# Internet Governance/Appendix 1: Selected Organizations Involved in Internet Governance

http://www.atu-uat.org/ | Forum of 46 African countries and 10 Associate Members (comprising telecom operators)
Lobbies on behalf of its members for globally allocated ICT resources such as Internet addresses
Represents the interest of African countries at international forums
Supports policy harmonization amongst its member States and promotes regional market integration
Founded in 1977, headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya |- | CENTR - Council of European National TLD Registries
http://www.centr.org/ | Association of top-level country code domain registries, primarily in Europe, but also open to non-European ccTLD managers
Lobbies on behalf of ccTLDs at Internet governing bodies like ICANN
Advises European governments and EU on ccTLD policy and regulatory matters
Founded in 1998, headquarters in Brussels, Belgium |- | CERN - Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire
http://public.web.cern.ch/ | A fundamental physics research organization of 20 Europeans countries focused on particle physics
HTML, HTTP and the World Wide Web were developed here
Founded in 1954, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | CERT - Coordination Center
http://www.cert.org/ | Funded by the US federal government to coordinate between Internet security experts during serious attacks on the Internet
Conducts vulnerability analysis of Internet infrastructure and informs the larger Internet community of possible dangers
Founded in 1988, headquarters in Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
There are many similar organizations formed in many jurisdictions around the world in emulation of this concept |- | CITEL - Inter-American Telecommunications Commission
http://www.citel.oas.org/ | Composed of 35 member states in the Americas and 200 associate members
Evaluates regulatory, technical and legal mechanisms to promote harmonization across member States
Develops regional standards for value-added networks
Promotes coherence of certification procedures for telecommunication equipment
Founded in 1923, headquarters in Washington DC, USA |- | CoE - Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/ | Distinct from the EU, this organization has as members 46 countries from Europe
It was founded, among other things, to develop continent-wide agreements to standardize member countries’ social and legal practices
Finalizing world’s first international convention on cybercrimes
Promotes e-governance and data protection
Founded in 1949, headquarters in Strasbourg, France |- | Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/
| Non-profit organization funded by foundations and led by experts in cyberlaw and IPR
Offers non-restrictive licenses to owners of creative work to share their work on the Internet
Developed Web application to allow creative works to be made available in the public domain
Founded in 2001, hosted at the Stanford Law School, California, USA |- | DiploFoundation
http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/
| Community space for dialogue on Internet governance
DiploFoundation is a non-profit organisation which works to assist countries to participate meaningfully in international affairs, through education and training programs, research, and the development of information and communications technologies for diplomatic activities.
Founded in 2002 as an independent non-profit foundation by the governments of Malta and Switzerland |- | DITE -Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise UNCTAD
http://www.unctad.org/ Templates/StartPage.asp?intItem ID=2983&lang=1 | Part of the United Nations system, this division focuses on foreign direct investment and technology
Produced study on intellectual property rights and its impact on developing countries
Assists developing countries to building international competitiveness
It runs programmes to encourage the use of new technologies
Founded in 1964, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/ | Non-profit organization composed of lawyers, IT experts and volunteers
Defends civil liberties in cyberspace
Active in a broad spectrum of rights issues in cyberspace including: File-sharing, Digital Rights Management, Internet governance, privacy and surveillance, spam and intellectual property rights
Founded in 1990, headquarters in San Francisco, USA |- | ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute
http://www.etsi.org/ | Non-profit European standards body for telecommunications and ICTs
Composed of 688 members from 55 countries inside and outside Europe, including manufacturers, network operators, administrations, service providers, research bodies and users
Works closely with ITU for developing telecom standards
Part of consortium that developed IPv6, 3G and GSM standards
Founded in 1988, headquarters in Sophia-Antipolis, France |- | GAC - Governmental Advisory Committee of ICANN
http://gac.icann.org | Composed of representatives of national governments, multinational and treaty organizations attached to ICANN
Provides policy input to ICANN on ccTLD names
Conveys concerns of governments on how ICANN’s policies interact with national laws or international agreements
Founded in 1999, with a secretariat staffed at various times by the Australian government, the European Commission and potentially others |- | GBDe - Global Business Dialogue on E-commerce
http://www.gbde.org/ | Business initiative led by CEOs to develop global policy framework for e-commerce
Promotes harmonization of country regulations for uniform treatment of e-commerce activities
Developed recommendations for micro-payments and secure online transactions
Founded in 1999, headquarters in Vermont, USA |- | GICT - Global Information & Communication Technologies
http://info.worldbank.org/ict/ | Spearheads the World Bank’s efforts to expand access to ICT infrastructure in developing countries
Provides policy advice to governments in the area of telecom liberalization, e-commerce and e-government
Provides loans to subsidize the extension of the ICT infrastructure in rural and poor areas by private sector operators
