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The first global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was organized by United Nations in Athens between 30 October and 2 November 2006.

The forum has shown a strong and large opposition to Internet blocking and filtering, putting under pressure repressive governments such as China. The three sessions devoted to content regulation and control have been dominated by the advocates of anti-censorship and access to knowledge that have criticized the state control of Internet content.

Thus, Amnesty International publicly handed a pledge, called Irrepressible Info. that states: "I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and

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On 16-19 October 2006 UNESCO conducted the first multi-stakeholder consultations on the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Lines C3 (access to information), C7 (e-learning), C9 (media) and C10 (ethics) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.

UNESCO is one of the lead facilitating agencies for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines. In accordance with the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and the consultation of possible Action Line Moderators/Facilitators of 24 February 2006 in Geneva, UNESCO has for the last months served as an interim focal point for several Action Lines. At the Paris consultations UNESCO was approved as the formal facilitator for

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Several representatives of the IT, telecommunications, consumer electronics industry, public interest organizations and performers joined in a common statement issued on 5 September to oppose the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations.

The treaty creates a new class of IP rights meant to protect broadcasters from the theft of their TV signals which is considered by the signatories of the statement as "misguided and unnecessary". On their opinion, the issue could have been solved by a "signal protection-oriented approach, ideally focusing narrowly and specifically on protecting signals from intentional misappropriation or theft."

The opponents to the treaty claim that its text may give broadcasters

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A new book on Human Rights in the Global Information Society, edited by Rikke Frank Jørgensen (EDRI board member from Digital Rights DK) was presented 23 June 2006 in Copenhagen.

In the book, a number of scholars, human rights activists and practitioners examine the links between information and communication technology (ICT) and human rights, exploring the ways in which the information society can either advance human rights around the world or threaten them. This includes issues such as freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, discrimination, freedom of assembly, political participation, gender equality, minority rights, and intellectual property. The book was produced

The Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group (IGF AG) to the UN Secretary-General, selected by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 17 May, met in Geneva on 22-23 May to discuss the agenda and the programme of the Athens Meeting (31 October - 3 November 2006).

Members of the group and observers had a two-day meeting meeting under the leadership of Nitin Desai and Markus Kummer.

In an open and transparent discussion, the draft of the program included main topics for each day of the coming IGF meeting in Athens. These are :
- Access ( Internet connectivity, policies and costs with following workshops on: open (file) standards, investment incentives, etc.)
- Security ( building trust online, protecting users from spam, phishing, viruses, maintain security while protecting privacy and workshops with

A special panel discussed the role of the developing countries in the WSIS panel at this year conference Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2006 (CFP 2006) that took place in Washington DC between 2-5 May.

The participants tried to identify what was the place of the developing countries in shaping the future of the Internet in the WSIS debate and what were the results of the debate in these countries, but also the role the Internet could have in the economic and democratic development of these countries.

Bill Drake, director of the project on the Information Revolution and Global Governance, summarized some of the benefits of the WSIS process, among them noticing the first high level dialogue in the international arena on the information society and its role in bringing together civil society active

On 21-22 February the Danish network on WSIS and the WFUNA Task Force on WSIS hosted the international conference "Where to go from Tunis" in Copenhagen. The conference was aimed at following up on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which concluded on 18 November 2005 with an agreement among world leaders on ambitious objectives and promises for the future Information Society.

The Copenhagen meeting specifically focused on evaluating the results of the WSIS process, and assessing the impact that the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society will have on global development in general, and more specifically on the future of the Information Society, particularly from a civil society perspective.

The conference presented keynote speeches and workshops on four concrete

On 16 and 17 February 2006, consultations were held in Geneva to organise the Internet Governance Forum, a result of deliberations during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to include a wider group of stakeholders.

These consultations were held in a genuinely open and inclusive spirit, with about 300 participants representing a large variety of stakeholder groups, including some who would not have been accepted under the stricter accreditation rules that were applied for WSIS.

The consultations were led by Mr. Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser for WSIS, who explained that he intended to listen to the various views about the Internet Governance Forum and then faithfully report to the Secretary-General about the points of general agreement, and