[governance] Interent community, internet users, and the people (was RE: [NA-Discuss] ALAC and NCUC)

[Guru@ITfC]

Dear Jeremy,
 
For the last several years in India, one of the most furious debates has
been the nature of several development projects. The most famous of them
being the Sardar Sarovar Dam over the river Narmada. The 'users' for the dam
were millions of farmers in Gujarat state (irrigation) and citizens of that
state (drinking water and hydro electric power). Many people in Gujarat were
strong supporters of the dam. 

The dam resulted in the submergence of large tracts of land in Madhya
Pradesh, a neighboring state. Most areas was forest lands, inhabited by poor
tribals. The Governments decided in their 'wisdom' that the submergence of
such land and the 'resettlement' and 'rehabilitation' of thousands of poor
tribals was 'worth' the supply of water and electricity. There are several
such 'development' projects in India (Steel Plant in Orissa, Automobile
factory in West Bengal ....)  where there are 'users' who benefit from the
project and several others who have no apparent 'use' for the project. These
groups who are 'impacted' by the project have as much stake as those who
stand to benefit / are participating in the project. 

Now for an example relating to the internet - as the 'e-choupal' project of
ITC (http://www.echoupal.com/) claims the space of intermediaries in the
agriculture market space, should the issues of governance of such spaces be
the concern of only the farmers and ITC. Or are the impacted 'mandi (market)
traders' concerns also to be taken into account? Are the customers for those
product, who are also impacted by this change also be consulted? As also the
people (in the Government and outside) who quality assure the produce and
the processes? If e-choupal reinforces or aggravates existing gender and
caste divisions, are women and the affected caste members not people whose
needs must inform governance of the space in which operates. And is this
space an 'internet' space or a 'development' space?

It is difficult for me to visualise that over time, there will be any
individual who will be free of the impact of the internet, in positive and
negative ways, for both those 'participating' as 'users' and those
'excluded' from it. Whether you look at the internet as a media space, or as
a communication space or as an information space. Whether it is a forum for
delivering business or Government  services. Whether for building 'virtual'
communities etc etc. In all these avatars, the rules of our living are being
re-written in many ways that we are often still trying to figure out. The
number of people totally untouched by any of these manifestations is
declining rapidly and this group will become extinct, it is a question of
'when' and not 'if'. And given that the 'non-users' at any time, will tend
to be amongst relatively disadvantaged people in the world, it becomes even
more important to factor in their interests into IG. Equity is a cornerstone
of governance in any democracy. In fact, the 'ICTD' sector has been
significantly spawned off by the belief that internet hugely impacts
development.

In this sense it is difficult to not think of the people of the world as the
constitutency for IG. All are equally stakeholders to the possibilities of
the information society that we "are building". The current 'users' who are
still in a minority (microscopic minority in many countries) represent the
most previleged section of humanity on many considerations and can at best
be 'trustees' for the rest and cannot abrogate any special previleges to
themselves. I would interpret "However in many, perhaps most issue areas,
existing Internet users will be the most directly affected and thus have the
strongest claim to be heard" in this light. 

Hence to repeat what I have said earlier on this list .."the internet
community consists of people who are impacted by the internet, not merely
those who logon to it..."

Regards,
Guru
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy Malcolm [mailto:Jeremy at Malcolm.id.au] 
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:11 PM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Parminder
Subject: Re: [governance] Interent community, internet users, and the people
(was RE: [NA-Discuss] ALAC and NCUC)

Parminder wrote:
> I have asked the question a number of times - and I ask it again - 
> what is the 'internet community'? Is it the technical and trade people 
> directly involved with the internet infrastructure (ISOC's - a major 
> player in the field - definition seems to imply so), or the current 
> Internet users, or all people who are impacted by the Internet (which 
> is all the people of the world).

The last option is too broad to be meaningful.  My understanding of the
Internet community is simply the community of Internet users.

In saying this I don't disagree that the interests of non-users need to be
taken into account in certain IG issue areas that impact them, particularly
development.  This favours the inclusion of all stakeholders including civil
society and governments rather than just Internet users, in fora relevant to
those issues, such as the IGF.

But it does not count for the inclusion of non-users in all IG fora, because
there are many issue areas that will be simply irrelevant to them.  I can't
imagine why non-users would generally need to be consulted by the IETF, for
example.  By the same token, Internet users have no need to be represented
in development fora.

> *Can we, in the IGC, expressly recognize 'all people of the world, in 
> their various individual and social expressions, in equal 
> representation' as the legitimate constituency of IG? *And also make 
> an express statement that IGC sees itself as seeking to represent the 
> interests of this constituency (and not the internet community or the 
> individual internet user, due to the above said definitional issues).

I'm not sure that I could support that as a blanket statement.  The
stakeholders impacted by an IG issue, and therefore entitled to be heard in
respect of it, will vary from one case to another.  However in many, perhaps
most issue areas, existing Internet users will be the most directly affected
and thus have the strongest claim to be heard.

-- 
Jeremy Malcolm LLB (Hons) B Com
Internet and Open Source lawyer, IT consultant, actor
host -t NAPTR 1.0.8.0.3.1.2.9.8.1.6.e164.org|awk -F! '{print $3}'
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