Here are some events I'll be involved with at the Hyderabad IGF, which I think others may also find interesting. The links go to the date and time of the event on the calendar at igf-online.net (which you may comment on with your feedback or information about the event).

Consumers International open meeting

In 2008 Consumers International has launched two related projects to improve Access to Knowledge for consumers. The broader project, funded by Ford Foundation, aims to bolster consumer organizations’ voices worldwide in trade negotiations and other forums where consumer interests are being marginalized through one-sided intellectual property (IP) regimes. The main outcome will be the development of a global consumer dialog on A2K and could lead to future CI campaigns on communications rights.

The second project, funded by the Open Society Institute (OSI), aims to produce an Access to Knowledge Watch List, which will identify countries whose IP policies and practices are harmful to consumers. This Watch List will be used as a counterbalance to the United States' Special 301 Report, which is an annual report highlighting those countries that supposedly do not provide strong enough protection for the interests of US intellectual property owners.

Consumers International invites all its members and friends to attend an information and networking meeting at which these important new projects will be introduced, and the draft criteria for the Access to Knowledge Watch List will be released, ahead of their finalisation later this month.

OECD Workshop on Digital Content Strategies and Policies

At the recent OECD Ministerial on the Future Internet Economy, Ministers agreed to the OECD Policy Guidance for Digital Content to underpin digital content development, access and use, and to provide and inform the context for policy discussion, analysis, review and development. The digital content principles are grouped under three main themes which provide a framework for discussion at the Workshop:

1. Promoting an enabling environment
2. Enhancing the infrastructure; and
3. Fostering the business and regulatory climate.

I will be giving a consumer's perspective at this workshop.

IGC Workshop on the Role and Mandate of the IGF

The role and mandate of the Internet Governance Forum were set out in general terms at the World Summit on the Information Society, particularly in paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda. However since the conclusion of the World Summit, various interpretations of this general statement of the IGF's role and mandate have been put forward and continue to be debated amongst its stakeholders. Some believe that there are elements of the IGF's mandate that have been overlooked or minimised in its operation to date. Others maintain, to the contrary, that the IGF must contain the overreaching ambitions of those who would transform it from a non-binding forum for discussion into something more.

Since IGF Hyderabad, represents the midpoint in the initial 5 year term of the IGF after which the whole IGF process is sought to be reviewed. It will be pertinent at this midpoint to:

1. Review how the IGF has fared till now vis-à-vis its TA mandate, and whether any structure and/or substance corrections are needed for the remaining part of its initial 5 year mandate; and
2. What are the emerging views on post-2010 arrangements for the IGF, if one is at all needed?

I will be a panelist representing civil society at this workshop, and will try to explain the essential position of my thesis in a manner that is applicable to that the other stakeholder representatives present.

Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GIGANET) Symposium

I will be presenting a poster presentation at the GIGANET Symposium on "The Space Law Analogy to Internet Governance". As outer space, like the Internet, is a global resource available for the use of all humanity, its governance has been used by a number of authors as an analogy to Internet governance. However the distinct manner in which each of these governance regimes evolved has resulted in a number of significant differences between the body of law embodied in each regime, the actors participating in it, and the institutions and processes by which substantive issues are addressed. My paper outlines these differences and concludes by considering some of the lessons that might be drawn from each regime to inform the governance of the other.