[governance] The Right Way

[Joan (Tinet)]

Thanks, Wolfgang. I heartly agree with your point of view.

The "New Internet World" is an unexplored territory and will define itself their own laws.

I hope that we will help to move in the right way.

Joan Batet


_________________________________________________________________

Dear list,
 
thanks for this interesting discussion, which helps to conceptualize the understanding of the global information society as a whole. Here is another point.
 
The concept of "citizen", although known already in the Greek and Roman times, was more specified and closer linked to "rights and duties" in the early days of the industrial age, the french revolution and the drafting of the US constituion. You have your "civil rights" by birth when you have a name and an identity. But it took 200 years that a majority of citizens understood what their rights are and that the "civil rights" are primarily "individual rights" (as the right to freedom of expression). And there is still a long way to go that really "everyone" feels as "citoyen". And many have already forgotten what their rights have been. But regardless of the individual perception, the civil rights belong to "everyone". 
 
All citizens are also consumer. But the concept of "consumer rights" was developed only in the last fifty years or so. Civil rights and consumer rights are reflecting the political and economic insterests of individuals. Both are interlinked and inteddependent. And civil rights (and duties) as well as consumer rights are linked to a certain territory and are fixed in a national constituition and relevant national legislation.    
 
"Netizenship" and "user rights" in cyberspace are, at least in my understanding, rooted in the concepts of "citizenship" and "consumer rights" but go beyond them. They do not replace them but do broadening their understanding by going beyond the "national territory". We all remain "citizens" of our countries, but if we get a "name" and an "identity" for the virtual communication in cyberspace, we becoming global netizens. And we want to have the same civil rights also in cyberpace, not only in our own country but everyhwere. The same problem comes with the relationship between "consumer" and "user". As an Internet user, you want to have your "user rights" everyhwhere. Also here, the poltical and economic dimensions are not in contrast but are fit together. Insofar it is important to connect the "netizenship" debate with the discussion on the future development of the DNS. The DNS has both a political and economic dimension and it is also a source for identitity building in c


yberspace.
 
*We all know that the nationstate and national governments will not disappear within the 21st century, but we see a process of powershifting and the emergence of new (global) constituencies, operating beyond national and international governmental structures on the global level. While in the "industrial age" the main actor was the "national government" acting on behalf of the "nation state", in the "information age" you have more and new actors, in particular on the global level. The Internet has removed the traditional barriers of time and space and insofar it also undermined the clear organizational structure of the industrial age, which was based on "frontiers". So what we have are areas with frontiers and areas without frontiers. And what we have to do is to find a right balance and innovative forms of co-existence between these different worlds.  
 *
What WSIS (and WGIG) is anticipating with its "multistakeholderism" is a model of "co-regulation" or "co policy development" which is at this moment neither conceptualized theoretically nor practisized anywhere. It is an exploration of new (social) territory. 
 
Best
 
wolfgang

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20050831/54e4ca37/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
governance mailing list
governance at lists.cpsr.org
https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance