C6) Enabling environment

Domain Names and Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses

13.b) We ask the Secretary General of the United Nations to set up a working group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005.  The group should, inter alia:

i) develop a working definition of Internet governance;

ii) identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet governance;

iii) develop a common understanding of the respective roles and  responsibilities of governments, existing intergovernmental and international organisations and other forums as well as the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries; 

iv) prepare a report on the results of this activity to be presented for consideration and appropriate action for the second phase of WSIS in Tunis in 2005

13.c) Governments are invited to:^[5]

i) facilitate the establishment of national and regional Internet Exchange Centres;

ii) manage or supervise, as appropriate, their respective country code top-level domain name (ccTLD);

iii) promote awareness of the Internet.

13.d) In cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, promote regional root servers and the use of internationalized domain names in order to overcome barriers to access.

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 1998 - Resolution 101:

Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks: encourages ITU-T to continue its collaborative activities on IP-based networks with ISOC/IETF;

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, October 2002 - Resolution 102:
Management of Internet domain names and addresses.

organize international and regional forums to discuss policy, operational and technical issues on the Internet in general and the management of Internet domain names and addresses in particular.

to continue to liaise and to cooperate with appropriate entities on relevant Internet domain name and address management issues, such as the transition to IP Version 6 (IPv6), ENUM, and internationalized domain names (IDN);

to work with Member States and Sector Members, recognizing the activities of other appropriate entities, to review Member States' ccTLD and other related experiences;

to work with Member States and Sector Members, recognizing the activities of other appropriate entities, to develop a recommendation to clarify the management of the domain ".int";

ITU Plenipotentiary 2002 Resolution 133:
Role of administrations of Member States in the management of internationalized (multilingual) domain names:

1              to take an active part in all international discussions and initiatives on the management of Internet domain names and addresses;

2              to take any necessary action to ensure the sovereignty of ITU Member States with regard to country code numbering plans and addresses will be fully maintained, as enshrined in Recommendation E.164 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, in whatever application they are used;

3              to promote effectively the role of Member States in the internationalization of domain names and address of their respective languages;

ITU Administrative Council 2003 Decision: Council also endorsed a proposal for ITU‑T, in collaboration with ITU‑D, to develop an IP policy manual to advise Member States, especially developing countries, on the management of Internet domain names and related issues.

ITU World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA) 2000 Resolution 20:
Procedures for allocation and management of international numbering resources:

noting

a)             that the procedures governing the allocation and management of international numbering and addressing resources and related codes (e.g. new telephone ISDN country codes, telex destination codes, signalling area/network codes, data country codes) are laid down in the relevant E‑, F-, Q- and X-Series ITU-T Recommendations;

b)             that the principles concerning future numbering and addressing plans to deal with emerging services and relevant number allocation procedures to meet international telecommunication needs will be studied in accordance with the ongoing work programme approved by this Conference for ITU-T Study Groups;

c)             Articles 14 and 15 of the Convention concerning the activities of ITU-T Study Groups and the responsibilities of the Director of the TSB, respectively,

considering

that the assignment of international numbering and addressing resources is a responsibility of the Director of the TSB and the relevant Administrations,

instructs

1              the Director of the TSB before assigning, reassigning and/or reclaiming international numbering and addressing resources, to consult:

i)              the Chairman of the relevant Study Group or if needed the Chairman's delegated representative; and

ii)             the relevant Administration(s); and/or

iii)           the applicant/assignee when direct communication with the TSB is required in order to perform its responsibilities.

In the Director's deliberations and consultation the Director will consider the general principles for numbering and addressing resource allocation, and the provisions of the relevant E-, F-, Q- and X-Series of ITU-T Recommendations.

2              the relevant Study Groups to provide the Director of the TSB with advice on technical, functional and operational aspects in the assignment, reassignment and/or reclamation of international numbering and addressing resources in accordance with the relevant Recommendations, taking into account the results of any ongoing studies.

World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA 2000) Resolution 2:

SG2 is responsible for studies relating to (among others) numbering, naming, addressing requirements and resource assignment including criteria and procedures for reservation and assignment;

SG3 is responsible for studies relating to tariff and accounting principles for international telecommunication services and study of related telecommunication economic and policy issues;

SG13 is responsible for studies relating to internetworking of heterogeneous networks encompassing multiple domains, multiple protocols and innovative technologies with a goal to deliver high-quality, reliable networking. Specific aspects are architecture, inter-working and adaptation, end-to-end considerations, routing and requirements for transport;

SG16 is responsible for studies relating to multimedia service definition and multimedia systems, including the associated terminals, modems, protocols and signal processing.

ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference, March 2002 (WTDC02) Istanbul Action Plan (IsAP) Programme 3:

Advice Member States in formulating relevant national and regional strategies and policies for the use of Internet.

Organize workshops, meetings and seminars to address technical, legal and policy issues for Internet Protocol.

