<div dir="ltr">From someone who has focused on legislation for almost 30 years, maybe the better take away from all of this is to be careful about characterizations of legislation that is under review and subject to amendment. It doesn't change the arguments that can be made about implications for policy, but possibly the tone and conclusive suggestions about something that is subject to change?</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Milton L Mueller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mueller@syr.edu" target="_blank">mueller@syr.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt">Jeremy:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt">By now you should be aware that the bill was amended to remove the clause about opposing “government control of the Internet.” This suggests to me that you are wrong
about it being bogus. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt">Faced with a choice between articulating a global public policy principle that could be used to challenge some of the US government’s own special powers and gutting
the bill so that it only contains an anodyne expression of support for “the multistakeholder model,” the U.S. congress chose the latter.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt">I’ll blog on this topic in more detail, but to me their need to delete it due to the concerns expressed by Rep. Eshoo bolsters my feeling that it was a good principle.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);font-family:"Courier New";font-size:11pt">The analogy with the USSR (or Chinese) constitution is quite bogus, however, because there was no freedom of expression in USSR so public advocacy could not call attention
to the contradiction between the principle and the reality. In the U.S. that would not be the case.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:windowtext;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";font-size:10pt">From:</span></b><span style="color:windowtext;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";font-size:10pt"> <a href="mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org" target="_blank">governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org" target="_blank">governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Jeremy Malcolm<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, April 16, 2013 11:15 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org" target="_blank">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [governance] US House Bill to Affirm the Policy of the United States Regarding Internet Governance<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On 16/04/13 23:10, Milton L Mueller wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
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<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:"Courier New ;color:#1F497D","serif";font-size:11pt">[Milton L Mueller] By “ignored” you mean that Rep. Walden refused to modify his principle to make an exception for U.S. forms of control. Which is all
to the good. The principle stands.</span></i></b><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">...<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:"Courier New ;color:#1F497D","serif";font-size:11pt">[Milton L Mueller] I think the bill provides a good principle to guide that “unfinished work.” You know, or should know, that most of the countries pushing
for “enhanced cooperation” want governments to assume a greater role in making and enforcing “public policy” for the global internet. ... Remember that “WSIS Principles” under the TA means that governments are the primary source of Internet public policy,
and the rest of us provide “input” which they may utilize as they see fit. So we truly NEED a statement of the principle that IG should not lead to “government control of the internet.” Tell me again why you oppose that?
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Because from this source, it is bogus. It's like the old constitution of the USSR which said things like "citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly, meetings, street processions and demonstrations". The meaning that
it bears on its face is so palpably at variance with the way it is applied that to say is little more than an insult. The only good point I can see about this is that it will highlight how bald-faced is the US government's hypocrisy on control of the Internet,
but it was pretty apparent already anyway.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">-- <u></u><u></u></p>
<p><b><span style="font-size:9pt">Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Policy Officer<br>
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers</span></b><span style="font-size:9pt"><br>
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