the conference from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  Statement regarding the Report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on The right to privacy in the digital age of 30 June 2014, A/HRC/27/37
  08 October 2014 - On 30 June 2014, pursuant to Resolution 68/167 of the United National General Assembly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) published a report on the protection and promotion of the Right to Privacy in the context of domestic and extraterritorial surveillance and/or the interception of digital communications and the collection of personal data, including on a mass scale...
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• Information to the conference from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  Accession to the 2012 International Telecommunication Regulations
  08 October 2014 - A significant number of countries did not sign the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) in Dubai in 2012. Almost all of those countries indicated that they required additional time in order to consider the implications of certain provisions, in particular those that were approved at the last minute.
  As several commentators have noted , the lack of a uniform regime for international telecommunications might create some problems in the future. Thus it would appear desirable to take some steps to return to the uniform regime that has prevailed in the past...
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• Information to the conference from Richard Hill, President, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  Increasing the transparency and the openness of the ITU
  08 October 2014 - Over the years the ITU has become increasingly open and transparent, in response to requests from the membership that it do so. The same is true of other agencies of the United Nations.
  There is consensus that provisions regarding access to documents and meetings should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are appropriate. The purpose of this contribution is to stimulate such a review, by proposing specific provisions that will further increase the transparency and openness of the ITU...
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