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<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Hi everyone, </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">My state
of health makes travelling on long flights to crowded halls in
northern hemisphere winters too much of a risk, so my involvement in
internet governance issues will remain peripheral. But I remain an
interested observer and do hope that the efforts of those seeking
change to create a more effective civil society presence do succeed.
There is a lot to do out there and it would be good to see the way
forward for effective civil society involvement.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Forgive me for such a
wide ranging post as this, but given the conversations that have
started up here I think it is worthwhile to add a wider perspective
to the discussions on civil society involvement in “internet
governance”.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">There was a point of
time when the Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) was a lively and all
inclusive forum for civil society people and organisations interested
in internet governance. That relates back to a time when the term was
new, as was the internet to many people. In those days IGC was
capable of working together and coming up with good joint statements
on issues.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">But then there were
political splits, and Just Net Coalition (JNC) and Best Bits (BB)
sprung up to ensure that specific viewpoints were given emphasis.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">But of late neither BB
or JNC has been very active – nor has IGC. (I note that the JNC
website has no new entries in 2018, nor has its blog, and if I am not
wrong their public mailing list has also been inactive for this
period).</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">So all three appear to
be in a state of inertia. It is definitely time for something to
happen, but what exactly is a bit of a dilemma.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Lets say that we let
bygones be bygones and all three groups decided to merge again into
one? Will that create a useful civil society forum?</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Of itself, I don't
think so. (3*0=0). What is needed is changes to make civil society
involvement in these issues more widespread, representative and
credible. And I think that is going to involve greater changes, and
also a very strong outreach campaign.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">So let me begin by
saying the term internet governance is becoming about as relevant as
television governance. There is nothing generic left to do, but there
are plenty of emerging issues around the internet where civil society
needs to present a strong voice.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Apart from digital
inclusion, big issues out there include privacy, human rights, media
domination, cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, digital distortion etc: and
they come up in separate discussions concerning internet of things,
artificial intelligence etc as well as in political discussions on
terrorism, national security and related subjects. Mostly these days
these issues are addressed in separate fora by different groups:
often governmental, but sometimes also involving the big dominant
players (Google Facebook etc.) In most cases civil society presence
is either absent or weak, and its not sensible to think that the same
people can represent our interests in this wide range of activities.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">So I think a new
revived IGC would see its primary role as ensuring relevant groups
and individual experts get involved in emerging fora looking at
specific issues. Let eg Privacy International or Human Rights Watch be
our representative when these issues come up: involve individual
experts like Tim Wu and Bruce Schneier on issues such as media
concentration and security:</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Then I think we are
getting towards a meaningful role and involvement where civil society
involvement will be respected, and IGC could play a meaningful
ongoing role that extends well beyond getting together annually at an
IGF (if it continues).</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Then there is what to
do with CSCG. If, as I suggest, BB, JNC and IGC end up as one group
again, What is the future of CSCG? Only APC remains as an active
organisation at this stage. I think here thought needs to be given to
outreach as well – if for instance there was an agreement that
privacy and human rights were our two biggest issues, why not invite
prominent civil society organisations in those areas to join in?</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Anyway, something needs
to be done in all these areas. People whose terms of office have
ended have not been replaced because of the inertia. I think and hope
someone can jump up and take a lead to get civil society working well
in these areas. I see lots of excellent new voices who want to do
this, and I encourage action!</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Ian Peter (ex
co-ordinator of IGC and also Chair of CSCG for a while way back
then....)</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">
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