[governance] FW: [OIA] MS & Skype?

[parminder]

What Mike is pointing to is the real IG issue that we should be very 
concerned about.

The news of Facebook censoring anti-cut protests in UK is rather scary. 
Our digital Tahrir squares are private spaces, where the private owners 
(and their friendly interests) dont have to send in armies to remove 
people whose protests they dont sympathise with. parminder

On Tuesday 10 May 2011 08:19 PM, Michael Gurstein wrote:
> (further to my earlier post)
>
> Note: today's announcement that MS is in the process of buying skype
>
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/microsoft-said-to-be-negotiating-pu
> rchase-of-internet-call-provider-skype.html
>
> Should be seen alongside:
>
>> In the run up to the (Royal) wedding, facebook decided to delete 50
> profiles
>> of British anti cuts protest groups. Seems like they have been
>> coordinating this with the police. Scary precedent.
>>
>> Join the protest against it... on facebook
>   <...>
>
> Various ICT functionalities have proven their value and global significance
> to the point of essentially becoming part of a global "public"
> infrastructure on which a variety of other public (and other)
> functionalities are built (what would global civil society have looked like
> over the last half dozen years in the absence of skype for example).  What
> has emerged, I think, alongside this is a global public interest in these
> functionalities.
>
> What has not evolved apace is the global capacity to intervene with these
> functionalities to regulate and protect the global public interest/public
> goods.
>
> I'm not exactly sure how/where this should be covered in IG discussions but
> even from a purely self-interested CS perspective there is an absolute need
> to begin to work towards some sort of global institutional/regulatory
> framework to ensure the preservation of a public interest in a global
> virtual public space and public capacity for very low cost IP enabled
> international communications (a la skype).
>
> Mike
>
>
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-- 

Parminder Jeet Singh
Executive Director
IT for Change
NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC
www.ITforChange.net <http://www.ITforChange.net/>
Tel:+91-80-2665 4134, 2653 6890. Fax:+91-80-4146 1055


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