[Chapter-delegates] New blog post: The Internet of square brackets

Mon Nov 21 07:34:24 PST 2016

Following up on my message below, here is my view of what happened (or mostly didn’t happen) at WTSA.

For what concerns the Internet and its governance, there were some heated discussions, in particular regarding protection of geographic names in the DNS and regarding whether or not to endorse the Digital Object Architecture (DOA), but in the end it was agreed not to make any changes to the resolutions dealing with the DNS and not to endorse the DOA.

So, in my view, the outcome is “no change” for what concerns the Internet and its governance.

An explicit mention of OTT (over the top) services was added to the  mandates of Study Groups 2 and 3, but SG3 was already studying OTT, and I doubt that SG2 will do much regarding that topic.  The exact language regarding SG3 is: “Additionally, Study Group 3 will study the economic and regulatory impact of the Internet, convergence (services or infrastructure) and new services, such as OTT, on international telecommunication services and networks.”

WTSA adopted five Recommendations developed by SG3. The US and some other countries expressed reservations regarding some or all of these Recommendations.  All five Recommendations can be accessed at:

  http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp?lang=en <http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp?lang=en&parent=T13-WTSA.16-C&PageLB=50> &parent=T13-WTSA.16-C&PageLB=50 

Two of the Recommendations relate to the Internet:

 D.52: Establishing and connecting Regional IXPs to reduce costs of International internet connectivity

It is at: http://www.itu.int/md/T13-WTSA.16-C-0037/en

   D.53: International aspects of universal service

It is at:  http://www.itu.int/md/T13-WTSA.16-C-0038/en 

In my view, the most significant of the five recommendations is the one on mobile roaming:

  D.97: Methodological principles for determining international mobile roaming rates

It is at:  http://www.itu.int/md/T13-WTSA.16-C-0039/en 

WTSA also adopted a Resolution on mobile roaming, which calls for the implementation of D.97 and the previous Recommendation on the topic, D.98. 

Since neither Recommendations nor Resolutions are binding, they should be seen as declarations of intent, encouraging countries to take measures to reduce international roaming rates.

WTSA adopted several other new resolutions. The most significant, in my view, are the ones on gender balance, and on consumer protection.

WTSA revised most of the existing resolutions.  In my view, the most significant changes were strengthening Resolution 72 on Measurement concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields; and Resolution 73 on Information and communication technologies, environment and climate change.

The WTSA output document, containing the new versions of all the resolutions, is at:

  http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/wtsa16/Documents/WTSA16_Draft_Proceedings_E.pdf 

A comprehensive review of the changes agreed at WTSA-16 is found at:

  https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/tutorials/Documents/201611/SG%20Leadership%20Tutorial%20WTSA-16%20decisions_rev2-XY.pptx 

(It seems that that file is at present protected by the ITU TIES password system)

People who are not familiar with the way ITU-T works, and who wish to learn more, may wish to consult the presentations made for the new leadership teams, available at:

  http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/tutorials/Pages/201611/default.aspx 

Best,

Richard

From: Richard Hill [mailto:rhill at hill-a.ch] 
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 15:50
To: 'Mark Buell'; chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
Subject: RE: [Chapter-delegates] New blog post: The Internet of square brackets

Dear Mark,

Thank you for this good update, and for your previous update.

Regarding the ITRs, the discussion was about how ITU-T Study Groups should or should not be invited to contribute to the work on the ITRs, not about whether the TSB should be able to provide input, because the Council decision that established the group that will review the ITRs instructed the Directors of the Bureaux (including TSB) “each within their field of competence, with advice from the relevant advisory group, to contribute to the work of the Group, recognizing that the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector has most of the work relevant to the ITRs;”.  

I understand that the Resolution on this issue was agreed today, but we will have to wait until it is presented for formal approval.

It might also be worth noting that other Resolutions that could be of general interest (even if not specifically related to Internet governance) have been agreed and should be formally approved in due course. In particular, revisions were agreed to the resolution on Measurement concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields, and to the resolution on Information and communication technologies, environment and climate change.

Best,

Richard

From: Chapter-delegates [mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org] On Behalf Of Mark Buell
Sent: lundi, 31. octobre 2016 15:14
To: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
Subject: [Chapter-delegates] New blog post: The Internet of square brackets

Dear Members,

We’ve just passed the midpoint of the World Telecommunication Standards Assembly (WTSA), and negotiations on several Internet-related resolutions are well underway. Three issues in particular may be of interest to you. Our new blog post, The Internet of square brackets, provides an update on the current status of the discussions on the Digital Object Architecture, a proposal for the protections of territorial names in generic top-level domains, and the review of the International Telecommunication Regulations. 

You can access the post here: https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/public-policy/2016/10/internet-square-brackets

Thank you,

Mark Buell

Regional Bureau Director, North America

Internet Society

Skype: mark_at_isoc

Twitter:  <https://twitter.com/mebuell> @mebuell and  <https://twitter.com/ISOC_NA> @isoc_na

 <http://www.isoc.org/> www.isoc.org 

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