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The World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005, has been the greatest summit ever organized by the UN, by the number of members of “civil society”. It shows a true awareness on the Internet governance subject. The Athens Forum, which will be held October 30th 2006, will perhaps be the place where tensions and tectonic moves that shake the Internet will express themselves. Between Tunis and Athens, the problem of the political stakes of the Internet comes back to the table. As Internet has become the nervous system of our societies, it is not surprising that it raises serious questions on power, at a world level, and therefore that it raises geopolitical questions.

Pierre de La Coste is the founder of Mélusine Conseil, strategic monitoring consultancy for administrations and local authorities. He is the author of L’Hyper-République, report presented to Henri Plagnol, Secretary of State for the Reform of the State (Paris, Berger-Levrault, 2003).