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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Sunday 20 October 2013 05:40 AM,
Norbert Bollow wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:20131020021029.414885d7@swan.bollow.ch"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear all
Google is definitely working with determination and a long-term
strategy to shape the public discourse as much as possible in its
favor, and its civil society funding activities are part of this
strategy
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/how-google-lobbies-german-government-over-internet-regulation-a-857654.html">http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/how-google-lobbies-german-government-over-internet-regulation-a-857654.html</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?288214">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?288214</a>
We need to discuss what this means from the perspective of protecting
ourselves from getting unknowingly corrupted and compromised. This
discussions needs to happen both in regard to international civil
society in IG as a whole and in regard to BestBits in particular.</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<font face="Verdana">very interesting... These are very significant
structural issues of global IG that we cannot avoid confronting
directly. How much civil society will really be taken seriously
depends on how much moral legitimacy we have, which is one of the
chief legitimacies of civil society. And such legitimacy would
come from confronting such issues directly, and being rather
upfront about it. I think there should be a basic transparency
(and accountabiltiy) code of conduct for civil society in IG
space, at least that part of civil society that works together in
spaces like BestBits and IGC. May be today's BestBits meeting can
discuss this in the session on internal BB issues etc. I would
greatly prefer if we do so.<br>
<br>
<br>
Around the same time last year a similar analysis came out of how
google was trying to (rather effectively) capture the IG related
civil society discursive and advocacy space in Germany ...<br>
</font><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/how-google-lobbies-german-government-over-internet-regulation-a-857654.html">http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/how-google-lobbies-german-government-over-internet-regulation-a-857654.html</a>
<br>
<br>
Your choice of the email subject line suggests that you know of this
german news item, but just in case...<br>
<br>
<br>
If google can do such a thing in a rather mature institutional
system of Germany, we can well judge what would it be like iin
places with less mature social institutions.. I know that in
countries ranging from Korea to many countries in Africa, also of
course in Asia and Latin America, Google is aggressively throwing in
funds for IG civil society groups. <br>
<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<blockquote cite="mid:20131020021029.414885d7@swan.bollow.ch"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
Greetings,
Norbert
</pre>
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