Blog
WTPF: it all comes back around
Tomorrow the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF), a meeting hosted by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will kick off in Geneva. The meeting, meant to provide a venue for governments and industry to discuss key policy issues in today’s telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) environment, has declared its theme for 2013 to be internet-related public policy. For the next three days, the Member States of the ITU, i.e. governments, are expected to discuss and adopt opinions that will guide international internet policy making. But if recent history is a guide, chances are it won’t be so simple.…
13 May 2013
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WPFD: Recognizing an ongoing struggle
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, a day to celebrate the fundamental principles of independent media. But WPFD is also an opportunity to pay attention to where press freedom is under attack around the world–and the increasing tendency of those attacks to occur online. Bloggers and citizen journalists are arrested, jailed, and murdered for the words they write and the images they share; citizens are cut off from each other and from the information they seek because of what governments or companies deem appropriate for society.…
3 May 2013
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U.S. “Internet Governance Bill” advances to the full House of Representatives with modifications
The proposed U.S. House of Representatives “Internet Governance Bill” was approved by the full Energy and Commerce Committee today and will now move on to the full House of Representatives. The revised draft of the bill would make it the “policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet.”…
17 April 2013
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U.S. Congress deliberates keeping the internet “free of government control”
The proposed U.S. House of Representatives “Internet Governance Bill” has moved on to the full Energy and Commerce Committee after two days of markup and debate in the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. If passed into law, the bill would make it the “policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet.”
…12 April 2013
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The World Telecommunication Policy Forum: issues to watch
From May 14-16, the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) will bring together representatives from government, industry, and the global regulatory community to exchange views on key policy issues related to the internet. The meeting is hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the same UN agency that hosted the controversial World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) last December in Dubai. We break down the key issues to watch and ways to participate.…
11 April 2013
Blog
Access joins civil society calling for openness at WTPF
As a member of the Informal Experts Group (IEG) of the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF), Access joined other civil society representatives in sending a joint submission to the Group emphasizing the need to recognize calls for openness and inclusivity in the upcoming May WTPF.…
6 March 2013
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WSIS+10: Taking stock and driving the global internet policy agenda forward
Last week, a review marking ten years since the UN World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) kicked off in Paris at UNESCO. WSIS was a pair of UN-sponsored conferences held in 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis, aimed at bridging the digital divide and generally advancing the global discussion about the internet and ICTs. …
4 March 2013
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Roundup of Informal Experts Group’s final meeting
Roundup of the final meeting of the Information Experts Group for the World Telecommunications Policy Group, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) forum for discussing key policy issues in today’s telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) environment. …
8 February 2013
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A primer for the UN World Telecommunication Policy Forum
When the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) organized the controversial World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) last year, the head of the body stated repeatedly and emphatically that the meeting was not about the internet. As it turned out, he was…
6 February 2013
Blog
Amid crackdown in Azerbaijan, blogger gets the harshest sentence
This past week has been particularly difficult for human rights activists in Azerbaijan, the host country of the 2012 UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Last Wednesday January 23, protests over corruption erupted in Ismayilli, northwest of the Azerbaijani capital Baku,…
30 January 2013
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WCIT WATCH: ITU Secretary General issues information note addressing civil society concerns at WCIT
WCIT WATCH: ITU Secretary General issues information note addressing civil society concerns at WCIT Last week, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) published an information note from Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré dated December 14 in which he reports to ITU Members on…
7 January 2013