[governance] national vs international (was Re: Program for IGC at IGF)

[George Sadowsky]

Bill,

I refer to my sense that much of the WSIS-2 process was a fight over 
the role of ICANN, and my feeling that many of the governments were 
concentrating only on that with respect to the utility of the 
Internet for whatever development (some social, some economic, some 
both) they would like to see the Internet bring to their country.  To 
EXAGGERATE to make the point, why should a government look at 
internal reform when it can blame ICANN or other external forces of 
evil for deficiencies in how the Internet is run.  I capitalize here 
to avoid being misquoted.

In the long run, international dialogue helps to form a set of 
accepted standards, whether for concrete things like the shape of 
electrical plugs  or for more abstract goals such as standards of 
individual respect and decency, e.g. the Geneva Convention, the right 
of law, etc.  In the shorter run, I believe that local action is more 
effective and should not be dismissed, explicitly or implicitly.

With respect to the Internet industry, you're right, there are no 
internationally applied rules.  But, working back from civil society 
goals, if you're concerned about how the Internet furthers those 
goals, I think that you are led to the position that the more people 
who are on it, the better, and that leads to the issue of how to make 
it as accessible and affordable as possible for the greatest number 
of people.

Other things weigh in her, such as privacy, consumer protection, 
liability issues here, but the important thing is affordable 
confidential access to information and communication.   When we have 
achieved that in a country, it will act as an engine of progress in 
multiple dimensions.

How that is achieved will be different in different countries.  so if 
the IGF, and like-minded meetings put the spotlight on the role and 
importance of national practices as well as international issues, 
that's fine.  Let's just not confuse the two.

I really hadn't intended to start such a protracted discussion ....

George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At 11:24 AM +0200 10/23/06, William Drake wrote:
>Hi George,
>
>>  From: George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky at attglobal.net>
>
>>  What I do disagree with is Avri's assertion that it is ONLY on the
>>  international stage that Internet issues can be dealt with.  I do not
>>  disagree with the implication that there do exist issues that require
>>  international attention.
>>
>>  Just trying to restore a sense of balance to the discussion ...
>
>It might be that there's some talking past each other going on here, so
>please help me understand the thinking that started this thread: In what
>sense did you think that the discussion here has been unbalanced? It sounds
>like you thought that there's been a collective predilection to deny the
>existence and importance of national policies and to assert that literally
>all issues require international agreements.  But in the cases you've
>expressed particular concern about, like censorship or national regulations
>and market structures affecting local access, there's been intermittent
>discussion over several years in which some of us have noted that there are
>no internationally applied rules per se and hence these issues are not
>currently the subject IG mechanisms as defined and negotiated in the WSIS
>and follow-up processes (although others have said there should be such
>mechanisms, which is a different argument).   Avri's response came later,
>and I'm not clear whether she was saying everything requires actual
>international agreements or just international dialogue; the latter can of
>course be useful even in the case of issues that are primarily addressed
>nationally, e.g. in promoting collective learning, best practices, policy
>adjustments, etc.  So what exactly is the imbalance you thought needed
>correction?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bill
>
>
>
>
>


-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George Sadowsky                          george.sadowsky at attglobal.net
64 Sweet Briar Road                          george.sadowsky at gmail.com
Stamford, CT  06905-1514                http://www.georgesadowsky.com/
tel: +1.203.329.3288               GSM (int'l) mobile: +1.202.415.1933
Voice mail & fax: +1.203.547.6020         CDMA mobile: +1.203.219.8250
Shinkuro: sadowsky!shinkuro.com                        SKYPE: sadowsky
        
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance