[governance] Workshop Proposal: Transboundary Internet

[Bret Fausett]

All, below is a draft workshop proposal that Meryem Marzouki, William  
Drake, Ian Peter, Parminder Singh and I have been working on. We plan  
to submit it by the deadline, but would like your input and  
suggestions, on all aspects.

      -- Bret

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1.	Name of proposed workshop
The Transboundary Internet: Jurisdiction, Control and Sovereignty

2.	Provide a concise description of the proposed workshop theme  
including its importance and relevance to the IGF.

The Internet crosses the boundaries of all nations and raises some  
unique transboundary jurisdictional problems. The recent case of a  
British citizen living in Spain, with Internet servers in the Bahamas,  
selling holidays to Cuba, and having his domain name impounded by a  
registrar located in the USA because it appeared to break the US  
embargo against Cuba is one recent case in point. Another landmark  
case was the French-US Yahoo! case in 1999 dealing with sale of nazi  
memorabilia, but but apart from these high profile content cases there  
are many examples in other areas such as privacy, consumer issues,  
cybercrime, and intellectual property.

This workshop will discuss the many implications of competing national  
jurisdictions being projected into a globalized space where multiple  
normative sources apply, such as political, legal, technical,  
contractual, and behavioral regulations. Through practical case  
studies, this workshop will look at the implications of various  
approaches to resolving these issues and the implications for Internet  
governance, international law, national sovereignty, democracy, and  
human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The workshop also explores the implications for Internet governance  
where no structures are in place to deal with emerging issues, and how  
default unilateral action in the absence of structural alternatives  
can lead to de facto Internet governance.

3.	Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are  
planning to invite. Describe the main actors in the field and whether  
you have approached them about their willingness to participate in  
proposed workshop.

NB. Workshop duration is 90mn, which means that we should have no more  
than 6-7 panelists plus chair. This is a tentative list of speakers.

•	Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General, The Council of  
Europe
•	Manon Ress /James Love, Knowledge Ecology International/CPTech, USA
•	Meryem Marzouki, President, European Digital Rights, Europe
•	Bret A. Fausett, Internet law Attorney, Cathcart, Collins &  
Kneafsey, LLP USA
•	Ian Peter, Internet Analyst, Ian Peter and Associates, Australia
•	William Drake, Graduate Institute of International and Development  
Studies, Switzerland

Yet to be approached: other identified experts with various  
perspectives on specific case studies.

Themes to be discussed by speakers:
•	Liability and the principle of the country of origin (off-line and  
on-line content): Convention on Transfrontier television, Rome II,  
Convention on TV without Frontiers,
•	Consumer protection, contracts, etc.: Hague Convention, E-commerce  
directive
•	Cybercrime: The CoE Convention, its protocols and implementation  
activities
•	Technical and contractual means: ISP charters and hotlines, blocking  
(cf. Pakistan case)
•	Harmonization of national laws through intergovernmental agreements

4.	Provide the name of the organizer(s) of the workshop and their  
affiliation to various stakeholder groups. Describe how you will take  
steps to adhere to the multi-stakeholder principle, geographical  
diversity and gender balance.

-	The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (Civil society)
-	The Council of Europe – TBC (Intergovernmental organization)
-	European Digital Rights (Civil society)
-	Knowledge Ecology International (KEI/CPTech) – TBC (Civil society)
-	Ian Peter and Associates – TBC (Private sector)

Yet to be approached: Some governments (e.g. France, USA,  
Netherlands, ...); other intergovernmental organizations (e.g. OSCE,  
OCDE,...), other private sector constituencies (e.g. ISP associations,  
newspaper associations, registrars, search engine/social networking  
companies, ...); other civil society constituencies.

5.	Does the proposed workshop provide different perspectives on the  
issues under discussion?

Yes. Expertise is being sought from various areas to provide a  
comprehensive coverage of issues and perspectives involved (to be  
updated later).

6.	Please explain how the workshop will address issues relating to  
Internet governance and describe how the workshop conforms with the  
Tunis Agenda in terms of substance and the mandate of the IGF.
The first and foremost need for global Internet governance  
arrangements comes from the global, cross-boundaries nature of the  
Internet. Issues with global Internet governance are not only related  
to critical Internet resources management, but also to the circulation  
of content and data and to the protection of the general  
communications infrastructure. Jurisdictions, control and sovereignty  
issues are thus at the heart of global Internet governance  
discussions. Given the difficulty to harmonize national legislations,  
and given the issue of the competence of jurisdictions, alternative  
methods to State regulations are more and more considered, promoted  
and implemented. It is the very aim of this workshop to explore and  
discuss these alternatives.
TA: Para 72(b)(c)(g)(i)(k)

7.	List similar events you and/or any other IGF workshops you have  
organized in the past.

The Civil,Society Internet Governance Caucus and other sponsors have  
organized workshops at previous IGF meetings (to be updated later)

8.	Were you part of organizing a workshop last year? Which one? Did  
you submit a workshop report?

Yes (to be updated with list of previous workshops)

9.	Under which of the five IGF themes does the proposal fall under ?

•	Managing the Internet (Using the Internet)
•	Arrangements for Internet governance

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