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This has been put together by the CCIA, which is of course not a
civil society organisation but they are canvassing for civil society
signatories and some civil society inputs have already been
incorporated, along with inputs from the private sector. They are
trying to close by 9:30am Brussels time on Wednesday.<br>
<br>
If you would like to endorse, I can forward on your name (along with
any requests for small changes) - or alternatively, if it would be
helpful, I could put this up on the Best Bits site for those who
want to sign on to do so there (but I plan to check with CCIA first
whether this would be OK with them).<br>
<br>
---<br>
<b><br>
</b><b>Stakeholders welcome the European Parliament’s Resolution to</b><b><br>
</b><b>Strengthen the Internet Governance Forum</b><br>
<br>
<br>
We the undersigned, representing civil society and the Internet<br>
industry community in Europe:<br>
<br>
<b>The need for renewal of the Internet Governance Forum’s mandate</b><br>
<br>
Welcome the European Parliament’s calls for a renewal of the<br>
mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and for the<br>
strengthening of its resources.<br>
<br>
We strongly support the call on the General Assembly of the UN
to<br>
renew and possibly extend beyond 5-year terms the mandate of the
IGF.<br>
<br>
Underscore that the IGF must be a genuinely representative<br>
multi-stakeholder global forum for open discussions on Internet<br>
governance. The IGF has been a catalyst for the creation of
regional<br>
and national IGFs which have positively enriched the discussions and<br>
increased the level of inclusiveness.<br>
<br>
Commend the European Parliament, and the European Union, more<br>
broadly for its active support and participation in the IGF.<br>
<b><br>
</b><b>The value of the open and global Internet</b><br>
<br>
Commend the Resolution for underscoring the Internet’s crucial<br>
role in our society.<br>
<br>
Welcome the understanding of the Internet’s potential for<br>
supporting democracy, cultural diversity and promotion of human
rights<br>
such as freedom of expression.<br>
<br>
Support the resolution’s call for the open and independent<br>
Internet and the need to secure non-discriminatory access to the<br>
Internet in the future.<br>
<br>
We applaud the European Parliament for correctly stressing “that<br>
it is crucial … to ensure legal protection of net neutrality which
is<br>
an indispensable precondition to safeguard the freedom of
information<br>
and expression, to boost growth and jobs by developing innovation
and<br>
business opportunities in the Internet and to promote and safeguard<br>
the cultural and linguistic diversity.”<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>The importance of today’s multi-stakeholder governance model</b><br>
<br>
Welcome calls for a genuinely multistakeholder model of Internet<br>
governance and the call to further strengthen the model by making<br>
processes at national, regional and international levels more<br>
inclusive, transparent and accountable.<br>
<br>
We call on European decision makers to go further and demand
that<br>
UN processes become more inclusive, transparent and more open in its<br>
processes towards all stakeholders.<br>
<br>
We discourage any attempts to “centralise” Internet governance<br>
debates by moving the debates from multi-stakeholder fora to<br>
inter-governmental organisations.<br>
<br>
We support an active participation and engagement by the<br>
multistakeholder community in the WSIS+10 review process.<br>
<br>
We warn that the future of the IGF must not become a bargaining<br>
chip for seeking a more intergovernmental model for Internet<br>
governance. While the UN plays an important role on key matters
such<br>
as broadband development and issues of a more developmental nature,
we<br>
oppose any proposals to extend the scope to areas such as the
routing<br>
of Internet-based traffic or content-related issues.<br>
<br>
We stress the importance of fundamental freedoms and human
rights<br>
such as freedom of expression, access to information and privacy.
We<br>
agree with the Resolutions rejections of attempts by states and<br>
non-state actors to impose censorship and mass surveillance.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Support for the IANA transition</b><br>
<br>
We agree with the importance of the successful completion of the<br>
IANA stewardship transition from the U.S. government to the global<br>
multistakeholder community and its support for enhanced
accountability<br>
and transparency of ICANN which will provide a long term solution to<br>
the stability and security of the Internet’s domain name system.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Global Policy Analyst<br>
Electronic Frontier Foundation<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://eff.org">https://eff.org</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jmalcolm@eff.org">jmalcolm@eff.org</a><br>
<br>
Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161<br>
<br>
:: Defending Your Rights in the Digital World ::<br>
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