[governance] IGF review

[George Sadowsky]

Milton,

I don't disagree with what you say, and I don't question the 
contribution of topics like rights and freedoms to development.  In 
the shorter run, however, I believe that if you focus on maximizing 
the Internet's contribution to development in a country, you 
accomplish more by looking at what changes in governance within the 
country can do for development than by addressing the larger issues 
of rights and freedoms in an international context.

Regards,

George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 1:45 PM -0400 5/24/09, Milton L Mueller wrote:
>George
>The problem is that rights and freedoms ARE development issues. It 
>is no accident that the countries with the most liberal telecom 
>policies (going back to 1890) have the most developed 
>infrastructures and that the countries with the most liberal content 
>regulation policies are the ones with the strongest content 
>industries.
>
>Internet facilitates economic and social development precisely 
>because it enables decentralized, bottom-up initiative. True, this 
>won't magically create oodles of investment capital that will 
>suddenly allow, say, the South Sudan to instantly attain the 
>infrastructures and income levels of Denmark. But in that regard, 
>there are a lot of socio-economic development issues that have 
>almost nothing to do with Internet, such as whether one has stable, 
>legitimate institutions, peace, etc.
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: George Sadowsky [mailto:george.sadowsky at attglobal.net]
>>  Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 12:43 PM
>>  To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Michael Gurstein; 'McTim'
>>  Cc: 'BAUDOUIN SCHOMBE'
>>  Subject: RE: [governance] IGF review
>>
>>  Michael,
>>
>>  Thanks for an interesting perspective.
>>
>>  Bill Drake has put forward the notion that we should look at Internet
>>  governance through a strong development lens, as opposed to some of
>>  the other lenses that seem to be used, such as fundamental rights or
>>  power.  I think this would be a major step forward, and it would
>>  benefit more the countries that are Internet-poor.
>>
>>  However, the current forces driving the IGF, partially through the
>>  MAG, are centered upon U.S. control, ICANN, and Internet rights.
>>  Granted that there are issues there, they serve to sidetrack what I
>>  think is a fundamental question:  What are the levers within Internet
>>  governance that would make a real difference to people in
>>  Internet-poor countries by enhancing their economic and social
>>  development, and how can they be used?  the current questions
>>  attracting attention only deal with this question peripherally, if at
>>  all.
>>
>>  Regards,
>>
>>  George
>>
>____________________________________________________________
>You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.cpsr.org
>To be removed from the list, send any message to:
>      governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
>
>For all list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance

____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance