2. Internet governance has important impact on human rights and democracy. Whether defined broadly or narrowly, at least human right issues of privacy, freedom of expression, access to information, and the public domain of knowledge are at stake in Internet governance. The effective enjoyment of freedom expression and the right to assembly is tightly linked with the protection of privacy. In addition, the current forum for domain name management is a private party, dominated by a limited number of countries and based on a contract with a single government. This lack of inclusion of especially developing countries also applies to many Internet protocols and standard setting bodies. Any decision resulting from WSIS on Internet governance must ensure that future mechanisms are human rights compliant, both through their composition and governing structures and through regular assessment of their decisions.
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