Confederation of European Computer User Associations

CECUA Report for the year 2004

CECUA President’s Message

Dear Colleagues,

During 2004, CECUA continued to focus on several critical user issues and presented the user’s
point of view on several occasions through speaking engagements, papers and presentations. As
The World Summit on Information Society has shown, one of the key issues is Internet
Governance, or WHO RUNS THE INTERNET AND HOW TO RUN IT? CECUA’s position is quite
clear. There are several different stakeholders involved, e.g. Governments, Information and
Telecommunication service provid, individual and corporate Users and more
recently Business who are mers and industryore and more using the Internet for marketing and sales for their
products and services. It is CECUA’s position that all these stakeholders must work together
to develop the Internet for the benefit of everybody. This may be easier said than done. But if
there is a will there is a way and I am pleased to see that CECUA’s position (first presented and
explained in 1998) is more and more being accepted.

There is a general agreement that Internet Governance is far too important to be left to ICANN
alone, a private company in California, USA. ICANN is responsible for technical administration of
the Internet. But technical administration is only a part of Internet Governance, although an
important one. The WSIS working group has identified 40 critical issues involved in Internet
Governance. Those issues need to be addressed but how? The call for expertise in many different
areas and more research has to be done in many of those areas and posing a challenge to the
academic community. In 2004 CECUA joined VOX Internet as a founding member. VOX Internet is
a French initiative with global reach working on a multidisciplinary academic research approach to
legal, economical, social, political, cultural issues involved in Internet Governance. CECUA
believes this is a promising approach and mainly for two reasons. Firstly it involves much of the
non-technology oriented academic community in the development of the Internet and brings with it
a much broader perspective. Secondly, it provides a theoretical multi-disciplinary background
complementing the mostly technical and political discussion of the past.

The industry has a lot at stake. The Internet opens up new markets for products and services. The
stakes are high and European competitiveness is at stake. There is a digital divide in Europe. One
North-South divide and another West-East divide. Bridging those divides is a big opportunity and
also a big challenge for industry. But there are also many obstacles. Those are fewer technical
obstacles than people ones. They need to be overcome. The industry cannot do it alone.

Internet is one of the most wonderful inventions of the previous century offering unparalleled
opportunities for education, entertainment, communication and a wide variety of services. Lack of
official sensitivity to linguistic and cultural issues such as the use of one’s name and using national
characters has turned many users away. Also constant media reporting on Internet fraud and
embezzlement keeps many users from entering the wonderful world the Internet offers. Parents
are concerned about what their children read and see on the Internet. People shy away from
buying goods and services on the Internet because they are afraid that their credit cards will be
stolen. Without users gaining trust and confidence in the Internet everybody loses. That is where
CECUA has stepped in drawing attention to key user issues and promoting debate on them. On
numerous occasions CECUA has presented those issues and discussed them. For details I
recommend to you to read the CECUA activity report from Secretary General Stuart Goold.

CECUA successfully completed its participation in the SCOFI project, a project supported by the
EU Safer Internet Action Plan programme. CECUA was the “user partner” on the project with
“technical partners” from Germany, Holland and Greece. Schools from Greece, Germany, UK and
Iceland participated in the project. Much has been learned from this project and CECUA has
prepared a summary of findings: CECUA as a Project Partner -How CECUA adds value to
projects. Unfortunately the Commission is still only paying a lip service to the user involvement is
IST projects neglecting among other things the competitive advantage user participation brings
with its.

CECUA is now generally being accepted as the only truly independent European User organisation
focusing on non-technical issues. CECUA has found a good partner in the European Internet
Foundation where members of the European Parliament meet to discuss Internet issues. CECUA
has been welcomed as the voice of the users complementing the industry voice at the table. Alain
Moscowitz, CECUA Vice-president, has been spearheading developing the relationship with the
European Internet Foundation and was recently elected to the EIA Board of Management.
The issues under discussion by the EIF call on a broad spectrum of expertise. In response to this
challenge CECUA has created a high level international expert group to deal with the various
issues.

Of course CECUA has maintained its good relationship to the Commission and Committee of the
Regions. One big disappointment has been the delay in introducing the dotEU domain and the
missed opportunity to make it into a European Internet region of trust and confidence. A lost
opportunity by Parliament and Commission not coming back any time soon.

CECUA has been working on extending its reach into the new countries of the enlarged EU.
Particularly with Latvia CECUA has fostered a good relationship to be developed further and the
President spoke at the Baltic IT&T in Riga.

To pursue this course of action we need your continued support. The revenue from member
subscriptions is the major source of income for CECUA to maintain its status and credibility as a
totally independent organisation. Also CECUA needs more human resources from the national
fellow organisations to participate in projects and affairs. We need to maintain the interest and
support of our dedicated colleagues and also recruit new ones. If we manage both successfully we
will be able to sustain and continue to develop a truly unique organisation that CECUA is.

And I would like this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the CECUA Executive, Board
Members, Members and CECUA EIF high level expert Group for their excellent work and
continued support.

Last year Stuart Goold informed the Executive that he wished to retire but agreed to stay on until
the Yearly Report for 2004 was finished. For CECUA this is a big blow and for all of us who have
worked with Stuart Goold through the years a personal loss.

