November 23, 2005
An Assessment of the WSIS-2/Tunis ‘05 Outcomes
Hans Klein, INternet and Public Policy Project
http://www.ip3.gatech.edu/
The outcomes of the Tunis World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) are significant -- and rather surprising. ICANN emerges from the summit both unchanged and significantly different. After WSIS it has a stronger claim to legitimacy.

ICANN emerged unchanged, in that its institutional structures – most notably its mechanisms for political oversight – were not amended. ICANN continues to operate under the formal authority of a single government, the US. Such a unilateral globalization model is a novel arrangement, quite unlike what is used in other global sectors (e.g. telephony or communication satellites.) The US continues to exercise a kind of unipolar authority it does not have in physical space.

U.S. DELEGATION TO WSIS - PRESS NOTE
Tunis, Tunisia November 18, 2005
Press Note: Nov. 18, 2005 As the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society draws to a close, the U.S. delegation wishes to express its thanks to the Tunisian organizers and the Tunisian people for having succeeded in the considerable logistical challenges of hosting the event. The World Summit on the Information Society provided the world with an opportunity to discuss two vitally important issues – how to bring the benefits of information technology to the developing world and how to ensure a free flow of information that is critical to the success of the Internet.

Message from the CS Plenary list [ Karen Banks]:
Attached is the final version of the draft CS WSIS statement.
I realise that many of you have been following the process remotely, and don't have the benefit of explanations that were given during the plenary meetings in Tunis - hopefully the following will clarify the process for all.
Firstly, there were misunderstandings about the existence of a drafting group that was working online. There was no such group. The drafting group consisted of those who went to CS room 7 during wed/thurs or friday and contributed face to face to writing. We did not have time to do any drafting online.

The live netcast from Wsis 2 go here
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/webcast/english/index.html#
(New Zealand is speaking now)
Canada is urged to speak up on human rights violations in Tunisia.

Background
http://www.wsis-smsi.gc.ca/act/en/phase2.htm

New York, Nov 16 2005 10:00AM
On the same day that the United Nations world information summit opened in Tunisia, three UN human rights experts today urgently called on the North African county's Government to take immediate steps to respect the fundamental freedom of expression in the face of reports of serious abuses.

They urged that the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis serve as "an opportunity to reinforce freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia so that human rights defenders, judges, lawyers and journalists can successfully carry out their activities in a secure, free and constructive climate."

Theme of round tables
The round tables are organized around the overarching theme: "From
Commitment to Action: Implementation after Tunis".
The cluster of issues associated with the overarching theme is meant to
provide guidance for participants, thereby ensuring focus and coherence in
each session.
The following is an indicative list of topics, which the moderators will use to
help guide discussions:

Dispatch from Tunis: A Tale of Two Press Conferences
16 Nov 2005 00:55:21 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch < http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/7123fd6893fc520c944826dfb5110f62.htm >
(WSIS). The international and local reaction continued today, as diplomats fumed, some civil society organizations cancelled their events at the U.N. conference, and Human Rights Watch held two press conferences, one for journalists with WSIS badges, the other for Tunisian and international journalists and advocates who did not attend WSIS. Overnight the international press publicized the crude efforts of the Tunisian government to thwart Tunisian and international civil society organizations' plans to hold an alternate meeting to discuss Internet issues in Tunisia alongside the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The international and local reaction continued today, as diplomats fumed, some civil society organizations cancelled their events at the U.N. conference, and Human Rights Watch held two press conferences, one for journalists with WSIS badges, the other for Tunisian and international journalists and advocates who did not attend WSIS. Early in the day, international NGOs that had scheduled official WSIS events but also supported the alternative Citizens Summit began to announce the cancellation of their official events at WSIS. Rather than present their prepared panels on freedom of expression or gender equity, some accredited NGOs chose instead to focus attention on the thuggish treatment by Tunisian police to advocates, journalists and diplomats who tried to meet to plan the Citizens Summit at various locations in Tunis. At a press conference in the WSIS center to announce this protest, Mouldi Mbarek, the editor of La Presse, a pro-government French language daily in Tunisia, broke into a prolonged harangue on why these groups didn't focus their energy on immigration discrimination in France, taking up the last minutes until the next event.

Internet Oversight: Keep the Internet Free, Innovative and Affordable
Statement by Wolfgang Kleinwächter, University of Aarhus,
on behalf of the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus
at the 4th meeting of the Sub-Committte A of the resumed PrepCom3,
Tunis, November, 14, 2005
Thank you Mr. Chairman for giving me the floor. My name is Wolfgang Kleinwächter. I am a professor for international communication policy at the University of Aarhus. I am also a co-founder of the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus and I was a member of UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). Let me say some words on the Internet oversight function.