Business Leaders Warn Against Demise of Internet Governance Forum

CAIRO, November 19 - Business leaders have issued a stark warning that the demise of the
UN-linked Internet Governance Forum (IGF) could impede the ability of the
Internet to drive economic growth and improve societal benefits.

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 1,000 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 percent) 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 percent of responders claimed they
communicated relevant knowledge from the IGF to members of their local
community, and 23 percent 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.

About ICC

The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative
business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member
companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of
private enterprise.

A world network of national committees keeps the ICC International
Secretariat in Paris informed about national and regional business
priorities. More than 2,000 experts drawn from ICC's member companies feed
their knowledge and experience into crafting the ICC stance on specific
business issues.

The United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and many other
intergovernmental bodies, both international and regional, are kept in touch
with the views of international business through ICC.

For more information please visit: www.iccwbo.org

    For further information, please contact:
    Dawn Chardonnal
    ICC Communications Manager
    Tel : +33(0)1-49-53-29-07
    Email : dawn.chardonnal@iccwbo.org

Dawn Chardonnal, Communications Manager of ICC, Tel: +33(0)1-49-53-29-07, dawn.chardonnal at iccwbo.org