[governance] Re: Draft IGC statement on Wikileaks

[Drake William]

Hi Milton

On Dec 13, 2010, at 3:54 AM, Milton L Mueller wrote:

> As one of the people who originated the call for a Framework Convention during the WSIS, I feel we have to draw back from that at the present time. ACTA, the increasingly reactionary US govt role in CIR governance, cyberwar and "cyber-security," the Tunis Agenda's fallacious attempt to reserve "public policy" for nation-states, and the current anti-MS moves of the UN/CSTD all make it clear that states are not reliable or productive partners in any effort to build democratic global governance. To call for a negotiated convention, treaty or framework _in the context of the UN_ - an entity that still has debates about whether the people should even be allowed to participate in its deliberations, is crazy if one expects the outcome of such a negotiation to preserve or enhance the freedom of the internet and the rights of the people using it. Those negotiations will be all about the interests of states. 

As one of the people who said this during WSIS (and took some heat for it), I'm not entirely clear on your shift.  It was already the case then that governments and firms wanted strong agreements on IPR and security and were asserting singular roles in public policy, and that the breadth and depth of real commitment to multistakeholderism had limits.  And there were all the structural problems, like sharp disagreements among blocs of countries that made a winning coalition for meaningful text impossible, the lack of a viable forum and the likely inter-organizational reactions to any cross-cutting instrument, the difficulty of translating very high level principles down into the workings of myriad and constitutionally different governance mechanisms, and so on.  The FC's problems were and are foundational and intrinsic, rather than being a function of the historical moment.  Which goes also to the question of what is sensible to advocate now with respect to EC...

Cheers,

Bill

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