[governance] Internet G8 meeting

Wed May 11 03:25:34 EDT 2011

Looks great!

Very small grammatical issue  in last sentence drop word ³is² before
baffling (easiest solution) or otherwise rewrite the sentence.

Ian 

From: Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
Organization: Consumers International
Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 15:13:45 +0800
To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Jeanette Hofmann <jeanette at wzb.eu>
Subject: Re: [governance] Internet G8 meeting

   On 10/05/11 21:15, Jeanette Hofmann wrote:
> Can we perhaps set a deadline?
>  

 Yes, I'm going to put it to consensus call in the form below (incorporating
the latest minor points).  Expect a poll invitation soon.  For the press
release, we'll basically just lose the "Basic courtesy stuff" at the start
and the "closing and salutations" at the end, and add a heading such as
"Civil society censures French plan for closed meeting on Internet's
future".

 Dear President Sarkozy,

 The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) is an open forum of
individual and organisational civil society actors who came together in the
context of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to promote
global public interest objectives in Internet governance policy making (see
http://www.igcaucus.org).

 We understand that the French Presidency of the G8 proposes to hold a G8
Internet meeting - the "eG8 Forum" - immediately prior to the G8 Summit in
Deauville, with a view to prepare or influence the agenda for the G8 Summit
regarding key global Internet issues. We also understand that many heads of
states of G8 countries are expected to attend this meeting. The meeting is
especially important since in the past G8 has set up the global agenda on
many key issues, especially in the information society arena.

 We are very concerned about the manner in which the eG8 Forum is being
organised which is ignoring current best practice in public policy making.
It also jettisons the principle of multistakeholder participation that has
evolved globally, especially in the area of Internet governance. It appears
that the eG8 Forum is organized by large Industry with access given only to
industry and government actors.  We have also understood that there is a
linkage between donations and invitations.

 Big businesses already have a disproportionately large influence on public
policy processes. For governments to sanction a dedicated meeting with top
G8 leaders and officials to plan the global agenda for Internet related
policies is inappropriate. What is required is a discussion that includes
civil society actors, who will bring to the table the concerns of global
public interest derived from a diversity of people's, of many sections of
society, interests and concerns.

 It is also pertinent to state here that since the Internet is essentially a
global phenomenon, policies framed together by the most powerful nations,
quite likely, will become the default global norm. This is most true for
architectural and economic issues, while the global impact on other areas
will also be substantial. It is therefore appropriate that G8 countries
engage with the same, and other issues, of Internet policies at the more
democratic global forums where all countries are present at an equal
footing. In this connection, there is the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) mandated set of processes for dealing with pressing global
Internet related issues. Multistakeholder participation is an important part
of these global IG related processes. We see the eG8 Forum as a significant
step backwards both for global democracy and for multistakeholder
participation.

 The issues we face with internet governance and internet developments are
global in nature, and adequate solutions to the problems we face will need
to involve all countries, as well as a wide range of civil society, business
and technical interests.

 We therefore request you, and other G8 leaders, to make the eG8 Forum
genuinely multistakeholder, following the model of the UN Internet
Governance Forum (IGF). We are impressed with the solid support provided by
the G8 countries for upholding a multistakeholder model for the IGF. The
strong support that many G8 countries, including your own, have shown for
full multistakeholder participation in relation to the IGF makes this
current decision to limit discussion to vested interests of governments'
industry partners is baffling, and unacceptable to the IGC, which advocates
for civil society's Internet governance interests.

 Yours sincerely,
 Jeremy Malcolm and Izumi Aizu
 Coordinators
 Internet Governance Caucus

-- 

Dr Jeremy Malcolm
 Project Coordinator
 Consumers International
 Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
 Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
 Tel: +60 3 7726 1599

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