The Internet Society (ISOC), Trivandrum chapter, is joining hands with other organisations to equip India for a key role in global Internet governance, as the U.S. government prepares to hand over the Domain Naming System (DNS) to a multistakeholder arrangement.
The transition to the new model under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) later this year will see civil society organisations, businesses, the academia, and governments across the world having a say in Internet governance.
Earlier this year, the U.S. government had confirmed its decision to give up its control over the DNS and hand over power to ICANN. The transition is expected to take place on October 1.
The Trivandrum and Delhi chapters of the ISOC have teamed up with ICANN and the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) to organise the first India School of Internet Governance (inSIG2016) in Hyderabad under a programme aimed at ensuring participation by all stakeholder groups in the country.
The three-day session from October 31 will precede the first post- transition ICANN meeting scheduled to take place in Hyderabad from November 3 to 9.
“For a country like India with a population of over 1.3 billion and a fast growing community of Internet users, it is important that stakeholder communities be strengthened to participate in global Internet governance in the new regime,” says Satish Babu, founder chairman, ISOC, Trivandrum.
“inSIG2016 seeks to create an empowered community that can project the voices of India’s multiple stakeholders, in particular its 462 million Internet users,” Mr. Babu said.
The primary objective of the session, he explained, was to equip civil society organisations in India and the region with the skills needed to participate in Internet governance processes and institutions such as ICANN, the ISOC and Internet Governance Forum.
The 25 representatives from India who complete the training will form a nucleus group that will later impart training to grassroots- level Internet users across the country including students.
