Challenges of Internet Governance

Type: 
Lecture
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Speaker: 
Kate Coyer
Building: 
Nador u. 9, Monument Building
Room: 
Popper room
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 5:00pm
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Date: 
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm

new multistakeholder models for global policy development

by Wolfgang Kleinwaechter

Professor for International Communication Policy and Regulation Department for Media and Information Studies, University of Aarhus

When Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf developed the backbone that would become the World Wide Web in the early 1970s, nobody imagined that this technical protocol would revolutionize the world of communication and its governance. It became quickly apparent that governments, private sector and civil society take many different approaches to dealing with the new Internet challenges.  Reorganising a trans-border mechanism with more than one billion users on a global level is a rather complex challenge. To bring more light to this new subject of global policymaking, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, Geneva, December 2003) decided to establish a multi-stakeholder “Working Group on Internet Governance” with a mandate to propose a definition on Internet Governance, to identify public policy issues related to Internet Governance and to clarify the role of the various stakeholders involved. The guest lecture will provide and overview over Internet governance yesterday, today and tomorrow and introduce participants to the complex set of policy issues at stake.

Prof. Kleinwaechter is involved in Internet Governance issues since the early 1990s. Since 2001, he has been involved in ICANN (Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers) in different roles, since 2009 he serves as the Chair of ICANN`s Nomination Committee. He was member of the Steering Committee of At Large (2001/2002). During the World Summit on the Information Society he was a member of the WSIS Civil Society Bureau, co-founded and co-chaired the WSIS Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus. In 2004 he was appointed as a member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance. He is also a member of the “Panel of High Level Advisers” of the “Global Alliance for ICT and Development”, the follow up of the UN ICT Task Force. His research includes more than 100 international publications, including 7 books, on issues of Broadcasting Legislation, Global Information Society, Internet Governance and WSIS.