Develop Internet Protocol toolkits for policy makers.

Develop tools to facilitate the exchange of technology and policy issues on Internet Protocol

Assist in developing guidelines on the technology and policy aspects of Internet Protocol

Enhance ICT literacy and building public awareness.

Declarations of ITU Member States at IP Symposia in Africa and Europe: (Implementation of ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2002 Resolution 102)

Kigali Declaration:

We recommend that the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including DNS management and IP address allocation, be considered at the highest political level including at national, sub-regional and Africa Union levels, in cooperation with ITU and other appropriate entities.

We recommend that national policy makers and/or regulators pay particular and urgent attention to the issue of allocation/assignment of Internet names and addresses. It was emphasized that the Internet is a global resource.

We strongly recommend that ITU engage itself in the establishment of an enabling international framework that fully recognizes the sovereign and legitimate interests of all ITU Member States. This includes, inter alia, the allocation and management of ccTLDs and the protection of country names.

We recommend that ITU organize a symposium as early as possible on the topic of establishment of Internet Exchange (IX) points at national and regional levels to keep traffic local and thereby reduce international traffic and related costs. The symposium should address related topics including sharing of country experiences and the necessity of regional interconnection.

Moscow Declaration:

For the consideration of national authorities, ITU is requested to provide examples of best practices and models of national organization structures and, if appropriate, model law frameworks with regard to administration of country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs).

ITU is requested to provide assistance to ITU Member States, upon specific request, in the repatriation of the management of their ccTLDs as well as to provide technical and policy assistance concerning ccTLD management including dispute resolution considerations, the latter in partnership with WIPO.

Recognizing the sovereign and legitimate interests of ITU Member States with regard to the protection of their country names in the DNS, ITU is requested to keep Member States appraised of the current state of discussions concerning implementation of the WIPO recent recommendations in this regard.

ITU is encouraged to enhance its training initiatives with regard to DNS and IP address management and recommend best practices, including with regard to deployment of IPv6, in cooperation with appropriate entities;

Sub-regional workshop on Internet Protocol and IP telephony, Lima, Peru (2001).

Workshop on Regional Internet Protocol Issues for Pacific, Brisbane, Australia, 2001. Participation of 14 countries in South Pacific.

ITU-T Information Documents and tutorial workshops on RIRs, Address Management, DNS, Secure DNS, IPv6, ccTLDs and ENUM.

Several ITU-T Recommendations on Internet Protocol (IP) e.g., services, applications, inter-networking, architecture, access, connectivity, security, multi-protocol routing, network capabilities, resource management, Voice-over-IP, Internet Fax, compression techniques for multi-media transmission over IP networks and videoconferencing over IP, disaster relief.

Sub-regional seminar on Internet and IP telephony, Guatemala, (2002).

Developments regarding Internationalized Domain Names and Management of Internet Domain Names and Addresses (2002).

Circular 160: Questionnaire on Member States’ Experiences with country code Top Level Domains ccTLDs (2003).

Regional Internet Protocol Symposium for Africa, Kigali, Rwanda (2003) to address technical and policy aspects of Internet in general and Domain Names and IP addresses in particular

Regional ENUM and Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Workshop for Asia Pacific in Thailand (2003) (also May 2004 in Brunei).

Regional Internet Protocol Symposium for Eastern Europe CIS and Baltic States, Moscow, Russia (2003) to address technical and policy aspects of Internet in general and Domain Names and IP addresses in particular.

Workshop on the management of “.int” (2003), resulting in SG2 work on a draft Recommendation.

Information Documents on the Implications for numbering, naming and addressing of the convergence of the Internet and the Telco networks and DNS Root server mirror services (2003).

Workshop on Member States’ experiences with country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) (2003).

Publication: “The Essential Report on IP Telephony (2003)” addressing technical, regulatory and policy aspect of IP telephony.

Development of national ICT Policy For the Democratic Republic Congo Republic (2003).

Workshop on Internet Governance to exchange idea address key where there is need for multi-stakeholder consensus on global issues related to the Internet (2004).

Regional Internet Protocol Symposium for Arab region (2004) to address technical and policy aspects of Internet in general and Domain Names and IP addresses in particular.

Development of an Internet Protocol Policy Manual (2004) to provide guidelines to Member States on Internet Protocol Policy issues.

National ICT Policy For Cameroon (2004)

Workshops on Member States’ experiences with ccTLDs and IDN (2004).

SG2 work on ENUM and “.int” (2004 and 2005).

Regional Internet Protocol Symposium for Americas Region (2005) to address technical and policy aspects of Internet in general and Domain Names and IP addresses in particular.

Workshop on Ipv6 to facilitate discussion on the requirements for the successful global implementation of the Internet Protocol, version 6 (IPv6).

