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<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Having
just experienced Murphy's Law of the Internet v1 (computers breakdown only and
as one has begun one's extended travel in places far away from one's computer
service provider) I have had the opportunity of looking through this extended
discussion in the cooler light of a post travel morning.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>I'm
not sure that I have anything new to add to the arguments back and forth except
perhaps to observe that whatever it's flaws, the IBSA proposal at least takes
seriously the need to develop a means to address the issues that we have been
discussing here for the last while i.e. those requiring some form of framework
within which de- or supra-national issues arising from the increasing use and
reliance on the Internet can be resolved and those resolutions enforced.
And as well, beginning the discussion of how and where the issues of the
national or supra-national interests of dominant Internet corporations
can be responded to by those outside of the charmed circle of
their direct financial or power beneficiaries.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>The
onus I think is on those who disagree with the IBSA proposal to put forward
alternative strategies for responding to these issues since there would appear
to be a fairly clear consensus that these issues need to be addressed and a
strong argument being put forward through this IBSA proposal (and the related CS
support) that simply relying on the status quo to respond is to opt clearly and
unequivocably for the rule of power and position rather than the rule either of
democracy, equity or justice.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=522441918-21092011><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial>Mike</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir=ltr>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
governance@lists.cpsr.org [mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Milton L Mueller<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, September 17, 2011 11:22
AM<BR><B>To:</B> governance@lists.cpsr.org; parminder<BR><B>Subject:</B>
[governance] critique of the IBSA proposal<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Some first
reactions to the IBSA proposal. You will not be hearing any applause from me.
The proposal is unimaginative, backward-looking, and authoritarian. If it were
actually implemented, which is highly unlikely, the proposal would be very
destructive. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">One
notable and surprising thing: IBSA has bypassed the IGF. By putting forward
this proposal in the way it has, IBSA has openly declared that it does not put
any credibility or legitimacy in the IGF as a forum for multistakeholder
Internet policy development or discussion. This is true because the IBSA
proposal was developed outside of IGF in an exclusive club of countries, and
will not be put forward formally at the IGF. Rather, it will be developed at
the closed IBSA summit, and then taken directly to the UN General Assembly.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">This is
unacceptable to civil society. It excludes us from the entire process. IBSA
needs to be asked why it has chosen not to use a MS forum, a forum its members
helped to create, to gain agreement for this proposal.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The IBSA
report says that “the models proposed by the WGIG provided useful guidelines”
for a new global Internet governance body. This is a strange statement. There
were four different models proposed in the WGIG report, and most of them were
inconsistent with each other. One of the WGIG proposals explicitly stated that
no new global body was needed. So perhaps IBSA is trying to pretend that its
proposal has some kind of imprimatur from the WGIG or the WSIS. It doesn’t.
WGIG couldn’t agree on any of those models, that was the point of listing 4 of
them.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The
specific duties of the new global body make up an interesting list. It will be
“tasked to develop and establish international public policies.” So it makes
the same stupid mistake that governments have been making all along: it is
law, i.e. rules, not “policy” that is needed. Policy just means that a gang of
governments attempts to dictate outcomes, or alter outcomes whenever something
happens that they don’t like. Law on the other hand provides a framework of
clear rules that allows individual actors guidelines and which also protects
freedom. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And here’s
my favorite. IBSA proposes to “integrate and oversee the bodies responsible
for technical and operational functioning of the internet, including global
standards setting.” So IBSA is not only proposing to take over regulation of
all the world’s internet service providers, hosting providers, mobile
networks, and perhaps even equipment suppliers, it proposes to “integrate and
oversee” the IETF as well. Presumably ICANN, too. No rationale for such a
dramatic change is put forward. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">This
proposal will fail to gain support from most of the internet-using civil
society, it will be adamantly opposed by the technical community, and it will
have very little support from the academic community. Needless to say, all
Internet businesses will oppose it, and so will most governments outside the
IBSA orbit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Milton L.
Mueller<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Professor,
Syracuse University School of Information Studies<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Internet
Governance Project<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><A
href="http://blog.internetgovernance.org"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">http://blog.internetgovernance.org</SPAN></A>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV
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<P class=MsoNormal>On Saturday 17 September 2011 01:40 AM, Marilia Maciel
wrote: <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Hello everybody,<BR><BR>I would like to share with you some
news about the IBSA seminar on global Internet governance that took place in
FGV-Rio de Janeiro in the beginning of this month. Tight schedule and
deadlines have prevented me to report the discussions with the depth and
length I would like to, but I have written a blog post about it to the site of
the Brazilian Observatory of Digital policies, which has been circulating on
Twitter recently:<BR><A
href="http://observatoriodainternet.br/discussions-and-recommendations-from-the-ibsa-seminar-on-internet-governance">http://observatoriodainternet.br/discussions-and-recommendations-from-the-ibsa-seminar-on-internet-governance</A><BR><BR>I
will be happy to talk more about it and share impressions here (if time
allows) or in Nairobi.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR>Marília<BR><BR
clear=all><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>