Worlds apart: Global summits highlight digital policy divide

[Marco Trotta]

[Interessante. MT]

Fonte:
http://www.canada.com:80/technology/story.html?id=a4437300-9174-48af-8283-12e53688ff85
Worlds apart: Global summits highlight digital policy divide
Michael Geist

Citizen Special

Thursday, September 22, 2005



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The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), which focus on global policy and standard
setting for telecommunications, patents, copyrights, and trademarks, are
situated directly across from each other on a Geneva street in the heart of
the Swiss city's United Nations district. As visitors leave the buildings,
the road that separates the two agencies forks in several directions.

Over the next two weeks, the ITU and WIPO will serve as ground zero for
intense discussions on the future of policies that will greatly impact on
the Internet. Negotiators at both meetings will also face a fork in the
road.

Pressure is mounting to turn in a new direction, away from a U.S.-centric
approach toward one that better addresses the developing world's
technological needs.

This week the ITU is hosting a preparatory conference on the World Summit
on the Information Society. While the summit is scheduled for mid-November
in Tunisia, this preparatory conference is tasked with laying the
groundwork for a global agreement on Internet governance issues.

Although most Internet users pay scant attention to Internet governance, in
recent years dissatisfaction has grown with the current system under which
the United States retains ultimate control over the Internet's core
technical functions.

There are several reasons for this dissatisfaction. First, the importance
of policy issues associated with Internet governance has become
increasingly clear. Many experts engaged in Internet policy are unhappy
with the way in which key issues, including privacy protection for domain
name owners, the free speech implications of domain name dispute
resolution, and the failure to introduce internationalized domain names
that would allow Internet users to create domains in their local language,
are addressed.

Second, many observers are frustrated by the lack of transparency
associated with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), a California non-profit corporation mandated by the U.S.
government to lead the Internet governance issue. Critics argue that
ICANN's decision-making lacks transparency, that it has ignored commitments
to incorporate Internet users into its board governance structure, and that
it has bungled crucial issues such as the development of new domain name
extensions.

Third, and most important, much of the world is no longer comfortable with
surrendering de facto control over the domain name system to the U.S.
government. That discomfort has led to proposals to internationalize ICANN
or to strip from its mandate those activities that have a direct impact on
national sovereignty.

Although the U.S. has thus far indicated that it is unwilling to yield
control to an international body, negotiators will be seeking a compromise
to foster dialogue that may eventually lead to a framework that better
addresses the interests of the global community.

Across the street, WIPO will be hosting its annual general assembly, a
gathering that charts a course for the future work of the organization.

The WIPO Development Agenda, introduced by Brazil and Argentina last fall
to focus on developing country concerns, will take centre stage. During the
past year, the Development Agenda quickly gained momentum, garnering
support from developing countries throughout South America, Asia, and
Africa. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, recently
confirmed the developing world's concerns, concluding that "intellectual
property is important, but the appropriate intellectual property regime for
a developing country is different from that for an advanced industrial
country."

Last year's approval of the WIPO Development Agenda set in motion two sets
of activities. First, civil society groups began work on an Access to
Knowledge Treaty, which could include provisions on access to medicines and
globally funded research, open access to scholarly research, as well as
exceptions to patent and copyright laws that serve the developing world's
interests.

Meanwhile, WIPO hosted several meetings to decide whether to continue the
Development Agenda. After much discussion, the European Union voiced its
agreement with the developing world's concerns, and recommended continuing
the agenda as a standalone project. The primary opponent was the United
States, which, with support from Japan, argued that existing technical
initiatives are sufficient to meet the developing world's needs.

While the ITU and WIPO meetings are distinct, both reflect the developing
world's increasing frustration with global rules that have an enormous
impact on technological development everywhere yet were crafted primarily
with the developed world in mind. With the importance of the Internet and
new technologies readily apparent to all, those countries are clearly no
longer content to sit on the sidelines as their interests go unrepresented.

Moreover, the two events have unfortunately reduced Canada's role to that
of a bit player on the global Internet stage. Despite Prime Minister Paul
Martin's repeated commitments to the developing world, Canada has quietly
backed the United States on both the Internet governance and WIPO
Development Agenda issues.

That position puts Ottawa at odds with the developing world and fails to
recognize that the national interest lies with a globalized approach that
benefits countries both the rich and poor. ITU and WIPO negotiators may be
facing a fork in the policy road over the next two weeks, but Canada sadly
appears to be unsure of which direction to turn.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce
Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at
mgeist at uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.