[governance] Re: Draft IGC statement on Wikileaks

Lee W McKnight lmcknigh at syr.edu
Sun Dec 12 15:47:26 EST 2010 

I will try again to clarify my position. I believe we can agree that:

1) The general public worldwide has never heard of 'Internet Governance.'

2)  'WikiLeaks' now has high global...name recognition.

>From a branding/marketing perspective, 2) is doing great, 1) not so much.

If IG(C) can't take advantage of present circumstance to teach the media and the public to say 'The handling of WikiLeaks is an Internet governance issue'...well now I'm getting really depressed.

In sum: We will clearly continue to argue about present and alternative future IG (f)(F)rameworks -  which for marketing purposes is fine - as long as folks learn how to spell our (caucus) name correctly.  

 Detailing what is or is not necessarily part of a future F(ramework) or (framework) is beyond the scope of the present media/marketing moment, and I won;t go there when we should be thinking marketing 101.

Lee


________________________________________
From: governance-request at lists.cpsr.org [governance-request at lists.cpsr.org] On Behalf Of Drake William [william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch]
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 1:54 PM
To: katitza at eff.org
Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: Re: [governance] Re: Draft IGC statement on Wikileaks

Hi

On Dec 12, 2010, at 6:49 PM, Katitza Rodriguez wrote:

Hi William,

We already have international instruments that protects freedom of expression. It sets precedents of what it can be disclosed. Why we need new rules? Can you explain me?

There's a draft IGC text saying that this case shows we need a new framework of principles to guide global IG, which presumably would affect such things, so I asked why how what do people have in mind.  You replied you were thinking of the HRC.  The HRC is a deliberative body, populated by China, Saudi Arabia et al, that is supposed to make recommendations to the General Assembly.  So I assumed you meant the HRC should make recommendations on new principles per the draft IGC text.   If instead you meant that the HRC could assess this as a freedom of expression case in accordance with existing international rights instruments and make recommendations, ok, but the same question applies: Which of the HRC's member governments could we expect to argue that case and make recs we'd find congenial?  One would like to think that some would, but with classified national security information it could be a tough sell. In any event, a FOE majority seems unlikely, and even if one could be assembled, it's questionable whether HRC recs (not heretofore highly impactful AFAIK) would alter any behavior.  It'd certainly be an interesting debate though, and I'd be happy to have it unfolding down the street from me.  Prospects might be better in an international court setting with nominally independent judges and legal experts etc, rather than an intergovernmental negotiation body...


As Frank La Rue said: ""If there is a responsibility by leaking information it is of, exclusively of the person that made the leak, and not of the media that publish it." Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3089025.htm"

Sure

Amnesty International: "On the leaking of national defence information: While employees of a government have the right to freedom of expression, they also have duties as an employee, so a government has more scope to impose restrictions on ...its employees than it would have for private individuals who receive or republish information. However, Amnesty International would be concerned if a government were to seek to punish a person who, for reasons of conscience, released in a responsible manner information that they reasonably believed to be evidence of human rights violations that the government was attempting to keep secret in order to prevent the public learning the truth about the violations." http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/wikileaks-and-freedom-expression-2010-12-09

By these criteria, Bradley Manning's in trouble.

On Dec 12, 2010, at 6:46 PM, Michael Gurstein wrote:


I think the argument here is that we (?) should get in soon with some sort
of suggested approach to a broad governance framework because the "powers
that be" will be feverishly working on their approach and it will emerge
very quickly and very forcefully.

Neither half of this is very clear to me but I'm certainly open to persuasion…

Cheers,

Bill




Hi Katitza,

On Dec 12, 2010, at 6:17 PM, Katitza Rodriguez wrote:



I am not familiar with United Nations structure but I was thinking within the Human Rights Council, to upheld International Human Rights Law on Freedom of Expression. Wikileaks is a Freedom of expression issue.  But again: I am not familiar of how those Council's work. It would be good to know more about it.


http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/membership.htm

Which of those governments could we expect to adopt international rights-based principles protecting the nationally illegal disclosure of what they deem to be classified national security information?  It's doubtful there'd be one, much less a majority, in this or any other international body.

Best,

Bill








On 12/12/10 9:10 AM, Drake William wrote:


Hi Lee,

On Dec 12, 2010, at 5:13 PM, Lee W McKnight wrote:



I also appreciate many IGC members and member organizations wish to comment on the WikiLeaks case for their own reasons, but personally would be - depressed - if IGC couldn't manage to comment at all, itself.


If so, then it would be helpful if you could specify the linkages to global Internet governance.  Simply asserting that Wikileaks shows we need a global framework of principles will not by itself be terribly compelling to nonbelievers.  What kinds of principles would address which aspects of the whole phenomenon?  Where would they be established, who would adopt them, how would implementation and compliance be handled, etc…?

I've added other comments on the site; didn't know digress.it<http://digress.it>, handy tool, thanks Jeremy.

Cheers,

Bill


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Katitza Rodriguez
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***********************************************************
William J. Drake
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Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
 Development Studies
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--
Katitza Rodriguez
International Rights Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
katitza at eff.org<mailto:katitza at eff.org>
katitza at datos-personales.org<mailto:katitza at datos-personales.org> (personal email)

Please support EFF - Working to protect your digital rights and freedom of speech since 1990

***********************************************************
William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
 Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch<mailto:william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch>
www.williamdrake.org
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