Stuart Goold has run the CECUA Secretariat for many years with efficiency and dedication on a
very low budget after serving as CECUA President and Secretary. With his sharp intellect and
international experience he has been actively involved in formulating CECUA strategies and
policies. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Stuart Goold for his immense contribution to
CECUA. And I am sure that I speak for all CECUA members and also the many people who have
served with him during the years wishing him and his family many successful years to come.

Kind regards,

Dr. Jon Thorhallsson, CECUA President


CECUA Annual Report for 2004

During 2003, very considerable progress has been made by CECUA on all fronts with major
initiatives being spearheaded by the President Dr Jon Thorhallsson and Vice-President Alain
Moscowitz. This very remarkable progress has been made by a very poorly funded organisation
which has provided leadership in the Internet Governance arena both inside and outside Europe.
Just think what could have been achieved if there were more funds available!

The world politicians and legislators are slowly beginning to realise that the whole future of the
Internet and the Global Information Society is being threatened by the activities of a small but
highly technically competent band of criminals, fraudsters, spammers and disaffected young
hackers. Whilst measures are being taken by individual nations and groups of nations such as the
European Union, these have been largely ineffective because the criminals are outside the
jurisdiction of these nations. The trouble is that solutions can only be found and enforced by a
unified international governance and law enforcement. Unfortunately commercial interests and
political differences have meant that there is very little political will to attempt to find a solution.
Further, the advanced nature of the technology involved in the Internet and its rapid development
make it increasingly difficult for non-technical citizens to understand what the issues are and how
to control the adverse effects of technology. However, discussion seems to be dominated by
technical issues which confuse legislators and politicians who still appear to have little or no grasp
of the real threats that the lack of international co-operation leave their citizens exposed to. Whilst
a little progress has been made on curtailing the activities of spammers by successful
prosecutions, the fact the phishing is now growing at an enormous rate shows just how serious and
out of control the situation is.

CECUA continues to lead the debate in Europe following up the principles established at it
Conference on the Global Information Society in 1998 to encourage a better understanding of the
issues involved and to encourage an open debate involving all the major players involved in the
European Information Society. During 2004, further major progress has been made in drawing the
attention of members of the European Parliament to these issues by involvement in the European
Information Foundation. Alain Moscowitz has been particularly active in participating in the EIF
meetings and is representing CECUA as one of its Directors – a very significant development.

CECUA has continued to be involved in the debate about the setting up of the European ALAC (At
Large Advisory Committee of ICANN) is has now been recognised as one of the two European
organisations (with the European Chapter of ISOC) with sufficient capability and interest in forming
the European body. (Because ICANN wanted to form this body from appointed individuals, it now
needs to change its rules so that ISOC and CECUA can become members!). Progress, however,
has been very disappointing. Whilst ICANN has claimed to be trying to find ways for organisations
such as ISOC and CECUA, there has been little or no tangible evidence of any progress.

CECUA has also been very active in promoting the debate on Internet Governance via WSIS (the
United Nations World Summit on Information Technology held in Geneva) and made further input
which has stimulated further and wider discussion of the issues. However, this initiative focuses on
the more technical factors of managing the technicalities of the Internet rather than the very real
societal issues and concerns which CECUA has been stressing.

All in all, CECUA has been largely instrumental in making the need for international Internet
Governance on the world political map and advancing the question from “Do we need Internet
Governance?” to “What form of Internet Governance do we need?”.

Finally, CECUA can congratulate itself for getting Internet Governance firmly established on the
International agenda for politicians after 6 years hard work on a very meagre budget and needs
now to focus the international debate on societal issues rather than trying to wrest control of the
technical management from the US!

Major advances by CECUA during 2004:

The major advances made during 2004 were:

1 Improved links with European parliament, especially by being recognised as a crucial
member of the European Internet Foundation (which has been established as a forum to
link MEPs, the European Commission, industry/commerce and other major players in the
European Internet Society) to represent the needs of Citizens and users.

2 Links with European Commission and GAC (Government Advisory Committee) Secretariat
3 Consolidating the links with the CoR (Committee of the Regions)
4 Continued development and delivery of CECUA policy on Internet Governance

Internet Governance

1 The growing realisation that national governments need to be involved for successful
management of trade and crime on the Internet.
2 Views by CECUA, WSIS, United Nations, European Parliament

Publications during 2004

1 An Information Society for All
2 Identity Trust and Confidence for Paris Conference

Meetings Attended in 2004 (*indicates that CECUA presented a paper)

1 *Destree Conference Namur, March 2005
2 *Paris Conference, February 2004
3 ICANN Meeting Rome, March 2004
4 *Baltic IT&T Rega April 2004
5 *Egeni Paris July 2004
6 EIF meetings – presentation at the EIF meeting
7 Geneva WSIS, September 2004

Where next?

CECUA’s priorities for 2005 are:

1 Involving European Parliament in Internet Governance
2 Establishing the European ICANN ALOC Committee
3 WSIS follow up of the Internet governance issues

…and finally

It is with great regret that I am announcing my retirement from active service! I have now been
involved with CECUA since the mid 1980s. I became the president in 1986 and Secretary General
in 1988 after handing over to Jon Thorhallsson. The time has now come to spend more time with
my much neglected family and hand over to a younger person. Whilst working with CECUA has
been a hard and often exasperating job, it has also been stimulating to have been associated with
so many wonderful people, especially the current officers for so many years. My thanks to you all
for your hard work, friendship and support through out my tenure and I wish you and CECUA every
success for the future.

Stuart Goold