C5) Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs

Security, Confidence and E-Legislation

12. Confidence and security are among the main pillars of the information society.

ITU Plenipotentiary 2002 Resolution 130:
Strengthening the role of ITU in information and communication network security:

2) intensify work within existing ITU study groups in order to:

i)              reach a common understanding on the importance of information and communication network security by studying standards on technologies, products and services with a view to developing recommendations, as appropriate;

ii)             seek ways to enhance exchange of technical information in the field of information and communication network security, and promote cooperation among appropriate entities;

Security Standards:

Over seventy ITU Recommendations focusing on security have been published, and the work includes studies into, for example, security from network attacks, theft or denial of service, theft of identity, security for emergency telecommunication.

Projects using advanced security and trust technologies based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) including biometric authentication, smart cards, ITU-T X.509 digital certificates and digital signature techniques have been deployed and operational in Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Cambodia, Georgia, Peru, Senegal, Paraguay and Turkey (business sector). 

There are ongoing projects based on the use of security technologies for IP-based applications in Cameroon, Bulgaria (Phase II), Azerbaijan, Rwanda and Turkey (for the health sector).

Workshops (Policies and Strategies):
A Workshop was organized for 128 countries to share information and best practices in security and trust technologies and policies.

Several national workshops and seminars addressing technology strategies for e-security have been organized in a number of countries (e.g., Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Chile (for Mercusor States), Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay and Uzbekistan.

Model Legislation:

With the collaboration of UNCITRAL, ITU has provided assistance to the following countries in the elaboration of model legislation covering areas such as electronic commerce, data protection, online transactions, digital certification, authentication, encryption: ASETA Member States (Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Mongolia.

ITU organized a New Initiatives Workshop “Creating Trust in Critical Network Infrastructures”, which has been held in Seoul in April 2002.

12.b) Governments in cooperation with the private sector, should prevent, detect and respond to cyber crime and misuse of ICTs…

12.e) Take appropriate action on spam at national and international levels.

Two (2) out of the six (6) priority areas of IsAP Programme 3 address Security, confidence and E-legislation.  ITU-D has been mandated to:
Enhance security and build confidence in the use of public networks for e-services/applications.

Provide assistance to Member States in developing laws and model legislation for e-services/applications, prevention of cyber crime, security, ethical issues and data privacy.

12.f) Further strengthen the trust and security framework with complementary and mutually reinforcing initiatives in the fields of security in the use of ICTs…

Identify security requirements and propose solutions for the development of secure IP infrastructure for e-services/applications on various types of networks using relevant technologies.

12.g) Share good practices in the field of information security and network security and encourage their use by all parties concerned.

Develop tools to facilitate the exchange of best practices on IT security, legal issues…

12.i) Encourage further development of secure and reliable applications to facilitate online transactions.

It is necessary to address the security concerns in order to leverage the potentials of public networks as vehicles for delivering affordable value-added e-services/applications

One of the most important security standards used today is X.509, an ITU Recommendation for electronic authentication over public networks. X.509 is the definitive reference for designing secure applications for the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and is widely used for securing the connection between a user’s Web browser and the servers providing information content or e-commerce services.

C2) Information and communication infrastructure

Global Connectivity and Interoperability

9.j) Optimize connectivity among major information networks by encouraging the creation and development of regional ICT backbones and Internet exchange points, to reduce interconnection costs and broaden network access.

9.k) Develop strategies for increasing affordable global connectivity, thereby facilitating improved access. Commercially negotiated Internet transit and interconnection costs should be oriented towards objective, transparent and non-discriminatory parameters, taking into account ongoing work on this subject.

World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA 2000) Resolution 2:

1.             SG2 is responsible for studies relating to (among others) numbering, naming, addressing requirements and resource assignment including criteria and procedures for reservation and assignment;

2.             SG3 is responsible for studies relating to tariff and accounting principles for international telecommunication services and study of related telecommunication economic and policy issues;

3.             SG13 is responsible for studies relating to internetworking of heterogeneous networks encompassing multiple domains, multiple protocols and innovative technologies with a goal to deliver high-quality, reliable networking. Specific aspects are architecture, inter-working and adaptation, end-to-end considerations, routing and requirements for transport;

4.             SG16 is responsible for studies relating to multimedia service definition and multimedia systems, including the associated terminals, modems, protocols and signal processing.

ITU-T Study Group 3 studies International Internet connectivity: International interconnection for telephony services. The output includes ITU-T Recommendation D.50.

SG3 Rapporteur Group meeting on International Internet Connectivity (April 2004)

ITU has taken a leadership position in the movement to develop Next-Generation networks (NGN), a core component for Internet connectivity and access.

ITU held a Workshop on “Next Generation Networks: This conference addressed both the service requirements of users in a global NGN, and the technical aspects required to develop a common understanding of the trends and requirements needed to combine fixed and mobile networks into a cohesive broadband services platform. 

ITU Study Groups are deeply involved in building the technology framework required to be able to implement NGN services.