Thousands of foreign leaders have gathered at a small city in the North African desert. What has brought them to Tunis is the UN World Summit on the Information Society running through November 18. Despite access to digital communication, face-to-face meetings still seems the favored way of information sharing (and creating new task forces). But from back home, the curious can still hear a bit of the official and unofficial conversation.
One of the more significant agreements reached was the consensus to maintain U.S. control of domain names (administered by ICANN). As a compromise, a step towards the internationalization of governance was taken through the formation of a multinational forum (with minimal actual power). An interesting sidebar is criticism of human rights abuses by the Tunisian government outside the Summit doors. While arguing aggressively for more inclusive participation on the Internet, it is curious to observe how many inside are connecting the analogy to local rights.
On a lighter note, happily summits are not necessarily all talk and minimal action. Nicolas Negroponte of MIT caused quite a stir with his green laptop. 
The $100 laptops for poor children is hoped to help bridge the digital divide.
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