<div dir="ltr"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">We can't overlook that the United States is also a member of the Freedom Online Coalition. Not to mention say Tunisia, which is ranked a full point lower than India in the Freedom House survey. Given that the "Internet freedom" slogan has suffered a serious blow from the NSA revelations, it is quite debatable what was the "wrong direction" to take in opposition to the status-quoist position on Internet governance taken by the FOC states.</span></blockquote>
<div class="gmail_extra"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_extra"><font face="arial, sans-serif">I could not agree more. Even the much-vilified ITU treaty did not really undermine Internet freedom (Article 1.1 (a) says </font><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17.90625px;text-align:justify">“These Regulations do not address the content-related aspects of telecommunications”) in the end.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#000000" face="Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:17.90625px"><br></span></font></div><div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#000000" face="Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:17.90625px">It appears from her speech that President Rousseff does want UN oversight of countries with respect to the Internet. Given that her concern seems to be that there should be some accountability with respect to human rights, I sympathise.</span></font><span style="line-height:17.90625px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial,FreeSans,sans-serif"> The Indian government seems to be in I-told-you-so mode now, pointing out quite correctly that while everybody else was being told off for human rights violations, the countries telling them off were also committing huge violations. While I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that one nation's human rights violations somehow justify another's (I still would not support the resolution that India presented to the UN last year), I can see why Brazil and India are unwilling to accept do-nothing as the best model. </span></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#000000" face="Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:17.90625px"><br></span></font></div><div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#000000" face="Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:17.90625px">I have never been comfortable with thinking about issues purely in terms of who is on which side. This was my discomfort with the ITRs debates - that many were stepping away from the actual text and merely pointing out who was signing as an argument for not signing. Isn't it better to just discuss the specifics of treaties and organisations and determine on that basis whether it is necessary, helpful or terrible to subscribe to them? </span></font></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"><br></div>Best,</div><div class="gmail_extra">Chinmayi</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 7:57 AM, Jeremy Malcolm <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jeremy@ciroap.org" target="_blank">jeremy@ciroap.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><div class="im">
<div>On 16/10/13 08:49, Eduardo Bertoni
wrote:<br>
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<p>For
instance, if Brazil were to join the <a href="http://www.freedomonline.tn/Fr/home_46_4" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(157,1,6)" target="_blank">Freedom
Online Coalition</a>, a group of governments committed
to advance Internet freedom, it would send a positive
message to the international community. Countries that
join the coalition endorse a statement supporting the
principle that all people enjoy the same human rights
online as they do offline. From Latin America, only Costa
Rica and Mexico are part of the coalition. On the other
hand, other countries that are not members of the
coalition, such as Russia, China and India, have taken
steps in the wrong direction. For example, in the past,
they have presented draft resolutions to the UN General
assembly, which would have put in risk Internet
governance. For Brazil, joining the Freedom Online
Coalition would be a turning point and a step in the
opposite direction, demonstrating that it takes some
distance from its partners in groups such as the BRIC
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil
and South Africa).</p>
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It would be very interesting to read a reply from the perspective of
India. We can't overlook that the United States is also a member of
the Freedom Online Coalition. Not to mention say Tunisia, which is
ranked a full point lower than India in the Freedom House survey.
Given that the "Internet freedom" slogan has suffered a serious blow
from the NSA revelations, it is quite debatable what was the "wrong
direction" to take in opposition to the status-quoist position on
Internet governance taken by the FOC states. Hmm.<br>
<br>
<div>-- <br>
<p style="font-size:9pt"><b>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Policy Officer<br>
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for
consumers</b><br>
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia<br>
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