[bestbits] Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Internet2 Global Summit

[Michael Gurstein]

I think so that it is clear that we are all talking about the same thing, perhaps we could hear from any of the “civil society” proponents of multistakeholderism on this list whether they see any distance between how Secretary Strickling formulates the concept(s) and their own position/formulation.

 

Jeremy, Avri, Jeanette, Wolfgang, Adam, Bill, Anriette, Milton, anyone?

 

M

 

From: bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net [mailto:bestbits-request at lists.bestbits.net] On Behalf Of Carolina Rossini
Sent: April 29, 2015 5:17 AM
To: <bestbits at lists.bestbits.net> bestbits at lists.bestbits.net&gt
Subject: [bestbits] Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Internet2 Global Summit

 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joelle Tessler <JTessler at ntia.doc.gov <mailto:JTessler at ntia.doc.gov> >
Date: Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 5:06 PM
Subject: Remarks of Assistant Secretary Strickling at Internet2 Global Summit
To: Joelle Tessler <JTessler at ntia.doc.gov <mailto:JTessler at ntia.doc.gov> >




Remarks of Assistant Secretary Strickling at Internet2 Global Summit


 

Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
Internet2 Global Summit
Washington, D.C.
April 28, 2015

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/speechtestimony/2015/remarks-assistant-secretary-strickling-internet2-global-summit

--As Prepared for Delivery--

I am honored to be here to speak at Internet 2’s Global Summit.  Internet2 has been a strong partner with NTIA as a recipient of a $62 million Recovery Act broadband grant.  With this grant, Internet2 has lit or upgraded over 18,000 miles of a national fiber backbone network.  This 100 gigabit per second backbone is accessible to more than 93,000 community anchor institutions through Internet 2’s partnership with regional research and education networks.  Several of these networks also received NTIA grants so we know that in Michigan, North Carolina and numerous other states, the good work of Internet 2 and the research and education community is driving higher speeds and lower cost broadband for schools and other institutions of learning.

However, I did not come here today to talk about broadband.  My topic today is Internet governance.  This is an important and timely issue for everyone who relies on the Internet but particularly for the members of Internet2.  As your website states, “the commercial Internet we know today was shaped by the vision and work of the people and organizations in the Internet2 community.”  Indeed, we only enjoy the Internet today due to the engagement of the academic community decades ago. 

The first four nodes on ARPANET, the experimental network from which the Internet evolved, were universities:  UCLA, Stanford, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Utah.  The first message ever sent was between UCLA and Stanford.  We know from history that this first attempt to login crashed the system but the problem was quickly fixed and the rest is history. 

New challenges to the Internet emerge every day, whether they are related to cybersecurity, privacy, or the free flow of information across borders.  As we confront these challenges, we continue to debate a key question that has dominated international discussions over the last decade or so, specifically who should govern the Internet?  Who should make the decisions that determine what the Internet of tomorrow will look like?  How can we ensure that the decisions made today will enable the Internet to continue to thrive as the amazing engine of economic growth and innovation we enjoy today?

The debate has focused on two very different choices.  One choice is that governments alone should make the key decisions on the governance of the Internet.  This is the choice favored by authoritarian governments that want to restrict the information available to their citizens.  The other choice is to rely on all stakeholders to make these decisions through what is known as the multistakeholder model of Internet governance.

What do we mean by the multistakeholder model?  One expert defines the multistakeholder model as different interest groups coming together on an equal footing to “identify problems, define solutions, and agree on roles and responsibilities for policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/print/speechtestimony/2015/remarks-assistant-secretary-strickling-internet2-global-summit#_ftn1> [1]”