The NRO and the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)

The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) have participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) processes for over a year, including regional Prepcoms and the Summit itself. The RIRs have attended as observers, and as subject matter experts with a genuine aim to assist in debates and discussions around issues related to Internet Number Resources in general and to IP addresses in particular.

On 21 October 2004, the Director of ITU TSB published a memorandum, ITU and Internet Governance for comment. This memorandum included a proposal to create a new IPv6 address space distribution process based on national authorities. This proposal was based on certain assumptions about the history and status of IPv4 address space and the current allocation principles for allocating IPv6 address space. The Number Resource Organization (NRO) offered a public response on behalf of the Regional Internet Registries and their communities. The NRO response corrected the proposal’s assumptions about IP address distribution, detailed the flaws of the proposal and described the negative impact this proposal would have on Internet operations.

The NRO response was well supported by RIPE NCC Members, with almost nine hundred explicit expressions of support from members based in more than 60 countries in the RIPE NCC service region. There were also more than 20 explicit expressions of support from ITU-Sector members.

On 11 November 2004, Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations announced the formation of a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) to prepare for the second phase of WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society), to be held in Tunisia in November 2005. The purpose of the group is to develop a working definition of Internet governance, to develop a common understanding about the roles and responsibilities of participants in Internet governance, and to identify public policy issues relevant to Internet governance.

The WGIG is chaired by Nitin Desai, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit and includes 40 members from around the world, representing a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, international organisations, and civil society. The RIRs are represented by Raúl Echeberría, the Executive Director of LACNIC, who has been selected as one of the members of WGIG.

The Number Resource Organization (NRO) has pledged USD 50,000 to the WGIG as part of its continued commitment to this working group and the overall World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process.

"The NRO wants to support the work done in the WGIG to ensure a positive outcome that benefits the global Internet community," said Paul Wilson, NRO Chairman for 2004. "We are keen to support an open working group where all relevant stakeholders are represented equally".

The WGIG is expected to submit a report on its findings to the Secretary-General in July 2005. The report will then be available to the WSIS second phase in Tunis in November 2005.

• More information on the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) is available at:
  http://www.wgig.org

• More information on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is available at:
  http://www.itu.int/wsis/