IP Law Daily, TECHNOLOGY/INTERNET: ITU working group clears Internet resolutions; India security proposal dropped, (Nov 4, 2014)

By Brian Hammond, TR Daily

A consensus slate of Internet-related resolutions officially cleared the working group on plenary at the International Telecommunication Union's Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South of Korea today without the inclusion of a controversial Internet security proposal authored by the government of India.

The slate of resolutions was considered together at the request of the ad hoc group on Internet resolutions' chairman, Fabio Bigi of Italy, who called it a "very carefully negotiated and delicately balanced package."

Included in the package were four Internet resolutions: Res. 101 on Internet protocol-based networks; Res. 102 on ITU's role in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and management of Internet resources, including domain names; Res. 133 on the role of administrations of member states in the management of internationalized domain names; and Res. 180 on facilitating the transition from IP version 4 to IPv6.

Mr. Bigi told the working group on plenary today that he was "very pleased to report that we have successfully completed the task assigned to the group thanks to the good spirit and cooperation and compromise of all delegations." Mr. Bigi noted that the group held more than 50 hours of meetings in pursuit of agreement on the issues.

One area of controversy involved a proposal from India on the "ITU's role in improving network functionalities for evincing trust and confidence in IP-based telecom networks."

Specifically, the resolution would have instructed the director if the ITU's Telecommunications Standardization Bureau to explore the "development of [a] naming and numbering system from which the naming and numbering of different countries are easily discernible"; to develop principles for "allocation, assignment, and management of IP resources including naming, numbering, and addressing which is systematic, equitable, fair, just, democratic, and transparent"; and to make recommendations on "network capability which ensure effectively that address resolution for the traffic originating and intended to be terminated by the user in the same country/region takes place within the country/region."

The resolution also would direct the bureau to recommend a system that "ensures effectively that traffic originating and intended to be terminating in the same country remains within the country," to recommend "effective ways for maintaining faithful records of transactions through the network," and to study the "weaknesses of present protocols used in telecom networks, and develop and recommend, secure, robust, and tamper-proof protocols to meet the requirements of future networks in view of the envisaged manifold increase in traffic and end-devices in the near future in light of IoT [Internet of things] and M2M [machine-to-machine] needs."

At today's working group of plenary session, Mr. Bigi said, "While some participants share the views of India raised in the proposal, others expressed concern and the group could not reach consensus. The group thanks for the Indian delegation for their proposal and effort at compromise and welcome all participants to study the issue of concern in the appropriate for dealing with Internet-related issues including the ITU, each with their remit."

In a statement to the working group on plenary, the U.S. said the revisions to the four resolutions, "which are the soul of a positive environment of compromise, appropriately update these documents and will help guide us over the next four years.

"We would also like to recognize CITEL, Paraguay, and India for their proposals for new resolutions, each of which generated stimulating conversation in the ad hoc," the U.S. statement said. "We thank them for these contributions and their flexibility in finding a way forward."

Ram Narain, head of India's delegation, said that while India chose not to press for action on the proposal, it hopes to continue discussions on the issues going forward.

The governance of Internet protocol-based networks "has become an important and contentious issue due to several reasons known to all of us," Mr. Narain said. "We proposed a draft resolution to address some of these key issues pertaining to IP-based networks. When we put up the proposal, I had thought that the proposal would contribute in diminishing some of the differences. These issues and their probable solutions are given in our draft resolution, document 98, about which we were ready to take constructive inputs.”

Broadband connectivity must be built on "fairness, justice, and equality," Mr. Narain said. "No telecom network, whether IP-based or otherwise, can function without naming and numbering, which is the lifeline of a network. Their availability in a fair, just and equitable manner, therefore, is an important public policy issue and needs to be dealt that way. We believe that respecting the principle of sovereignty of information through network functionality and global norms will go a long way in increasing the trust and confidence in use of ICT.

"There are number of existing Internet related resolutions, but they only touch the issue in general and, therefore, without focus, concrete action does not happen," Mr. Narain added. "Our resolution was with a view to deal with the issues in a focused manner. Some countries supported our draft resolution, while some others were not able to support it. Some stated since the proposal is a comprehensive one, dealing with a number of important issues, more time is needed for them to develop a view on it.

"Due to the number of proposals with ad hoc group lined up before our draft resolution, there was no time left for detailed discussion on the proposal. Therefore, India agreed not to press the resolution for discussion due to paucity of time, with an understanding that for these issues of concerns for many Member States, contributions can be made in various fora dealing with development of IP based networks and future networks, including ITU," Mr. Narain said. "India would like that discussion should take place on these issues and we look forward to these discussions. We would request that this Statement is included in the records of plenipotentiary-14 meeting."

Mr. Narain expressed thanks for the "cooperation extended by various member states, particularly USA, for appreciating our concerns and all those who shared our concerns and supported the draft resolution."

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure commented, "I cannot resist taking the floor. … This is the ITU we know, where bridges can be built, and I would like to thank everyone who came to Busan with a very positive spirit. It's not only a happy ending. The process was also respectful, fun, and showed friendship among nations, and this should continue."

After approving the slate of Internet resolutions, the working group on plenary also approved: "Decision 11," which addresses the creation and management of council working groups; a new resolution on creating an enabling environment for the deployment and use of information and communications technology (ICT) applications; and a new resolution on a "Connect 2020" agenda for global communications and ICT development.

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