[governance] GNI

[Jeremy Malcolm]

On 25/11/2008, at 1:44 AM, Ralf Bendrath wrote:

> This is a "classical" voluntary CSR mechanism and also seems to be  
> (viewed
> as) a self-regulatory alternative to the more law-based approach of  
> having
> a Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA) or something similar.
>
> EDRi decided not to become involved in GNI, for similar reasons as
> Reporters without borders had to not endorse it, see below. As far  
> as I've
> heard, even some of the GNI members like EFF still have reservations.

The other problem that I have with GNI is that because it (quite  
deliberately) excludes governments (save for a UN observer), it limits  
its potential to become widely authoritative, at least in the short  
term.

Much the same problem beset every previous effort at a non- 
governmental Internet policy forum (such as ISOC's Internet Societal  
Task Force).  God knows, if we didn't have to suffer the presence of  
governments in the IGF, why would we? ;-)

In principle a better approach for GNI would have been to work within  
the framework of the IGF - though the quite obvious reason why they  
didn't is that the IGF is in no manner ready to host this kind of  
initiative, because of its phobia of making recommendations.

-- 
JEREMY MALCOLM
Project Coordinator
CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
for Asia Pacific and the Middle East	

Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global  
campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in  
115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer  
movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere. For more  
information, visit www.consumersinternational.org.

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