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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>OK, I just made some extensive edits to the rights
statement. A lot of the small stuff was editorial, there was redundancy and
awkwardness in many sentences, perhaps reflecting the fragmentary approach of a
shared doc. I hope people agree on the stylistic improvements.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Substantively, I tried to do two things:
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>First, make it clearer that the definition and application
of rights talk is contested and complicated -- and use that to bolster the
argument that that makes it a good focus for IGF Egypt. In line with this, I
added a quotation from the Tunis Agenda at the beginning. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Second, group and expand certain discussions to run in a
more coherent and structured manner. For example, there were scattered
references to privacy which I tried to consolidate in a single para. and expand
a bit. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>For those not on the Google docs list I append the
statement below</FONT></SPAN></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT size=2>Milton Mueller<BR>Professor, Syracuse University School of
Information Studies<BR>XS4All Professor, Delft University of
Technology<BR>------------------------------<BR>Internet Governance
Project:<BR><A
href="http://internetgovernance.org">http://internetgovernance.org</A><BR></FONT></P>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=146244318-04092008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><I><FONT color=#000000>IGC’s input
-1 to the synthesis paper for IGF, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Hyderabad</st1:place></st1:City>.</FONT></I></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>‘<B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">Rights and the Internet’ as the over-arching theme for
IGF-4 in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> </SPAN></B></FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>The Tunis
Agenda (para. 42) </FONT><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><FONT
color=#000000>invoked human rights when it reaffirmed a global "commitment to
the freedom to seek, receive, impart and use information" and affirmed that
"measures undertaken to ensure Internet stability and security, to fight
cybercrime and to counter spam, must protect and respect the provisions for
privacy and freedom of expression as contained in the relevant parts of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Declaration of Principles."
However, little follow up work has been done to enact these commitments to basic
human rights in Internet governance. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>The Internet
Governance Caucus strongly recommends that ‘Rights and the Internet’ be made the
overarching theme for IGF-4 in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and that the IGF-4’s program
be framed by the goal of developing a rights-based discourse in the area of
Internet Governance. The Caucus has already expressed support for the letter on
this subject which was sent to the MAG by the Dynamic Coalition on an Internet
Bill of Rights. The IGC offers the IGF assistance in helping to shape such a
discourse at the IGF meetings, and specifically to help make ‘Rights and the
Internet’ an overarching theme for IGF-4 in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </FONT><o:p><FONT
color=#000000> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><o:p></o:p><B><I><FONT
color=#000000>A complex new emerging ecology of rights and the
internet</FONT></I></B></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><o:p><FONT
color=#000000> </FONT></o:p><FONT color=#000000>One important purpose of a
discourse on rights should be to clarify and reach greater consensus on how
Internet rights are defined, how they relate to pre-existing definitions of
human rights, and which ones need to be internationally recognized and
strengthened. There are currently basic philosophical differences, even among
civil society actors, over what constitutes a right and whether human rights
inhere only in individuals or can also be assigned to collectivities.
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT color=#000000><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>The openness
and diversity of the internet are underpinned by widely recognized (but still
imperfectly enforced) basic human rights: the individual right to freedom of
expression and to privacy. To some, conceptions of rights and the internet may
also extend to the area of positive and collective rights – for instance a right
to Internet access, or a right of cultural expression - including the right to
have an Internet in ones own language, which can inform the important IGF
thematic area of cultural diversity. Others contest these positive and
collective claims, viewing them as worthy policy goals but not as
rights.</FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>Many important
internet policy areas, like network neutrality, are being framed in terms of
rights, such as a right to access and share information, or as an extension of
freedom of expression itself. The right of the public to access
government-produced information presents itself in a wholly new manner in a
digital environment, where information is often publicly sharable at little or
no extra cost. Positive acts of withholding digital public information from
citizens in fact can be looked upon as a form of censorship. All of these
rights-based conceptions may be included in the IGF openness theme area. Other
rights such as the right of association and the right to political participation
may have important new implications in the internet age, including the right to
participate in the shaping of<SPAN class=146244318-04092008> </SPAN>globally
applicable internet policies. </FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>While the
internet opens unprecedented economic, social and political opportunities
in many areas, many fear that it may at the same time be further widening
economic, social and political divides. It is for this reason that development
has been a central theme for the IGF meetings to date. In this new, more
global and digital context it might be useful to explore what the term "right to
development" means. </FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>With respect
to privacy rights, corporations and governments are increasingly able to extend
digital tentacles into people’s homes and personal devices, in manners invisible
to consumers and citizens.Consumers of digital products thus face new challenges
including the right </FONT><A name=sdfootnote3anc></A><A
href="http://docs.google.com/RawDocContents?docID=dcskr5r9_7n2dnxhs&justBody=false&revision=_latest×tamp=1220550114112&editMode=true&strip=true#sdfootnote3sym"></A><SPAN
style="mso-bookmark: sdfootnote3anc"></SPAN><FONT color=#000000>to know and
completely ‘own’ the products and services they pay for. Technological measures
to monitor and control user behavior on the internet is becoming increasingly
sophisticated, and often outrun public policies and traditional concepts of what
rights users have.</FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>While property
rights are of considerable importance, their applicability and mutations in the
the digital environment have led to widespread political contention over the
proper scope of copyrights, trademarks and patents. In fact, intellectual
property is emerging as a primary area of socio-economic conflict in the
information society. The IGF can explore issues surrounding the public
interest principles which underpin IPR alongside the concept of a right to
access knowledge in the digital space. It can also explore how individuals'
property right to own, build, test, and use consumer electronics, computers and
other forms of equipment can be reconciled with the regulation of technical
circumvention to protect copyrights. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT color=#000000></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>We recognize that
while it is relatively easy to articulate and claim “rights” it is much more
difficult to implement and enforce them. We also recognize that rights claims
can sometimes conflict or compete with each other. For example, a claim that
there is a “right to Internet access” may imply an obligation on states to fund
and provide such access, but it is likely that if states are responsible for
supplying internet access that there will also be strong pressures on them to
exert controls over what content users can access using public funds and
facilities. There can also be uncertainty about the proper application of
a rights claim to a factual situation. The change in the technical methods of
communication often undermines pre-existing understandings of how to apply legal
categories. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
color=#000000></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
color=#000000>These complexities, however, only strengthen the case for using
the IGF to explicitly discuss and debate these problems. There is no other
global forum where such issues can be raised and explored in a non-binding
context. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT color=#000000><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><FONT color=#000000>Internet
governance has up to this time largely been founded in technical principles and,
increasingly, on the internet’s functionality as a giant global marketplace.
With the internet becoming increasingly central to many social and
political institutions, an alternative foundation and conceptual framework for
IG can be explored. It is the view of the IG Caucus that a right-based framework
will be may be appropriate for this purpose. </FONT></P>
<P class=western style="MARGIN: auto 0pt 0pt"><o:p><FONT
color=#000000> </FONT></o:p><FONT color=#000000>It is the Caucus’ view
that the IGF is the forum best suited to take up this task. This process should
start at the IGF Hyderabad, where workshops on rights issues are being
planned. These issues will also hopefully figure prominently in the main
sessions. The IGC fully expects that these discussions will help the IGF work
towards developing ‘Rights and the Internet’ as the over-arching theme of the
IGF-4 in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </FONT></P>
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