WARSAW – 18 MAY 2011. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk hosted a meeting of Internet community, industry representatives and government officials to discuss progress on the ongoing consultation process regarding Internet governance in Poland. This was already a third meeting held as a result of the overturn of an initial government decision of February 2010 to introduce countrywide blocking of websites containing illicit content.

This time the Prime Minister announced a government decision to assume unconstrained availability of the public information for re-use by the private sector as the general rule of the upcoming implementation of the European directive. “Whatever is created with public money should be owned by the public, including those who want to utilize it at their own discretion. By the same token, whenever public information is created the outcome should also be owned by all those interested”, Mr Tusk said.

The issues discussed today included also Internet blocking schemes, mandatory data retention, regulation of the convergent on-demand services as well as liability of Internet service providers and notice and takedown procedures. The Internet community representatives have welcomed progress on some of the issues as well as indicating items still to be resolved during working meetings starting early next week.

“We have developed a good working relationship now with all those involved in the process. We hope that Poland develops a successful model of open, multi-stakeholder consultation that could be followed all across Europe,” said Marcin Cieślak of Internet Society Poland.

The next meeting with the PM is expected to be held in June, shortly before Poland assumes presidency of the Council of the European Union. Most of the legislation discussed is due to be implemented before a general election scheduled for October this year.

ABOUT INTERNET SOCIETY POLAND

Established in 2000, Internet Society Poland is a national chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC), a nonprofit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. ISOC's key initiatives target the critical issues that affect all aspects of Internet development and growth. They embody ISOC's philosophy that the Internet is for everyone and they provide the organization with a solid foundation from which to positively influence standards development, access, business practices, and government policies.

For more information, please contact Marcin Cieślak, +48 784 322 999, saper@saper.info.