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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thanks to everyone who participated, I have now forwarded the
text below to the IGF Secretariat for inclusion in the synthesis paper<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Ian Peter</span></font></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
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name="OLE_LINK7"><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Rights and the Internet
as the over-arching theme for IGF-4 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The Internet Governance Caucus
strongly recommends that 'Rights and the Internet' be made the overarching
theme for IGF-4 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;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 <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>A complex new
emerging ecology of rights and the Internet<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Consumers of digital products thus
face new challenges including the right 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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The right to freedom of expression
is at the very heart of the Internet's open and participatory nature, and both
new opportunities for, and new threats to, this right have emerged in the
digital ecology. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>A rights-based 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
policies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>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:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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