Founded in 1995, headquarters in Washington DC, USA |- | IAB - Internet Architecture Board
http://www.iab.org/ | A 13 member technical reference group under ISOC, officially appointed by the ISOC Board, nominated by IETF
Provides guidance and advice to ISOC and ICANN, among others, on technical, architectural and procedural matters related to the Internet
Provides oversight of the process used to create Internet standards and protocols
Issues guidelines on future strategies as they relate to the Internet’s architecture
Founded in 1984, virtual group |- | IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
http://www.iana.org/ | IANA created in the earliest days of Internet development and run by Jonathan Postel until his untimely death in 1998. It functioned under the guidance of the IAB
Integrated into the ICANN organization on its founding in 1998
Allocates Internet address space to RIRs
Oversees the operation of the root name servers
Oversees the DNS including creation of new TLDs, redelegation of ccTLDs. Updating of the root zone file
IANA was an extension of the original ARPANET “Numbers Czar” position occupied by Jonathan Postel in 1969. Upon its creation around 1975, it was operated by USC Information Sciences Institute, Marina del Rey, CA until it was integrated with ICANN |- | ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
http://www.icann.org/ | Coordinates the Internet’s systems of unique identifiers: domain names, IP address, protocol port and parameter numbers
Oversees the distribution of unique identifiers
Fosters competition within domain name registry industry
Creates new top-level domain names, delegation of ccTLDs
Oversees the DNS root name server system
Founded in 1998, headquarters in Marina del Rey, California, USA |- | ICCP - Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy, OECD
http://www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_34223_1_1_1_1_1,00.html | Arm of the OECD, composed of 30 developed countries, that addresses issues arising from the “digital economy”
Produces research publications and statistics to contribute to more informed ICT policy-making among member States
Analyses the broad policy framework underlying the “e-economy”, the information infrastructure and information society
Founded in 1947, headquarters in Paris, France |- | IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
http://www.ieee.org | A non-profit technical association of engineers numbering 360,000 from 175 countries
It is a leading technical authority and standards body for telecommunication, computer engineering and other areas
Developed 802.11b developed for the Wireless LAN or WiFi
Founded in 1961, headquarters in New York, USA |- | IESG - Internet Engineering Steering Group
http://www.ietf.org/iesg.html | Group composed of members from IETF and functions under ISOC
Provides the final technical review of Internet standards
Issues the final approval of specifications as Internet standards
Responsible for day-to-day management of the IETF and monitors quality of its output
Founded in 1989, virtual group |- | IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force
http://www.ietf.org/ | Structured as a loosely self-organized group of people whose leadership is appointed by IAB and functions under ISOC
Concerned with developing, testing and implementing new Internet technical standards
The technical work gets done in its working groups organized by topic (routing, transport, security, etc.)
Proposes standards to IESG for final approval
Founded in 1986, secretariat operated since 1988 by CNRI in Reston, Virginia, USA |- | Information Society and Media Directorate-General, EU
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/ | A unit of the EU that produces research and policy initiatives in the area of Information Society technologies
Initiated eEurope Action Plan touching number of areas including broadband, e-business, e-government, spam, privacy and data protection, and security for adoption by EU member States
Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium |- | ISO - International Organization for Standardization
http://www.iso.org | Composed of national standards institutes from 148 countries
The world’s largest developer of standards
Its principal activity is the development of technical standards
Developed two-letter code standard for representing country name on which country top-level domain names are based
Founded in 1947, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | ISOC - Internet Society
http://www.isoc.org/ | International organization composed of 100 organizations and 20,000 individuals that addresses technical and policy challenges facing the Internet
Organizational home for groups responsible for the Internet’s architecture and standards-IAB, IETF, IESG, and IANA, etc.
Provides forums to discuss the future evolution of the Internet
Sponsors training workshops in developing countries
A global clearinghouse for information on the Internet
Founded in 1992, headquarters in Reston, Virginia, USA |- | ITU-D - International Telecommunication Union Development Bureau
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ | The development arm of the ITU, composed of member States and private organizations like telecom operators and equipment manufacturers
Provides assistance to developing countries in the field of ICTs
Helps developing countries evolve telecommunication policies and strategies
Mobilizes technical, human and financial resources needed for extending network infrastructure and services
Supports initiatives to bridge the digital divide
Founded in 1989, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | ITU-R - International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication
http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/ | The arm of ITU, composed of member states and private organizations, that deals with the allocation of finite telecommunication resources
Allocates bands of the radio frequency spectrum, frequency and satellite orbits for a variety of services including fixed and mobile telephony, broadcasting, amateur radio, space research, meteorology, global positioning systems, etc.
