[governance] Civil Society Declaration on Internet Governance

[Ralf Bendrath]

Hi all,

below see the slightly copy-edited version of the current draft. I am 
currently waiting for feedback from some caucuses (not only this one) and 
have to take a break from editing for a few hours.

--> I will check back later tonight if there is an agreement on the IG 
part. Would be glad if I can just copy&paste and replace the text below.

--> We also need a para from this caucus for the last part "IV. Where to 
go from here – our Tunis commitment":

"Element two:
How CS is going to structure itself to engage with the IG forum [wait for 
outcome of IG caucus meeting – whether a specific WG would be setup to 
make recommendations on the modalities of functioning of the future IG forum]"

The deadline for input into the next is late tonight / early tomorrow 
morning. I am a night owl, as many of you know, but need _some_ sleep...

Best, Ralf

-------------------

Internet Governance

Civil society is pleased with the decision to adopt its proposal for the 
creation an Internet Governance Forum (IGF). We are also satisfied that it 
will have sufficient scope to deal with the issues that we believe need to 
be dealt with.

We are concerned, however, about the absence of details on how this forum 
will be created and on how it will be funded. We insist that the 
modalities of the forum be determined in full cooperation with civil 
society. We would like to emphasize that the success of the IGF, as in 
most areas of Internet governance, will be impossible without the full 
participation of civil society. By full participation we mean not merely 
playing an advisory role, or being present, but in setting agendas and 
influencing outcomes.

The Tunis Agenda addressed the issue of political oversight of critical 
Internet resources. This, in itself, is an achievement.  It is also 
important that governments realized the need for the development of a set 
of public policy principles that would frame political oversight of 
Internet resources. These public policy principles must respect, protect 
and promote international human rights treaties.

It was important that governments realized that developing these 
principles should be a shared responsibility. It is, however, very 
unfortunate, that the Tunis Agenda suggests that governments are only 
willing to share this role and responsibility among themselves, in 
cooperation with international organisations. Civil society persists in 
its demand that public policy is not public if civil society is not 
involved in its formulation.

With regard to Paragraph 40 we are disappointed that there is no mention 
that efforts to combat cybercrime need to be exercised in the context of 
checks and balances provided by fundamental human rights, particularly 
freedom of expression, privacy and due legal process.

To ensure that Internet governance and development take place in the 
public interest, it is necessary for people who use the Internet to 
understand how the DNS is functioning, how IP addresses are allocated, 
what basic legal instruments exist in fields like cyber-crime, 
Intellectual Property Rights, e-commerce, e-government, and human rights. 
  Therefore the ongoing creation of public awareness is the responsibility 
of everyone involved in the governance and development of the Internet and 
emerging information and communication platforms.
_______________________________________________
governance mailing list
governance at lists.cpsr.org
https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance