The warning was
addressed to delegates attending the closing ceremony of the 4th IGF
meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday 18 November, by Herbert Heitmann, Chair
of the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Commission on E-Business, IT
and Telecoms, and Chief Communications Officer at SAP.
It comes ahead of next
year’s five-year review of the IGF, which was set up as an open platform for
businesses, governments, civil society and technical experts to discuss
Internet policy issues such as privacy, security and access costs.
Convened under the
aegis of the UN Secretary General, the IGF is the only forum where all entities
– including business, governments, civil society and the technical community – can
discuss the future of the Internet on an equal footing. This establishes an
environment of open exchange, critical to informed policy-making that takes the
views of all Internet users into consideration.
"The lack of
multistakeholder involvement has often led to ill-informed decision making,
resistance in society and suspicions among the different players," said Heitmann.
"The Internet
Governance Forum, as we know it today has fortunately prevented these
shortfalls so far. It has helped to make the Internet a universally applauded,
appreciated and heavily utilized medium globally. Business wants the IGF to be
continued and strongly opposes changes to its founding principles.”
The IGF should continue
to have the flexibility to continue to evolve to address the needs of all
stakeholders, but it should do so respecting the founding principles.” he told
the conference of over 1,500 people from around the world, who had spent the
previous four days discussing a range of Internet issues, with a focus on
boosting Internet inclusivity, especially for those in developing countries.
The importance of the
IGF as a key driver for informed policy at local level was further backed by
the findings of a Diplo Foundation survey of over 200 IGF participants, from 81
countries, commissioned by AT&T and distributed during the meet.
Results reveal that
almost half (47.28 %) of
respondents found the knowledge gathered through the IGF to be practical enough
for them to make a good start on policy development and implementation in their
respective communities, while a further 15.48 percent found it to be
immediately applicable.
Further data shows that 54 % of
respondants claimed they communicated relevant knowledge from the IGF to members
of their local community, and 23% communicated with representatives to
their local administrations.
Dorothy Attwood, Senior Vice President of
Public Policy and Chief Privacy Officer at AT&T said: “By
bringing together different stakeholder sectors, the IGF provides an
appropriate, effective forum for addressing Internet governance issues. The IGF
has an important role in the future of the Internet."
The creation of
regional and national IGF events and initiatives is also testament to the
forum’s success at stimulating pro-competitive policy, while enabling the free
flow of information, data protection, and security, added Art Reilly, Senior
Director of Strategic Technology Policy at Cisco Systems.
“This one-of-a-kind
environment of multistakeholder exchange helps us to find new understandings,
common interests and opportunities. Because our focus has been on substantively
exchanging experiences and views instead of negotiating text our time here has
been put to good and practical use that can inform participant’s actions in the
aftermath of the IGF,” he said.
BASIS brings business expertise to and
encourages business participation in the IGF. Under the umbrella of BASIS,
business engages with all stakeholders with the aim of spreading the benefits
of the information society more widely across the world.