WSIS: Public consultation

Interested parties are invited to attend a public forum on the United Nations (UN) World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The Australian Government is seeking to update the public on WSIS developments and obtain feedback from the Australian public to assist in developing its position for WSIS. A focus for discussion will be the 18 July 2005 report of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

WSIS is a UN summit considering a range of information and communication technology (ICT) issues. It is being held in two phases. Phase 1 concluded in Geneva in December 2003 and produced a declaration of principles for development of a global information society and a detailed action plan.

Phase 2 of WSIS will conclude in November and will discuss the use of ICT for development (ICT4D) and Internet governance issues. Internet governance includes institutional arrangements, management of critical Internet resources, international Internet charging, and Internet use and misuse including privacy, freedom of expression, spam and cybercrime. These issues are addressed in the WGIG report.

Further information on WSIS and WGIG, including the WGIG report, is available at www.dcita.gov.au, www.wsis.org and www.wgig.org.

Melbourne

Thursday, 4 August 2005
2.00–5.00pm
Ramada Hotel
270 Flinders Street, Melbourne

For more information and to register please email matthew.byrne@dcita.gov.au.

If you wish to provide written comments to DCITA on the WGIG report for consideration in formulating the Australian position, you are requested to do so by 8 August 2005. Alternatively, you can provide comments directly to the WSIS Executive Secretariat at wsis-contributions@itu.int.

SOURCE: DCITA