[governance] International Internet Treaty proposed by Europe

Wed Sep 22 05:19:46 EDT 2010

Le 22 sept. 10 à 09:08, CW Mail a écrit :

> Louis: Yes. Workshop #60. Presented by Council of Europe. The  
> transcript is published. (I went to a different workshop that day)
> I guess that someone on this list can provide additional information.
>
> CW
>
> On 22 Sep 2010, at 04:34, Louis Pouzin wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:14:33 -0700, Sylvia Caras  wrote:
>>> http://www.thinq.co.uk/2010/9/20/international-internet-treaty- 
>>> proposed-europe/
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Was this proposal announced or presented in an IGF session in  
>> Vilnius ? by whom ?

Yes, but, for reasons that are beyond my knowledge and understanding,  
the news article gives it far higher status than it currently has.  
And calling it an "Internet Treaty" is, well, somewhat anticipating,  
to say the least.

This is a first document proposed by an ad hoc group of individual  
experts nominated by the CoE to form an "Ad Hoc Advisory Group". And  
this document - as well as the process - raises a lot of concerns and  
still needs a lot of discussion.
More information about the group is at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/MC-S-CI/ 
default_en.asp (MC-S-CI)
NB. EDRI (European Digital Rights) is an observer to this group, that  
I'm representing myself. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, I  
missed the first and only formal group meeting on March 1-2 2010, and  
EDRI was not invited to the consultation meeting on October 2009,  
prior to the formal setting up of the group. As a matter of fact,  
EDRI raised strong, though oral, concerns to CoE on the process, and  
thus asked for an observer status to this group.

BTW, EDRI has similar concerns regarding another group, which deals  
with "the protection of neighbouring rights of broadcasting  
organisations" (MC-S-NR, http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/ 
media/MC-S-NR/default_en.asp). In this case, EDRI was present at its  
first consultation meeting, however, this is due to the fact that the  
consultation has started later (January 2010). EDRI has now been  
granted an observer status to this group too, but the group is not  
formed, and thus has not formally started yet, waiting for the  
European Commission mandate to work on this issue (the CoE wont start  
without an EC representative to the group). This is a highly  
politically sensitive issue.

Finally, EDRI has an observer status to a third group, on Human  
Rights in New Media (http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/ 
MC-NM/default_en.asp). In this case, we fully participate, and find  
this group fully legitimate. The group is made up of governments  
representatives, together with observers from different NGOs and  
professional associations, as well as other institutional bodies  
(like the European Commission and other CoE bodies) and States not  
members of, but observers to the CoE (well, it's mainly the Vatican,  
oooops the Holy Seat, whose representative remains almost silent,  
though probably blessing our work;))

This group, called MC-NM in CoE jargon, is the one drafting texts  
such as CoE Recommendations. It is the continuation of former Group  
on Human Rights in the Information Society (MC-S-IS, http:// 
www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/MC-S-IS/default_en.asp).  
There are no finalized drafts from the MC-NM group yet, since it  
started its work at the end of last year, but there is work in  
progress on very timely issues, tackling e.g. the protection of human  
rights with regards to search engines on the one hand and to social  
networks on the other hand. The group is also discussing a  
Declaration on network neutrality.
I have to acknowledge that observers have been actually granted full  
participation to MC-S-IS and now to MC-NM, and are actually heard  
most of the time (except when there is a strong opposition from gov  
representatives, who remain the decision makers in the group and,  
consequently, the ones accountable for its results).

Next MC-NM meeting, where I'm going to participate, will be held  
early next week. EDRI newsletter regularly reports on these meetings  
and other CoE activities (http://www.edri.org/edrigram):

- EDRI report on 2nd MC-NM meeting ('New Media, Search Engines And  
Network Neutrality On 2010 CoE Agenda', 7 April 2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.7/coe-new-media-working-group
- Opinion on 9th  MC-S-IS meeting developments  ('ENDitorial: CoE -  
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', 9 April 2008)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.7/coe-good-bad-ugly
- Opinion on 8th MC-S-IS meeting developments ('Enditorial: Coe -  
Content Regulation: Break On Through; Ipr: It's Tricky', 21 November  
2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.22/coe-content-regulation
- Sign Up Edri Statement On Coe Recommendation - Campaign Update (24  
October 2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.20/campaign-edri-coe-recommendation
- EDRI Statement And Call For Action On New CoE Rec. Failing To  
Uphold FoE (10 October, 2007):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.19/call-action-foe-rec
- Opinion on developments on CoE Cybercrime Convention ('Enditorial:  
The 2001 Coe Cybercrime Conv. More Dangerous Than Ever', 20 June, 2007)
- EDRI report on European regional meeting on the "Ethical dimensions  
of the information society" organized by the French Commission for  
UNESCO in cooperation with UNESCO and the Council of Europe ('Human  
Rights in the Information Society - rediscover the proportionality',  
26.09.2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.18/human-rights-is
- EDRI report on 7th MC-S-IS meeting ('CoE to address the impact of  
technical measures on human rights', 12.04.2007):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.7/coe-human-rights
- EDRI report on 5th MC-S-IS meeting ('News on CoE activities on  
Human Rights in the Information Society', 05.07.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.13/hrinfosoc
- EDRI report on 4th MC-S-IS meeting ('CoE works on new instrument on  
children empowerment on the net', 15.03.2006):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/coe
- EDRI report on 2nd MC-S-IS meeting and CoE Pan-European Forum  
('Human Rights In The Information Society On CoE Agenda', 21.09.2005):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.19/CoE
- EDRI gets observer status to MC-S-IS group ('EDRI Granted Observer  
Status In CoE HR Group', 29.06.2005):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.13/EDRI
- EDRI comments on CAHSI Document ('Council Of Europe Declaration On  
Human Rights And Internet', 24.05.2005):
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.10/CoE
- EDRI report on 2nd meeting of the Multidisciplinary Ad-hoc  
Committee of Experts on the Information Society (CAHSI) ('Council Of  
Europe Draft Statement On Human Rights And Internet', 20.04.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.8/CoE

Best,
Meryem Marzouki

--
Meryem Marzouki - Paris, France
Email: meryem at marzouki.info
Lab. LIP6/CNRS/UPMC - www-polytic.lip6.fr
IRIS (Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire) - www.iris.sgdg.org
EDRI (European Digital Rights) - www.edri.org

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