March 15, 2010

Ms Haiyan Qian
Director
Division for Public Administration and Development Management
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
c/o Ms Elvira T. Doyle
KMB/DPADM/DESA

via email: doylee@un.org

Dear Ms. Qian,

I am writing in response to your kind request of February 19, 2010, in which you reference the Internet Society (ISOC) submission of March 2008, responding to the Under Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), Mr. Sha Zukang’s, request for a report on the steps taken by ISOC towards enhanced cooperation on public policy issues pertaining to the Internet. This letter is to provide information and examples in response. We will appreciate your including it in the paper you are preparing for the forthcoming thirteenth session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). It is our hope to be able to participate in that meeting, as one of the non-governmental organizations accredited to the WSIS process, as we have been able to in the past, so that we can answer any questions that delegates may have at that time.

The following response does not repeat the introductory material we included in our 2008 report, but we draw your attention to those comments. Today, the Internet model of development remains as relevant to successfully achieving enhanced cooperation among all stakeholders as it was before and during the WSIS process. We believe that it is vital for governments, the private sector, civil society, the Internet technical community and intergovernmental organizations to continuously improve their cooperation, each in the area of their competence and mandate, if we are to achieve the ambitious goals agreed during the World Summit on the Information Society.

The Internet Society continues to develop. We now have more than 28,000 individual members and over 80 chapters around the world, and more than 100 organizational members1 . The Society also has five regional bureaus to better serve the Internet community around the world. In preparation for this report, ISOC consulted with our membership to ask for examples of work they are doing in cooperation with other stakeholders in their localities. Following is a nonexhaustive or exclusive compilation of concrete examples, to show the wide range of areas where our members are working to enhance their cooperation and their contribution to the development of Internet-related public policy solutions around the world. These examples should be read in conjunction with the information that was sent to you in 2008, and that is continuously updated on the ISOC web site (listed in Annex to this report).

The ISOC Armenia Chapter has an agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and Communication to cooperate on Internet-related issues, to consult, and to collaborate in development of programs. The Chapter is recognized for its role in domain name delegation. And, along with government and the civil society, the Chapter is part of a special Working Group to combat issues such as spam and the challenge of illegal/inappropriate content on the Internet.

ISOC’s New York Chapter has engaged in the multi-borough hearings of the City's Broadband Advisory Council, as well as in hearings on open data, webcasting policy, network neutrality, spectrum allocation, and policies to spur innovation in the technology sector. Deliberations on these important Internet-related public policy issues have all benefited from ISOC’s participation. The New York Chapter also works with others to stimulate public understanding and participation in issues. Some examples include co-operation with NYU, to sponsor a series of presentations on 'Computers & Society' with leading thinkers such as Lawrence Lessig, John Perry Barlow, etc., and a new series planned for late 2010. All the New York chapter events can be viewed on line, and are available free as DVDs for educators, libraries, and other interested parties.

Many other ISOC Chapters receive Internet Society funding to engage in concrete examples of enhanced cooperation, through the Society’s Community Grants Program. Some of the many concrete examples of enhanced cooperation enabled by this program include:

In Peru, a project to boost the use and promote the benefits of the Internet in the three main cities involved. This project helps users become more sophisticated in their use of on-line tools, focusing on local communities, SMEs, local governments and civil society. It intends to generate local social networks, on-line communities and knowledge to stimulate the creation of local content, while educating about the Internet as an essential tool for improved communications in the different social sectors.

A capacity building programme in Internet and ICT policy for students from academic institutions in Central Africa has been on going in the Congo. The project is to inform and train students from universities and academic institutions in the central Africa region on Internet, the implications it has for development, the current debates handled at the international basis and governance principles resulting from the WSIS.

Finally, ISOC’s regional bureaus regularly engage multiple stakeholders, especially Chapters and organizational members, in an ongoing program of regionally-focused meetings known as INET conferences. The INETs typically bring together high level speakers from civil society, industry, and regional governments to discuss issues of shared concern. By way of example, in 2009, the INET in Delhi , India featured topics such as South Asia “Internet for Development: Road Towards Inclusion & Growth"; “Developing National Internet infrastructure for Inclusive Growth”:“The Role of Digital Content & Services in Internet Enabled Growth”; and “Internet Governance & Digital Divide: Strategies from Thought to Action towards a policy Roadmap". The INET held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia focused on IPv6 deployment in the region, featuring government representatives from Malaysia, Thailand, and China sharing experience with industry representatives from across the Asia Pacific region. By bringing all stakeholders together in this way, ISOC believes it is contributing to enhanced cooperation in understanding and acting on important public policy issues related to Internet governance.

I trust these concrete examples of how ISOC Chapters, organizational members and regional bureaus are contributing to enhanced cooperation around the world will be of use to you in preparing the conference paper for the CSTD. I look forward to seeing the report when completed. Please be assured of ISOC’s ongoing commitment to an enhanced level of cooperation with all interested and responsible stakeholders in the realm of Internet governance.

Sincerely yours,

Lynn St. Amour
President and CEO
Internet Society