Developed the IMT 2000 standard for broadband mobile Internet and wireless data transmission
Founded in 1992, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | ITU-T - International Telecommunication Union Standardization
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/ | The standardization arm of ITU, composed of member States and private organizations like telecom operators and equipment manufacturers
Provides global telecommunication standards by issuing recommendations
Issues standards from numbering plans and accounting rates to the functioning of circuit-switched networks, packet-based voice and data networks
Founded in 1992, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | MINC - Multilingual Internet Names Consortium
http://www.minc.org/ | A non-profit, non-governmental, international organization that focuses on developing and promoting multilingual Internet domain names and keywords
Composed of individual members from all continents of the world and from different sectors – industry, academia, research, government, investors and international organizations
Promotes internationalization of Internet names standards and protocols by coordinating with other international bodies like ICANN, ITU, IETF and as well as language groups
Founded in 2000, headquarters in Jordan |- | NRO - Number Resource Organization
http://www.nro.net | Formed in 2003 by the four RIRs – APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC and RIPE NCC
The purpose of the NRO is to undertake joint activities of the RIRs, including joint technical projects, liaison activities and policy coordination
Aims to protect the unallocated Number Resource pool; promote and protect the bottom-up policy development process
Acts as a focal point for Internet community input into the RIR system |- | RIPE NCC
http://www.ripe.net/ | A non-profit membership organization that supports the infrastructure of the Internet through technical co-ordination in its service region
The RIPE NCC service region consisting mainly of ISPs, telecommunication organizations and large corporations located in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and African countries
Acts as a RIR and allocates and assigns IP address space and other Internet numbers to its members
Founded in 1992, headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands |- | SIP forum- Session Initial Protocol forum
http://www.sipforum.org/ | The forum is made up of individuals, network engineers, application developers and other Internet professionals
Focus is on developing global Internet communications based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
Advances the adoption of products and services based on SIP, namely Internet technologies such as IP phones, PC clients, SIP servers and IP telephony gateways
Explicitly not a standards-setting body. IETF defines the core SIP protocol
Founded in 1996, headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden |- |UN ICT Task Force - United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force
http://www.unicttaskforce.org | A UN task force supported by the Heads of State and governments of all UN member States
Formulates strategies for the UN to use ICTs for development
Launched initiatives to bridge the global digital divide
Established Working Group on ICT governance for helping developing countries play a role in global ICT policy-making
Founded in 2001, headquarters in New York, USA |- |UNDP-ICTD – United Nations Development Programme- Information, Communication Technologies for Development
http://sdnhq.undp.org/it4dev/ |ICTs for development is a crucial component of UNDP’s global development strategy
Assists developing countries in designing and implementing strategies for leveraging ICTs for development
Supports WSIS activities through substantive contribution and logistical help
Assists developing countries to make use of Free/Open Source software
Links deployment of ICTs to poverty reduction strategies
Founded in 1992, headquarters in New York, USA |- |UNESCO CI - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - Communication and Information Sector
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en | Embedded within UNESCO, its programmes focus on promoting universal access to ICTs, especially in developing countries
Promotes multilingualism on the Internet
Supports initiatives to fight poverty through ICTs
Founded in 1990, headquarters in Paris, France |- |W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
http://www.w3.org/ | The Consortium consisting of 350 members is mainly composed of organizations and government entities
Develops Web application standards and guidelines to allow hardware and software used to access the Web to work together
Developed simple mechanism to add style (e.g. fonts, colours, spacing) to Web pages via Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Launched Web Accessibility Initiative to make the Web accessible to all regardless of physical disabilities
Developed XML that allow interoperation between different software applications, running on a variety of platforms
Founded in 1994, collaborative headquarters in Sophia-Antipolis, France, MIT, Massachusetts, USA and Keio University in Japan |- | WGIG - Working Group on Internet Governance
http://www.wgig.org/ | WGIG is a working group of WSIS tasked with developing a working definition of Internet governance and to identify public policy issues surrounding this topic
The group’s final report will be presented in the second phase of WSIS meeting in Tunis, November 2005
Founded in 2004, located within the UN Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland |- | WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization
http://www.wipo.int/ | One of the specialized UN agencies consisting of 181 member States tasked with protecting intellectual property rights globally
Promotes the protection of intellectual property (inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce) throughout the world through cooperation among States and other international organizations
Played an early role in trademark disputes relating to domain names
Co-developed with ICANN UDRP used to arbitrate trademark-based domain name disputes
Founded in 1979 , headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |- | WSIS - World Summit on Information Society
http://www.itu.int/wsis/ | Summit conducted in two phases by UN and ITU to discuss strategies to bridge the digital divide between developing and developed countries
Participants at the Summit consisted of UN member States, civil society groups and the private sector
First phase of Summit discussed how to establish the foundations for an Information Society globally
Explored strategies for using ICTs for promoting development goals of the Millennium Declaration
Set up a number of working groups that are exploring issues related to Internet governance, intellectual property rights, management of the DNS, etc.
Founded in 2001, rotating summits, no permanent headquarters |- | WTO - World Trade Organization
http://www.wto.org/ | A global international organization consisting of 148 countries dealing with the rules of trade between nations
Forum where trade agreements are negotiated and signed
Has mandate to examine all trade-related issues relating to global electronic commerce
Negotiated telecommunications agreement which liberalized telecom markets globally and introduced greater competition
Founded in 1995, headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland |}