[governance] Four legs good, two legs bad

[Joe Baptista]

Then of course there is the fundamental lesson learned that the internet 
find the rule of law irrelevant.  Which of course is why ICANN is obsolete:

http://www.publicroot.org/news-2006-11-26-Pirates.html
http://www.publicroot.org/news-2006-12-03-Pirates.html

Of course this will take time to propagate - and until then the WSIS 
gravey train continues to rumble along at a very slow pace.

Cheers
joe baptista

Milton Mueller wrote:

>This whole debate about government is getting silly. 
>
>IGP publications have proposed that ICANN be formally accountable to
>the rule of law (law being governmental, last time I looked); and that
>the world's governments negotiate a framework convention to codify in a
>binding fashion certain principles regarding the Internet (principles
>which, we hope, will preserve and protect its freedoms rather than
>undermine them). 
>
>So rather than getting caught in an Orwellian chant that governments
>are two-legged and therefore intrinsically bad, to be answered by
>equally uninteresting bleating that they are four-legged and therefore
>intrinsically good, it might be better to talk about what you want the
>governments to do, what you don't want them to do, what institutional
>mechanisms might be deployed, and what checks and balances might exist
>to counter the obvious tendency of states to wield power in ways that
>benefit themselves or certain clients at the expense of the public
>(especially in international arenas where there is no electorate, no
>real rule of law, very little enforcability and very weak
>accountability)
>
>  
>
>>>>db at dannybutt.net 12/7/2006 1:36:29 AM >>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>Hi Jeanette/all
>
>I find it interesting that internet culture is so hostile to the idea 
>
>of government that even mild recognition quickly becomes  
>"glorification" :7. I have no great love for intergovernmental  
>systems, but they do some things relatively well, or at least better  
>than existing alternatives. Geographical diversity and due process  
>would be high on my list.
>
>While I think that "transparency" in the development sector is highly 
>
>overrated (and often a tool to enable ICT-rich organisations to get  
>contracts where "publishing on the internet" is equated with  
>transparency), I agree it is an important component of  
>accountability. However, it's far from the only component, or even  
>the most important.
>
>My point is that what constitutes "performance" will be assessed  
>differently by different people, and there is a rather large  
>geopolitical/socio-cultural imbalance in positive evaluations of  
>existing Internet Governance entities. Civil Society's stand on that  
>imbalance will, in my opinion, be critical to its long-term voice in  
>IG arrangements.
>
>Or to put it more simply, if CS buys the line that everything is fine 
>
>as long as it gets seats at the table, then it may soon find itself  
>in an expensive, empty restaurant with bad food and worse company,  
>while the masses eat elsewhere.
>
>Regards,
>
>Danny
>
>
>On 07/12/2006, at 7:53 AM, Jeanette Hofmann wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On further reflection, we should not glorify intergovernmental  
>>processes and institutions. Even if the ITU is more inclusive as  
>>far as participation of governments is concerned, we don't know  
>>much about balances of powers between governments. And even if  
>>there are formal mechanisms of accountability, we don't know  
>>whether they are effective.
>>
>>ICANN is much more transparent than any intergovernmental  
>>organization. This is why we can observe its shortcomings on a  
>>regular basis. I wouldn't be able to say if closed  
>>intergovernmental organizations such as the ITU violate or stretch  
>>their own rules more or less than ICANN. What seems safe to say is  
>>trust in an organization requires better performance.
>>    
>>
>
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