Worldwide Internet Governance forum begins today
October 30th, 2006 by Lloyd Gofton
The first Global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) kicks off today and will run for the next five days in Athens, as reported by the BBC.
The IGF was established by the United Nations at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. As a multi-stakeholder group, the IGF includes 1,500 delegates from governments, organisations (public and private) and individuals, who will debate current and emerging issues on a global scale.
The four main agenda points are: security, diversity, openness and access.
It is hoped the forum will move forward with the varied discussion areas of Internet Governance and stimulate separate debates. Although it has no decision making powers, I think this is an excellent idea to get a real global perspective on how the web is evolving.
If you would like to keep up to date with the discussion, the BBC is running a reporter’s log from the forum here. Furthermore, if you would like to get involved, you can access the IGF’s discussion space here.
