[governance] A shame for the EC

Matthias C. Kettemann matthias.kettemann at uni-graz.at
Tue Dec 13 01:17:09 EST 2011


Dear Jean-Louis,

I agree with you, but  Guttenberg's appointment by EU Commissioner Kroes 
might not have been quite so bad after all: Both he and the dictators 
he's supposed to interact with are experienced with angry crowds of 
online activists publishing information online that they'd rather not 
have the world see (plagiarism in his thesis vs. human rights violations 
in their countries). If he convinces dictators to act the same way he 
did - lie a bit, if they must, but then accept the inevitable and go 
peacefully - he might actually not have been such a bit choice after 
all. (I've blogged about this at 
http://internationallawandtheinternet.blogspot.com).

But what we should ask ourselves is why our contacts at the EU haven't 
raised the alarm. A personnel choice at this level takes months of 
planning.

Kind regards

Matthias




Am 13.12.2011 00:12, schrieb Jean-Louis FULLSACK:
> Dear members of the list
>
>
> Please find below my message I tried to send to Mrs Kroes, theEuropean 
> Commissioner on Information Society, but I failed since her mail is 
> protected and her newsletter is "no-reply" :-(.
>
> It is about a German ex-Minister of Defence who was obliged to resign 
> eight months ago after having frauded his doctoral thesis (i.a. by 
> copying large textings of other authors) and lied in his "explanations".
>
>
>
> Newsletter of the Information Society in Europe (the European 
> Commission on Information Society official  publication)
> PRESS RELEASE
>
> Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg invited by Kroes to promote internet 
> freedom globally 
> <http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/redirection.cfm?item_id=7666&utm_campaign=isp&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsroom&utm_content=daily>
>
> <http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/redirection.cfm?item_id=7666&utm_campaign=isp&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsroom&utm_content=daily>
>
>     /(12 December 2011)/ European Commission Vice-President Neelie
>     Kroes has invited Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a former Federal
>     Minister of Defence, and of Economics and Technology, in Germany,
>     to advise on how to provide ongoing support to Internet users,
>     bloggers and cyber-activists living under authoritarian regimes.
>     This appointment forms a key element of a new "No Disconnect
>     Strategy" to uphold the EU's commitment to ensure human rights and
>     fundamental freedoms are respected both online and off-line, and
>     that internet and other information and communication technology
>     (ICT) can remain a driver of political freedom, democratic
>     development and economic growth.
>
>
> The "promotion" of this notorious forger is a shame for Mrs Kroes, the 
> Commission and their "protégé" and a great blow for "European values".
>
> Of course, he is a proven Internet expert, especially in "copy and 
> paste" :-))
>
> Obviously he isn't an icon of "freedom", neither for undemocratic 
> regimes, nor for the Internet.
>
> Jean-Louis Fullsack
> Director of French NGO CSDPTT
>
> Accredited civil society delegate to the World Summit on Information 
> Society (WSIS)
>
> Member of the UNESCO Chair, University of Srrasbourg
>
>
> Message du 12/12/11 17:43
>
>     > De : "parminder"
>     > A : governance at lists.cpsr.org
>     > Copie à :
>     > Objet : Re: [governance] SOPA or no SOPA
>     >
>     >
>     > On Monday 12 December 2011 11:10 AM, Karl Auerbach wrote:
>
>         On 12/10/2011 06:44 AM, parminder wrote:
>
>             We need countervailing systems of political and democratic power for the global Internet.
>
>         You already have them.  With regard to DNS, any person, or group of persons, is free to set up their own DNS roots,
>
>
>     > Karl,
>     >
>     > The unfortunate problem is that a non CIRs issue of global
>     governance (here, in my quoted email, private and extra
>     territorial IP enforcement) so often gets responded to by a CIR
>     management solution. I have endless (non) debates with McTim over
>     similar lines. Why should discussions on so many other more
>     important issues of global Internet governance remain forever
>     hostage to the logics and sensitivities of CIR management space.
>     >
>     >  Even if I were to accept your argument, the issue remains that
>     unlike DNS, a group of people cannot set up their own IP regime
>     that is immune to IP regimes that are otherwise operating over
>     them, de jure or de facto. I have asked for countervailing systems
>     of political and democratic power specifically against US's
>     unilateral enforcement of its law over other countries. I dont see
>     how this problem gets solved by your response.
>     >
>     > As for CIR governance, which I insist is a rather different kind
>     of issue: In fact, perhaps unlike you, and I respect your views, I
>     do not have any problem with a single root and a single DNS, or
>     even for ICANN to be managing it. I only have a problem with UN
>     gov oversight of ICANN and applicaiton of US law to ICANN. Just
>     that part should move to an international jurisdiction, with
>     nothing else changing substantially. This is a simple, clear and,
>     in my view, wholly reasonable demand.
>     >
>     > We all know that sooner or later, a US court is going to issue a
>     direction to ICANN  to act in a certain way, in pursuance of
>     upholding US law in one of the thousand possible areas that can
>     cause such an order, and ICANN will have to do it, and all the
>     feigned innocence of ICANN's globalness and neutrality will be
>     gone up in thin air in a moment. And, hopefully later than sooner,
>     US government itself will be caught into a high stake security
>     'situation' whereby it will just have to do something vis a vis
>     the CIRs that it exercises control over, in negation of what it
>     likes to make everyone believe that it will never do. I have no
>     idea why we must all wait for that time to scramble to solve the
>     problem that we know is already there.
>     >
>     > parminder
>     >
>
>           populate them with whatever top level domains (TLD)s they like, provision their own DNS servers, and point their computers at those servers.  And DNSSEC will still work.  As for IP addresses - this is a bit more expensive:  Anyone can establish their own routing systems with their own links and routers and using their own distinct IPv4 (or IPv6) address space.  Connectivity to "the rest of the world" would be via application level gateways/proxies - most modern protocols don't mind proxies or application level gateways.  Of course these may be exactly the same paths that those who wish to exert increased control will chose to follow - it is an attractive path to the forces of control because those proxies and application level gateways represent points of control traffic - places to monitor, places to limit, places to tax, places to block.  (Moreover, in these times of economic distress, this path also means that existing investments in IPv4 equipment can remain in place and by re-using the entire IPv4 address space as many times as one wants it eliminates the IPv4 address exhaustion issue.)  What I am saying is that there are forces, from both sides of the "liberty" equation, that are combining to push today's singular end-to-end internet into an internet of internets.  	--karl--  ____________________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list:governance at lists.cpsr.org  To be removed from the list, visit:http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing   For all other list information and functions, see:http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance  To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:http://www.igcaucus.org/   Translate this email:http://translate.google.com/translate_t      
>
>
>
>
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-- 

Univ.-Ass. Mag. iur. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard)

Institut für Völkerrecht und Internationale Beziehungen
Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

Universitätsstraße 15/A4, 8010 Graz, Österreich

T | +43 316 380 6711 (Büro)
M | +43 676 701 7175 (mobil)
F | +43 316 380 9455
E | matthias.kettemann at uni-graz.at
Blog | internationallawandtheinternet.blogspot.com


--

Mag. iur. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard)
Teaching and Research Fellow

Institute of International Law and International Relations
University of Graz

Universitätsstraße 15/A4, 8010 Graz, Austria

T | +43 316 380 6711 (office)
M | +43 676 701 7175 (mobile)
F | +43 316 380 9455
E | matthias.kettemann at uni-graz.at
Blog | internationallawandtheinternet.blogspot.com

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