In Athens today, more than 1500 politicians, NGO and industry representatives, and pretty much anybody else who is concerned with the future of the Internet have gotten together for the four-day inaugural meeting of the UN’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF). This forum was created by last year’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
An important topic of discussion will be who should control the all-important domain name system (DNS). Today, it is in the hands of ICANN, which are formally linked to the U.S. government, but enjoy considerable independence (though the spat around the introduction of an “.xxx” top level domain has recently overshadowed this impression). Some call for these reins to be handed over to the United Nations, but not all are convinced that this would help to preserve freedom of expression in the digital realms (as exemplified by Declan McCullaghs somewhat polemic ZDNet article).

Besides this, topics discussed will likely range from stemming the tide of spam to the role of open standards and Free Software. Some promising panels on the latter issues are those on “Openness” and “Access”, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Different from most other meetings of international bodies, this one has been designed as a multi-stakeholder event. NGOs and industry groups do not only participate as observers (which is the norm in most UN bodies), but are allowed to actively shape the agenda, not least by hosting workshops. The organisers have also made a point of transparency: Transcripts of many sessions are posted on the website.
However, the forum has no mandate to take decisions; it is only supposed to issue recommendations. Future meetings are scheduled in Rio de Janeiro (2007) and Mumbai (2008).

Coverage is available on The Register, the IGF Community Site, the BBC Reporter’s log, and a myriad of other sites.

In a display not only of considerable technical ignorance, but also of particularly bad timing, Greek police last week arrested blogger Antonis Tsipropoulos for linking to (n.b.: not displaying, but linking to) allegedly slanderous material.
(via netzpolitik.org, The Register, and freedom bits)

IP-Watch in September carried an interview with Padmashree Gehl Sampath, a researcher at UNU-MERIT. Based on research conducted into the pharmaceutical industries of a number of developing countries, she points out that innovation and development can and do thrive in the absence of strict copyright and patent regimes.

Though such monopolies on ideas can have a role in a country’s innovation policy, the focus is “selective”.

Gehl Sampath said that in general, “I do not think IP is very important for development.” Intellectual property is only of use to nations once they reach a particular state of development, she said, as history has shown. Even Switzerland did not have a strong IP law until recently, she said.

According to this researcher, developing countries may suffer from lack of innovation for reasons that have little to do with the absence of a strict regime of intellectual monopoly powers:

Developing countries tend to suffer from institutional failures, such as the inability to change as quickly as markets demand, provide instruction in key paths, and other administrative inefficiencies. Absence of infrastructure is a key issue for developing countries as well, she said.

Successful innovation policies also have to take into account a host of other factors, such as R&D subsidies, tax exemptions and promotions for scientists.

Date Start: 2006-11-28 – Time Start: 09:00:00
Date End: 2006-11-28 – Time End: 16:30:00

Venue: Eurovillage (Room London), 80 Boulevard Charlemagne – 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Organiser: Eurocities

The results of the OSS Impact study will be presented at an international Workshop organised by Eurocities in Brussels on Tuesday, 28th of November, 2006. The workshop will bring together eminent players from European public organisations at local, regional, national and EU levels, from industry and SMEs, academics, economists, and policy makers.

There is no fee for participation. However, spaces are limited and registration in advance is required. Confirmation of the registration will be provided subject to availability of places.

For more information and registration, please visit: http://www.publicsectoross.info/events/event_details.php?Id_event=4