[governance] RE: On the process of proposing workshop themes

[Sivasubramanian Muthusamy]

Hello William Drake,

Not only treaties recognize sovereign rights, but "right" is a word both
appropriately and loosely used for Governments.

One, In a message (Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:35 PM) in the NN Squad list with
the thread "China Shoots Self in Foot With Apparent YouTube Censorship
Attempt" featuring the link    http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000526.html
Lauren Weinstein of NN Squad says this:
> .... Google deploys regional blocking.....While I understand why Google
must respond to >*RIGHTS-BAED TAKE DOWN REQUESTS*, the bottom line is that
........ [capitllization and emphasis mine]

This is an example to show that it is not uncommon to talk about 'rights' of
Governments.

Two, Irrespective of whether Milton calls it "rights" or "powers" , it would
come up in any discussion on User's rights. Either it will come up as User's
rights Vs Regulator's rights or User's Rights Vs Regulator's Powers or even
as User's Rights Vs User's Obligations.,

In a different context Bertrand deLa Chapelle quoted Hamadoun Toure "from
Friction comes light" .  In this case can we handle the intensity of the
friction that this argument on "Rights" or a "Rights based approach" to
Internet Governance would generate ?

An alternative way of championing the same cause would be to talk about
"fundamnentals" rather than "rights". There are moves underway in various
corners of business and governments, apparently in isolated bits and pieces,
to erode the fundamental character of the Internet. The coalitions and
coalition leaders could take us this central cause of defining the core
vlaues of Internet and if they do, the whole world would come together to
champion the cause.

This is what I feel as an individual and as an user.

Sivasubramanian Muthusamy
India,

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 7:21 PM, William Drake
<william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch> wrote:

> Uh, hasn't there been several hundred years of international law
> recognizing sovereigns' rights in all kinds of spheres...?  Don't treaties
> recognize rights, like all the time?
> Bit puzzled,
>
> BD
>
>   On Mar 26, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Konstantinos Komaitis wrote:
>
>   Governments have only one right to sovereignty – I think this is
> important in the context of the international Internet. Perhaps a workshop
> theme could include the governments’ sovereignty as opposed to the
> non-sovereign state of the Internet. The case of ccTLDs could be used as a
> good starting point for the discussion.
>
> Konstantinos
>
>
> On 26/03/2009 13:34, "Milton L Mueller" <mueller at SYR.EDU> wrote:
>
> Governments do not have any "rights;" they have powers. Only people have
> rights. Insofar as governmental powers are justified and just, they are held
> and exercised to secure rights for people.
> Milton Mueller
> Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
> XS4All Professor, Delft University of Technology
> ------------------------------
> Internet Governance Project:
> http://internetgovernance.org <http://internetgovernance.org/>
>
>
>
> Perhaps the workshop could address aspects related to the Rights of
>  Governments, apart from focussing on the Rights of the Users?   Governments
> of the world might want to argue that they have a right to demand  certain
> content removed - You Tube has faced such rights based requests in the
>  recent past and now.
>
>
>
> Governments would like to argue that they have a moral right to filter,
>  and to censor inappropriate content ????
>
>
>
> What is this "rights-based values and principles for internet governance"
>  any way? Define rights, principles and then enact laws according to the
> agreed  values and principles ???
>
>
> [Sivasubramanian Muthusamy]
>
>
>
> --
> Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis,
> Lecturer in Law,
> GigaNet Membership Chair,
> University of Strathclyde,
> The Lord Hope Building,
> 141 St. James Road,
> Glasgow, G4 0LT,
> UK
> tel: +44 (0)141 548 4306
> email: k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk
>  ____________________________________________________________
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>
>     ***********************************************************
> William J. Drake
> Senior Associate
> Centre for International Governance
> Graduate Institute of International and
>   Development Studies
> Geneva, Switzerland
> william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
>  New book: *Governing Global Electronic Networks,*
> http://tinyurl.com/5mh9jj
> ***********************************************************
>
>
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