[governance] Call for final comments - rights as a theme for cairo

[Ian Peter]

Attached a final draft for comments for this paper. Please make specific
suggestions for change or deletion on list in reply to this topic within 24
hours  - Google Docs is now closed.

I must confess to not following the detail of this debate, so I may have
missed some points - and Google Docs was getting messy towards the end. So
any omissions are unintentional and I ask that you suggest appropriate
changes.

 

'Rights and the Internet' as the over-arching theme for IGF-4 in Egypt 


The Internet Governance Caucus strongly recommends that 'Rights and the
Internet' be made the overarching theme for IGF-4 in Egypt, and that the
IGF-4's program be framed by the desire for developing a rights-based
discourse in the area of Internet Governance. The Caucus has already
expressed support for the letter on this subject which was sent to the MAG
by the Dynamic Coalition on an Internet Bill of Rights.

 

 

The IGC offers the IGF assistance in helping to shape such a discourse at
the IGF meetings, and specifically to help make 'Rights and the Internet' an
overarching theme for IGF-4 in Egypt.

 

 

A complex new emerging ecology of rights and the internet

 

 One important purpose of a discourse on rights should be to clarify and
reach greater consensus on how rights with respect to the Internet are
defined, how they relate to pre-existing definitions of human rights, and
which ones need to be internationally recognized and strengthened. Within
this context, we acknowledge that, even within the civil society caucus,
differences of opinion exist as to the nature of various rights and
conceptual rights and the degree to which they should be emphasized in
internet governance discussions.

 

The openness and diversity of the internet provide an avenue for widely
recognized (but still imperfectly enforced) basic human rights: the
individual right to freedom of expression and to privacy. It may also be
useful to explore if and how concepts such as positive and collective rights
may be meaningful in relation to the Internet - for instance, respectively,
a 'right to the Internet', or a right of cultural expression - including the
right to have an Internet in ones own language, which can inform the
important IGF thematic area of cultural diversity. 

 

Many important internet policy areas, like network neutrality, are being
framed in terms of rights, such as a right to access and share information,
or as an extension of freedom of expression itself. The right of the public
to access government-produced information presents itself in a wholly new
manner in a digital environment, where information is often publicly
sharable at little or no extra cost. Positive acts of withholding digital
public information from citizens in fact can be looked upon as a form of
censorship. All of these rights-based conceptions may be included in the IGF
openness theme area. Other rights such as the right of association and the
right to political participation may have important new implications in the
internet age, including the right to participate in the shaping of globally
applicable internet policies.

 

While the internet opens unprecedented economic, social and political
opportunities in many areas, many fear that it may at the same time be
further widening economic, social and political divides. It is for this
reason that development has been a central theme for the IGF meetings to
date. In this new, more global and digital context it might be useful to
explore what the term "right to development" means. 

 

With respect to privacy rights, corporations and governments are
increasingly able to extend digital tentacles into people's homes and
personal devices, in manners invisible to consumers and citizens. Consumers
of digital products thus face new challenges including the right
<http://docs.google.com/RawDocContents?docID=dcskr5r9_7n2dnxhs&justBody=fals
e&revision=_latest&timestamp=1220550114112&editMode=true&strip=true#sdfootno
te3sym>  to know and completely 'own' the products and services they pay
for. Technological measures to monitor and control user behavior on the
internet are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and often outrun public
policies and traditional concepts of what rights users have.

 

While property rights are of considerable importance, their applicability
and mutations in the digital environment have led to widespread political
contention over the proper scope of copyrights, trademarks and patents. In
fact, intellectual property is emerging as a primary area of socio-economic
conflict in the information society.  The IGF can explore issues surrounding
the public interest principles which underpin intellectual property claims
alongside the concept of a right to access knowledge in the digital space.
It can also explore how individuals' property right to own, build, test, and
use consumer electronics, computers and other forms of equipment can be
reconciled with the regulation of technical circumvention to protect
copyrights.  





We recognize that while it is relatively easy to articulate and claim
"rights" it is much more difficult to implement and enforce them. We also
recognize that rights claims can sometimes conflict or compete with each
other. There can also be uncertainty about the proper application of a
rights claim to a factual situation. The change in the technical methods of
communication often undermines pre-existing understandings of how to apply
legal categories. 

 

These complexities, however, only strengthen the case for using the IGF to
explicitly discuss and debate these problems. There is no other global forum
where such issues can be raised and explored in a non-binding context. 





Internet governance has up to this time largely been founded in technical
principles and, increasingly, on the internet's functionality as a giant
global marketplace. With the internet becoming  increasingly central to many
social and political institutions, an alternative foundation and conceptual
framework for IG can be explored. It is the view of the IG Caucus that a
rights-based framework will be appropriate for this purpose. 

 

A rights-based  IG shouldn't be seen as threatening to governments or
companies, but rather rights provide a set of international standards and
guiding principles that can help to inform complex policy decisions. It is
pertinent to recollect that WSIS called for a people-centric information
society, and a rights framework helps develop people-centric IG agenda and
polices. 

 

It is the Caucus' view that the IGF is the forum best suited to take up this
task. This process should start at the IGF Hyderabad, where workshops on
rights issues are being planned.  These issues will also hopefully figure
prominently in the main sessions. The IGC fully expects that these
discussions will help the IGF work towards developing 'Rights and the
Internet' as the over-arching theme of the IGF-4 in Egypt. 

 

 

Ian Peter

Ian Peter and Associates Pty Ltd

PO Box 10670 Adelaide St  Brisbane 4000

Australia

Tel (+614) 1966 7772 or (+612) 6687 0773

www.ianpeter.com

 

 

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