OECD ministers to discuss future of the Internet

Stuart Corner
Monday, 27 June 2011 15:18

IT Policy - Regulation

The OECD has released a series of documents in preparation for a two day meeting of government ministers, business leaders and industry experts this week to discuss regulation of the Internet and how best to drive continued growth and innovation.

Topping the agenda of the meeting - which will be webcast live from www.oecd.org/internet/innovation on 28 and 29 June - will be the question of maintaining the light-touch regulation that has driven the Internet's growth while at the same time protecting privacy, intellectual property and boosting broadband access, the OECD says.

Other issues to be discussed will include:
- Clarification of the legal liability of Internet intermediaries, such as ISPs, search engines and e-commerce sites;
- Protection of the openness of the Internet, notably in light of concerns that some relatively heavy-handed government initiatives could damage its dynamism and growth;
- Increasing broadband access and competition;
- Reducing the high cost of voice and data roaming nationally and internationally;
- Improving security and privacy.

According to the OECD, "This high-level meeting builds upon the OECD Ministerial on The Future of the Internet Economy held in Seoul, Korea in June 2008. Drawing together leaders from all stakeholder communities, this new meeting aims to continue fostering the development of the Internet economy and to reach a consensus on adopting shared principles for an open Internet economy, through the exchange of best practices in the areas of:
- Supply: encouraging the extension of high-capacity communication networks to reach maximum national coverage and provide access at affordable prices.
- Demand: fostering the use of the Internet in critical areas (health, education, transport, energy) in order to increase efficiency.
- Measurement: benchmarking developments in high-capacity communication networks and quantifying the Internet's impact on the economy in order to facilitate evidence-based policies.
- Principles for an open Internet: encouraging countries to follow a number of basic principles for Internet policy ensuring that the Internet remains open and dynamic.

In preparation for the meeting the OECD has released a series of documents; foremost among them its Communications Outlook 2011.

Others are:
- National Broadband Plans, which examines the plans of OECD member economics and provides an overview of common elements and goals in those plans;
- Next Generation Access Networks and Market Structures, which focuses on developments in broadband market structures emerging from the deployment of high-speed broadband services and the policy and regulatory implications;
- Fibre Access - Network Developments in the OECD Area,  which examines the use of fibre to provide local access networks for the provision of broadband access.

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