[governance] E-G8 forum: quick reporting on day 1

Wed May 25 03:31:10 EDT 2011

Dear collegues

Please find below a few elements of yesterday¹s sessions at e-G8, with most
of the focus on Sarkozy¹s speech, for reasons that you¹ll understand as I
think it starts a new era of government involvement. I will not go into the
details, only on what I think was his agenda:
-he announced an E-G8 every year, because Internet is now in a phase of
maturity that implies governments have ³responsibility in preserving the
promise of the origins² i.e. openness and universal values. He referred to
human rights values and to their importance as to democracy
-he confirmed the French position on IP rights and Hadopi law
            -he acknowledged that Internet is transborders and that this
calls for ³harmonisation of positions in an international context² and
mentioned the possibility of taking the proceedings to G20 and from there to
the General Assembly of the  UN
            -he sees the role of the e-G8 very much in the same context as
the national CNN (Conseil National du Numérique, composed only of business):
create a space for business and states to start a conversation, but not a
real advisory body and not multi-stakeholder.

Some analysts and most of the press have decided that the thrust of his
message was the moralization of internet (after a question from our
colleague at CUNY, asking that governments ³do no harm², meaning no
regulation), but that was not the message he wanted to send the business
community, even though he did address issues of hate speech, children¹s
protection and state security.

In his personal agenda, Sarkozy wanted to send several ³friendly² messages
to business:
-governments are back and as they pay for infrastructure and higher
education, they have a say in the matter (a prick at ICANN?)
-Europe is back and California-based Hollyweb corporations should realize
that if they don¹t pay taxes and don¹t give back some of the advertising
money to G8 countries and their national businesses, the governments might
move to some international treaty on internet governance.  It is a credible
threat (Council of Europe, OEDC are thinking about it), except that, of
course, none of the G20 countries want to open the debate so much and that
China remains an itchy, but India and Brazil could be rallied
-in view of recent events, on foreign policy matters, governments shift from
a position of stability to one of intervention, so as not to be overwhelmed
by their citizens and by the pressure of big corporations (see Google¹s and
Orange¹s role in Tunisia and Egypt).

That¹s why I think the e-G8 will continue and we have to expect policy
coming out of this arena also the recommendations are already written and
sent to G8 in Deauville (officious information), which means that the rest
of the 2 days are just a way for big business to settle their positions more
clearly but without any impact from this event on the G8

My perception about the other sessions:
-1- session on economic growth: the usual ³bras de fer² between telcos and
content providers, with a focus on how to allow small businesses to go
global; emphasis on the use of big platforms, especially in developing
countries (Africa and banks, on Indian model); E-public services only
mentioned for productivity enhancement

-2- session on Internet and society: balance between revenue and investment,
mobiles as a way of changing business at local and global level (daily deals
and impulse satisfaction); equal access to internet as means of creating
jobs and growth; ³terms of service² not really seen as a problem and
business self-regulation can solve it (but suggestion from the floor that
Wikipedia to have a ³just prior to your consent² type of section

This is where is was able to make a statement on behalf of our community :
I first stated that there was a sore missing of civil society
representatives on the podiums and sessions, if not in the room, insisting
also on the absence of gender parity (5 women over the full 2 days) and of
youth (much touted by everybody). Then I proceeded to ask 2 questions: how
did they consider multi-stakeholderism in the light of co-regulation of the
internet? And how they could ensure that human-rights are part of such a
design from the start?
The answer about women was fudged (the 5 women are worth so many more men
basically!); the idea of more civil society participation would be taken to
Deauville and taken into account for next e-G8s; and Schwab was the only one
to pick up on the rest of the issues, by suggesting ³co-design²

3-Special talk by Rupert Murdoch on education: no comment (but hard to take,
this said from somebody who cares)

-4-session on the future of the internet: internet as a ³fait accompli²,
part of our DNA; internet of objects is our future, and raises the issue of
³what does the internet do to me²; serious thinking is needed about what
happens if internet breaks down;  utmost personalization of data, and
therefore ³privacy is over²; need for better and stronger infrastructure to
face ³data tsunami²

-5- session on IP rights: protection of authors and creators necessary for
the market; Hadopi works (!); voluntary agreements to stem illegal
downloads.
This is where John Perry Barlow intervened by stating that IP was a break on
free speech on the internet, that the classical models of IP were obsolete,
that the right to know and to satisfy curiosity should be stronger than
control, and that starting to control IP leads to other types of control.
The controversy continued with the floor, as the Quadrature du Net
intervened and made a statement in support of Barlow¹s approach The issue
was in fact very muddled and I had a strong feeling of regression in
relation to this discussion in other fora

My general impression: not a balanced meeting at all.   But very big voice
of business in a way that we had lost in WSIS and sequel ... and a
regression on multi-stakeholderism

Best
divina

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