EXPLORING THE PROPRIETY OF EQUILIBRIUM OF INTERESTS IN GLOBAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE

Introduction Driven by the need for a requisite control of the Internet, world leaders, with the support of the United Nations (UN), floated the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in November 2005 during the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in the Tunisian capital, Tunis. The floatation was sequel to a number of ministerial committee meetings the first of which was held in the Gambian capital, Bamako in 2002. IGF met in 2006 and has since organized several meetings to achieve its objectives. On its website (www.intgovforum.org), it avers it brings together all stakeholders in the internet governance debate - governments, the private sector or civil society, including the technical and academic community - on an equal basis and through an open and inclusive process to debate issues and formulate policies for a proper control of the Internet. IGF reports to the United Nations and interested parties operate under the “Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group” (MAG) which was set up by Kofi Anan, the former UN Secretary General. In 2008, the membership of MAG was 50. “All” and “on an equal basis” are emphasized because they are issues of contention in this paper