mon understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of Political and Regulatory Forces in Telecommunications the various stakeholders. The WGIG is composed of 40 individuals from govern- ment, the private sector, and civil society, appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November 2004. The WGIG report, published in June 2005, provides a working definition of Internet governance: "Internet governance is the development and application by Governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respec- tive roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and pro- grammes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet" (Report of the Working Group on Internet Governance, June 2005, www.wgig.org/docs/WGIGREPORT.pdf) Not everyone agrees with the WGIG's definition, and the heated debate contin- ues. Regardless, the WGIG was asked to present the result of its work for the sec- ond phase of the WSIS conference held in Tunis in November 2005. A dispute over control of the Internet threatened to derail the conference. However, a last-minute decision to leave control in the hands of the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN; www.icann.org) for the time being avoided a major blowup. The participants of the November 2005 WSIS conference agreed on a compromise to allow for wider international debate on the policy principles and agreed to set up an international Internet Governance Forum (www.intgovforum.org), with a purely consultative role, to be convened by the U.N. secretary-general. Internet governance is an area of critical concern, and you should monitor the ongoing activities of the associated groups. To understand the issues under consideration, read the complete WGIG June 2005 report (www.wgig.org/docs/ WGIGREPORT.pdf). In addition, the Center for Democracy and Technology Web site (www.cdt.org/dns) explores many of the controversial issues in this area. Standards Organizations Networking is an international phenomenon, and recommendations