The Debate on Internet Governance: What’s at Stake?

About

This joint OII-ISOC forum is designed to inform debate on the future of Internet governance in the UK and globally. It provides an opportunity for participants from industry, government, academia and civil society to contribute to a discussion on such questions as:

• Can the Internet continue to be governed by self-regulation?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of existing Internet governance organizations, such as ICANN, IETF and the W3C? How well are various stakeholders, such as civil society, represented?
• Should international organizations, such as the ITU, play a larger role in governing the Internet?
• Does the regulation and governance of different issues, from infrastructure to content, require different governing mechanisms?
• Who has the expertise and legitimacy to resolve technically complicated issues on a global scale?
• What difference will alternative governing structures and processes make? What is at stake?

This joint OII-ISOC forum has received generous support from Afilias Global Registry Services. It contributes to the OII’s ESRC Seminar Series: Critical perspectives on the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS): Civil society participation issues.