Opening speech at the conference “Internet Governance at the Crossroads”

Ladies and gentlemen!

Welcome to all of you who have come to discuss “Internet Governance at the Crossroads” here in winter cold Oslo. On behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Communications I would like to give you all a very warm welcome.

I would also like to thank the Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law and UNINETT Norid for the invitation to open the conference. It is a great honor for me to have this opportunity.

The conference will focus on Internet Regulation. In the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications we face the key issues which will be discussed during this conference, on a daily basis.

The Ministry has the overall responsibility for the framework conditions for electronic communications activities in Norway. The Ministry’s field of responsibility includes long-range planning, research and analysis as well as regulatory development and budgetary matters in the sector of electronic communication. We are also the “complaints board” for decisions made by the Norwegian NRA – the Post and Telecommunications Authority (PT), and we work closely together with the PT in monitoring and regulating the telecommunications markets in Norway.

The PT is formally an agency under the Ministry. It is a pleasure to congratulate the agency for having obtained the position as number 3 on ECTAs 2008 scorecard report, which is published today.

Information society
ICT - with a special focus on the Internet - is the foundation of the global information society. During the last years we have all experienced how the massive growth of the information society has changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. At least until the “credit crunch”, small business ideas could turn into huge corporations fully equipped to match powers with the old giants. This could hardly have been done without a well developed Internet platform, like the one we benefit from in today’s society.

Information sharing
Information is shared on a worldwide basis and in just a split of a second. Such information is essential for us in our daily work and functioning, and I think most people now are using the Internet as a source of information that is no longer just “nice to have” but also on a “need to have” basis – although, of course, both reasons exist!

Messaging, on-line societies and video-streaming are no longer reserved for the young ones; we have all gained the possibility to receive news on “Twitter” from all over the world, as we have recently seen from Gaza. This possibility is given to us all even before the established news corporations are able to get on board. And we are all able to get an inside view of the situation in distant and isolated parts of the world by watching private videos from “YouTube’s-website”.  A recent example is the situation in Mumbai. The Internet plays an important role in spreading information and is probably now the most important communication channel we receive information from.

Most important! The free flow of information is an essential key element in a democratic society. And maybe this free flow of information will stand out as one of the most important advantages in this millennium?

Freedom of expression
As we are all gathered here in the “house of literature”, a house dedicated to the art of writing and reading, I think it is important to address how “freedom of expression” has played a significant role in the evolvement of today’s developed countries.

Access to Content
This leads me on to one of the essential issues regarding Internet governance. Internet is an important access to content, and access to content is becoming increasingly important. Since the last Internet Governance Forum, access has been one of the main issues, and it is still one of the major challenges in moving the Internet society forward; how to ensure access to the rest of the world.

The Internet has proved an ability to bring us news and information that could not be obtained before or at least not as readily. Although the quality and neutrality may sometimes be questioned, Internet is important for the freedom of speech and provides an opportunity for people to make their voice heard. It is important to protect the Internet so that it will stay as open as possible. That is why it is necessary to separate the regulation of transmission and access from the regulation of content. We in the Ministry of Transport and Communications do not regulate content. This separation is important from a regulatory point of view. Especially, the issue of “blocking of content” has in several instances been drawn up in the “net neutrality debate”.

Net Neutrality
An argument that has been held in favour of increased net regulation is that the current regulation does not adequately protect “net neutrality” as certain Internet providers may act as "gatekeepers" with respect to content and applications within their own networks. Opponents of regulation on the other hand may claim that regulation will harm innovation and the development of the Internet.

Traditionally, the Internet has been regulated only at a minimum level. I presume that an important issue to both opponents and supporters of regulation of “net neutrality“ is that we need to preserve the dynamics and power of innovation among the many actors involved in the development of new services on the Internet.

Concerning net neutrality, it is important to find a “golden means” – a balance between, on the one hand: the network providers’ need to bundle network and services to get return on their investment, and on the other hand: the consumers’ right to access the services they choose. We endorse the European Commissions’ approach to Net neutrality, but in our view it needs to be more substantial.

A challenge for the regulatory authorities is thus to ensure this power of innovation, technological development, freedom of choice and the right to "freedom of speech", without suffocating or limiting the incentives to continue with capacity development, service development and investments in infrastructure. I take it that these questions will be at the centre of discussions in this conference.

ICANN – domain names
These literary surroundings may also remind us of the language barriers which exist across the world today. The number of languages represented on the Internet is still rapidly increasing. ICANN has now started its “Fast Track” process for the implementation of domain names in other scripts than Latin, which I believe will be of great importance for the further evolvement of the internet society. In a small country like Norway we feel it is important to promote our origin, traditions and cultural diversity. I hope the “Fast Track” process can help other countries achieve this as well.

We do face challenges in proposing ways and means to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet on a global basis and to secure critical Internet resources worldwide. And these challenges can only be met on the basis of a well functioning global collaboration between the governments and the civil society.  As a former delegated to the World Summit on the Information Society I’m highly focused on the outcome of this process and I’m especially looking forward to hear more about the aftermath of WSIS during the panel debate later this afternoon.

Broadband access
Governments take an active part in laying the groundwork for providing Internet availability and access.

Norway has one of the highest percentages of high-speed broadband access for households in the world. As a country we were among the first to support the idea of a worldwide computer network. Our citizens were among the first wave of Internet users, and are very advanced users today. We believe broadband access is an important driver for growth, trade and information. This is high up on the political priority list in the Ministry.

It is our belief that access to the Internet is a necessity for the next generation’s social interaction and information gathering – as well as for our senior citizens!

And that is why a workshop like this is an important forum for exchanging views on the future governance of the Internet.

During these two intensive days you will discuss important issues such as liberalization of the domain-name space, globalization of Internet Governance and not at least, key issues regarding net neutrality, online gambling and WHOIS services.

I truly expect that you will gain interesting information and have a fruitful outcome of the discussions on these important issues at this conference. I am sorry that I do not have the time to stay very long – unfortunately my calendar does not make it possible, but I have very able people from the ministry here who will update me and the Ministry on the results of the conference, and who will take part in the discussions on behalf of the Ministry.

I wish you all my best for the conference!

Thank you!