[Fwd: [governance] Workshop proposal - Internationalisation of IG

[William Drake]

Hi Parminder,

On Apr 27, 2009, at 1:42 PM, Parminder wrote:
>>
> The workshop proposal clearly say that Internet is no longer just a  
> technical artifact but much more, which suggests that we are also  
> speaking about things beyond technical governance, and therefore  
> beyond CIR.

I am probably not alone in failing to read 'no longer just a technical  
artifact' as meaning we're proposing a ws on xyz issues and  
institutions beyond CIR.  Which is why I asked several times for  
clearer specification of what we're talking about.
>>
>> So which other governance structures was the language alluding to?
> The real problem here I think is that we seem to see 'political  
> oversight' of ICANN-plus in a vacuum. In fact such oversight in not  
> only connected with but actually arises out of other political IG  
> issues - IPR/ public domain, cultural diversity, FoE, security,  
> development needs etc . So 'oversight' and other global Internet  
> policy issues, to a good extent, need to be seen in one bunch.

I've never heard the term 'oversight' being used in relation to non- 
ICANN issues, which in many cases do have authoritative institutions  
and rule systems.  But again, if we're going to propose this more  
expansive formulation, it'd be helpful to specify which issues are  
thought not to have oversight now and what form that might take.
>
>
>>  I do not think the idea of need for global governance in IG arena  
>> regarding non CIR issues is that elusive.

Nope, and indeed there is such GG in many cases now.  But the MAG and  
potential attendees might not read oversight as meaning this, so  
hopefully if the ws is approved we can submit language that more  
clearly specifies the scope and domain.

>> But yes a discussion on this in the IGC is certainly going to be  
>> very useful.

Yup
>
> Undemocratically negotiated cyber-security treaty, and now the anti- 
> counterfeiting trade treaty, are all pointers to what we are talking  
> about here.

FMI, are there any treaties or governance instruments that you would  
consider to be democratic?

> The manner in which such things are being done now are certainly  
> much worse than a situation where WGIG 1, 3 or 4 models are in some  
> way involved.  I don't think that CS's best strategy is to keep  
> saying ITU is bad, ICANN is not ok in exercising political  
> sovereignty, ACTA is not a right way to do things, without any  
> suggestions or even discussions of possible alternatives.

Strongly agree, criticizing is relatively easy, suggesting politically  
and functionally superior alternatives is much harder, and were we  
ever to manage this it could attract some attention and discussion.

> I presume you have problems with all these institutional forms of  
> dealing with global Internet related policies.

Well, there are problems and then there PROBLEMS, and for each of us  
which applies probably varies significantly across cases.

> If so, what in your opinion is the best way to go ahead? Will be  
> glad to hear them. Non-governance is not an option. These are the  
> issues that the workshop will deal with apart from problems with  
> US's unilateral oversight of the ICANN.

This is sort of a big question.  The best way forward depends on the  
case at hand, I don't see an uber-solution to the entire  
problematique, framework convention or otherwise.  Although a broad  
scope mechanism for transparent information aggregation and collective  
assessment could have been useful.  That's what some of us hoped the  
IGF could evolve into, and discussing what this might of meant could  
be useful even if its chances of happening are pretty much zero.

Cheers,

Bill

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