ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING INTERNET GOVERNANCE: A REPORT FROM THE 2007 INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM

This report examines the 2007 Internet Governance Forum, held in November, 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Internet Governance Forum is a UN-sponsored convening that emerged from the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society. The purpose of the IGF is to provide a multi-stakeholder forum for discussion and debate on the wide range of social, political, and economic issues related to Internet governance. This report first provides background on the events and issues leading up to the creation of the IGF. Next, this report examines the IGF’s mandate and how it has been executed up to this point. This report then explores each of the five main themes around which the IGF was organized (openness, access, security, diversity, and critical Internet resources), with special attention paid to the positions and concerns of the civil society sector. The concluding section summarizes the report’s key observations, offers key points of concern as the IGF process moves forward, and considers potential avenues for future research