<div dir="ltr">My VOTE IS YES! <br><br>Dear Ian, <br><br>I am new to his list, as I was invited by Parminder when I met him in Bangalore a few months ago. I've been meaning to introduce myself to you and right now seems like a good time to do so! :)<br>
<br>I research Internet Access through a rights reasoning approach. I just presented my first draft of "Internet Access As a Social Right: Implications for Social Citizenship" at a conference in Stockholm. i've attached a draft of my paper if you are interested in reading it - I find that it addresses A LOT of what's discussed in this statement for IGF-4 in Egypt. (Actually I am wondering what is IGF-4? and this "thing" in Egypt?)<br>
<br>Since I am new, I am still trying to understand how I can best participate and contribute in a meaningful and sustainable way - meaningful for the end goal of the group's mission and sustainable for my own energy :0) - emails rejoinders can take a long time to construct! :) The email exchanges can be quite intense but I've
learned so much just through reading everyone's opinions and lines of
logics. <br><br>ok I look forward to more exchanges with you in the future!<br>ciao for now<br>tricia wang<br><br><br>-- <br>tricia wang <br>Sociology P.h.D Program<br>UC San Diego<br><br><a href="http://www.triciawang.pbwiki.com">www.triciawang.pbwiki.com</a> <br>
skype: triciawang<br>AIM: hitriciawang <br>e-mail: <a href="mailto:hitriciawang@gmail.com">hitriciawang@gmail.com</a><br>mobile: (+011)718.755.6430<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 11:51 PM, Ian Peter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ian.peter@ianpeter.com">ian.peter@ianpeter.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a name="11c5369ff1f99d92_OLE_LINK2"></a><a name="11c5369ff1f99d92_OLE_LINK1"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: bold;">Please respond within 48 hours with a
YESor NO to adoption of this statement so it can be sent to the Secretariat
before the deadline.</span></font></b></a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: bold;"> </span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: bold;">Rights
and the Internet as the over-arching theme for IGF-4 in Egypt </span></font></b></p>
<p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</span></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The Internet Governance Caucus strongly recommends that 'Rights and the
Internet' be made the overarching theme for IGF-4 in Egypt, and that the IGF-4's program
be framed by the desire for 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.</span></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">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 Egypt.</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">A complex new emerging ecology of rights
and the internet</span></font></i></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> One
important purpose of a discourse on rights should be to clarify and reach
greater consensus on how rights with respect to the Internet are defined, how
they relate to pre-existing definitions of human rights, and which ones need to
be internationally recognized and strengthened. Within this context, we
acknowledge that, even within the civil society caucus, differences of opinion
exist as to the nature of various rights and conceptual rights and the degree
to which they should be emphasized in internet governance discussions.</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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<a name="11c5369ff1f99d92_sdfootnote3anc"></a></span></font><a href="http://docs.google.com/RawDocContents?docID=dcskr5r9_7n2dnxhs&justBody=false&revision=_latest×tamp=1220550114112&editMode=true&strip=true#sdfootnote3sym" target="_blank"></a>
to know and completely 'own' the products and services they pay
for. Technological measures to monitor and control user behavior on the
internet are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and often outrun public
policies and traditional concepts of what rights users have.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While property
rights are of considerable importance, their applicability and mutations in 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 intellectual property claims 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. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It may also be
useful to explore if and how other concepts may be meaningful in relation to
the Internet – for instance, a 'right to access the Internet
unconditional of the use being made of it (similar to electricity and
telephone). Similarly, a right of cultural expression, and a right to have an
Internet in ones own language, could inform the important IGF thematic area of
cultural diversity. </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Other 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 along with open standards Other
rights such as the right of association and the right to political
participation may have important new implications in the internet age, </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We recognize that while
it is relatively easy to articulate and claim "rights" it is much
more difficult to agree on, implement and enforce them. We also recognize that
rights claims can sometimes conflict or compete with each other. 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. </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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 rights-based framework will be
appropriate for this purpose. </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><span><span><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A rights-based </span><span>IG
shouldn't be seen as threatening, but rather rights provide a set of
international standards and guiding principles that can help to inform complex
policy decisions. It is pertinent to recollect that WSIS called for a
people-centric information society, and a rights framework helps develop
people-centric IG agenda and polices.</span></font></span></span><font face="Arial"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">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 Egypt. </span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ian Peter</span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
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