[governance] FW: [IP] India proposes UN "takeover" of Internet

[Jeremy Malcolm]

On 10/31/2011 02:47 AM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
>
>  
>
> we might still expect that its policies may be "somewhat less bad than
> the status quo". But because of its multi-stakeholder character, we
> can hope for much more: that civil society will finally have a and
> positive real impact on policies such as those that are being
> developed right now, outside of any transnational multi-stakeholder
> framework, that are destroying the Internet as we know it.
>
> */[Milton L Mueller] This statement re-convinces me that you don't
> have a good grasp of the political realities. Sorry. /*
>
> */First, give me an example of what specific policies would be better
> if the UN were involved and the number of states were broadened. Just
> one would do. 
> /*
>

There is a whole literature full of examples.  Internet governance as a
field of study in international relations is based around regime
theory.  It is fundamental to this theory that states will come together
and cooperate in a regime even where this does not always coincide
directly with their domestic interests.  The existence of the regime
itself has a value which counterbalances domestic considerations.

I won't go into the theory here because you probably know it better than
me, and as far as the specific examples you've asked for I can only
speculate, but don't consider it implausible that if a new instrument
were agreed that outlawed state-sponsored cyberterrorism, this would
influence domestic policy on its use amongst member states - just as the
Chemical Weapons Convention has done.

Let me be frank.  I don't like the CIRP proposal as it exists now.  It
has major problems.  One of those you've raised yourself, that
governments are represented twice - once on their own account, and again
through the intergovernmental advisory group.  We would need to do a lot
to get this proposal into shape.

Ideally, I think we should be asking that each of the advisory groups
should have a veto of any recommendation that goes forward.  (In a way,
this is a variation of the consociational model that I advocated in my
doctorate and since.)  This will narrow the range of issues on which the
CIRP can produce recommendations, but it will also avoid the worst
dangers of this new body producing a rights-infringing document on
Internet security or the like.

But if we are to advocate for such changes, we need to avoid throwing up
our hands and dismissing the CIRP proposal as a matter of principle. 
That is why I have focussed my energies so far on comparing the
potential of this proposal, done right, to the inadequacies of the
status quo.  It is not that I am blind to its deficiencies, but that I
fear others will be blind to its promise if they reject it too readily.

+5c to Lee McKnight's last mail.

-- 

*Dr Jeremy Malcolm
Project Coordinator*
Consumers International
Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
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