[governance] IGF relevance?

[Milton L Mueller]

Fouad
I've reviewed Morozov's flawed arguments in detail here. 
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/1/13/4726219.html 

all I have time to say for now. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fouad Bajwa [mailto:fouadbajwa at gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 9:33 AM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Carlos A. Afonso
> Cc: Milton L Mueller; cstd at igf-online.net
> Subject: Re: [governance] IGF relevance?
> 
> Hi Milton, you give a mixed opinion. By the way this would be of
> interest to you:
> 
> The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World
> by Evgeny Morozov
> http://www.amazon.com/Net-Delusion-How-Liberate-
> World/dp/1846143535/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt
> 
> Synopsis: "Does free information mean free people?
> At the start of the twenty-first century we were promised that the
> internet would liberate the world. We could come together as never
> before, and from Iran's 'twitter revolution' to Facebook 'activism',
> technological innovation would spread democracy to oppressed peoples
> everywhere.
> 
> We couldn't have been more wrong. In The Net Delusion Evgeny Morozov
> destroys this myth, arguing that 'internet freedom' is an illusion,
> and that technology has failed to help protect people's rights. Not
> only that -- in many cases the internet is actually helping
> authoritarian regimes.
> 
> From China to Russia to Iran, oppressive governments are using
> cyberspace to stifle dissent: planting clandestine propaganda,
> employing sophisticated digital censorship and using online
> surveillance. We are all being manipulated in more subtle ways too --
> becoming pacified by the net, instead of truly engaging.
> 
> This book is a wake-up call. It shows us how our misplaced faith in
> cyber-utopia means the West risks missing the real challenges. Morozov
> argues that we must look at other ways of promoting democracy abroad,
> and forces us -- policymakers and citizens alike -- to recognize that
> all our freedoms are at stake."
> 
> I actually bought the book and going through it I must agree to the
> fact, network neutral for whom? For us, the developing world or for
> the developed world and why? Maybe that is the primary question that
> hasn't been answered at all. The debate cannot stop and the clarity
> has to be sought!
> 
> -- Fouad
> 
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:25 AM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca> wrote:
> > Milton, your argument is killed by your second phrase: "This is an issue
> > that is being and will be handled by national regulatory authorities."
> > Yes, like crime, privacy rights and so on -- aren't so many gov
> > decisions on these and other issues done by simple ministerial decrees,
> > directed at specific or all sectors, which are not really different from
> > regulatory determinations?
> >
> > The point is not discarding wksps because the thematic field is one
> > regulated by the State. Is to get us (at least non-govs) a space to
> > exchange ideas and develop proposals on how precisely to confront those
> > mechanisms and decisions from above.
> >
> > My point is that wksps are generally too academic, too
> > one-speaks-everyone-else-listens-(or-not), and little is left in terms
> > of what many of us defend for the IGF itself -- at least a consensus
> > around proposals for action organized in a document. For me this is the
> > main problem which makes most of them useless (like a stream of
> > first-world phds presenting generalist views on "development and ICTs"
> > etc etc), not because some of the themes relate to State's regulatory
> > mechanisms or because the theme is already well discussed.
> >
> > frt rgds
> >
> > --c.a.
> >
> > On 04/14/2011 12:04 AM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
> >>
> >> I am going to raise some eyebrows and question the decision to do a
> >> Network neutrality workshop. This is an issue that is being and will
> >> be handled by national regulatory authorities. The positions of the
> >> various actors and interest groups are well known and well-aired.
> >> Nothing the IGF says or does will have much impact on what happens in
> >> this space. The US Congress will probably negate the current FCC
> >> rules and the US will have to either pass new legislation or find
> >> some other way to pursue those policy goals; the IGF does not enter
> >> into the equation. The same can be said for Europe: the EU and
> >> national regulatory authorities are actively debating this, and it is
> >> the opinions of the nra's, DG INFO, DG MARKT and its competition law
> >> that matter, not IGF.
> >>
> >> On the other hand, there are developments in IP addressing that cry
> >> out for a global forum to work out a new policy. For some background,
> >> see this recent IGP blog article:
> >>
> http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/3/25/4778257.html
> >>
> >>
> > In facing a controversial issue that seemed to require global policy but
> > go beyond the mandate of ARIN, the head of ARIN recently asked on a
> > public list, sincerely, which venue could be used to discuss the issue?
> >>
> >> It is abundantly clear that on a few key internet governance issues,
> >> ranging from Wikileaks to IP addressing there are inadequate
> >> globalized institutions.
> >>
> >> One reason IGF is losing relevance, is that IGF's leadership seems to
> >> be utterly blind when it comes to distinguishing between issues where
> >> it can be entrepreneurial and fill gaps in the current institutional
> >> environment, and issues where it has no real capacity to contribute
> >> anything. It seems that IGF always falls prey to the disease of UN
> >> organizations, which is to create opportunities for politicians and
> >> others who enjoy publicity to intone pleasing platitudes on gigantic
> >> problems which it has no capacity to solve, while completely avoiding
> >> the hard work of solving smaller, less glamorous problems it can
> >> actually do something about.
> >>
> >> --MM
> >>
> >>
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