The world's first-ever UN forum on Internet governance wound up today with experts from over 90 countries, IT firms and non-government organisations welcoming the chance to exchange views on the future of the web.
Though the forum did not have a decision-making mandate, it allowed Internet stakeholders that do not normally sit around the same table to discuss topics ranging from cybercrime and freedom of expression to the digital exclusion of the developing world, said Markus Kummer, chairman of the United Nations working group on Internet governance.
'Four years ago, many people assembled in this meeting room would not have spoken to one another, but this is definitely changing,' Kummer said at a news conference wrapping up the forum in Athens.
'The fact that the forum has no decision-making power means that nobody is afraid of the forum, and this is conducive to a free and open discussion,' he said.
A number of countries, corporations and NGOs said they had formed partnerships during the four-day series of meetings and planned to cooperate on projects including privacy, online rights and gender advocacy ahead of the next Internet governance forum, to be held next November in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
But there were also complaints from Iran and South Africa, who said they had not been given an opportunity to adequately express their respective views on ethical issues and connectivity cost concerns.
Western suppliers of IT technology to China, including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo!, also came under criticism at the forum, accused by human rights groups of actively helping Chinese authorities suppress freedom of expression and monitor dissidents.
Amnesty International today presented the forum with a petition of 50,000 signatures demanding respect for human rights over the Internet. But the IT corporations fought back at the forum with arguments that through their presence in China, over 130 million local users are online today and have access to more information.
Originally formed as a last-minute compromise at a 2005 world summit in Tunis to forestall a rift between the US and the rest of the world over control of the Internet, the IGF in Athens encouraged diverse groups in talking to one another despite initial caution.
Lithuania and Azerbaijan today both expressed interest to host the Internet governance forum in 2010.
