[governance] WCIT melt down

[parminder]

On Friday 14 December 2012 10:00 AM, Adam Peake wrote:
> <snip)

> So why did he encourage plenary to spend so many hours on Human 
> Rights? It seemed to obsess him, he was personally stung by comments 
> and concerns (very legitimate) that some proposal had potential to 
> harm fundamental rights. How many full sessions discussed a single 
> line of text in the preamble, 2, 3, more? All for his own PR, he said 
> as much, it was about the press and perception. So I wonder, if he has 
> used the same passion and time to persuade and cajole delegates to 
> think of ways in which the ITRs could contain high-level and lasting 
> principles that encouraged the spread of/access to broadband across 
> the globe, perhaps we would have had something useful and lasting. 

Adam,

Can you suggest how ITRs could have encouraged spread of broadband 
without mentioning Internet or broadband (which is Internet) in the 
ITRs? You know that one side was completely intent that, what come may, 
Internet/ broadband cannot find mention in the ITRs....

The problem with the WCIT process was that it was a battle between two 
sides both with an entirely negative agenda. One side wanted to prevent 
US et all from making a historical point that Internet is an unregulated 
space - whereby their new global domination strategy could be 
unrestrained. The other side was trying to prevent China/ Russia et all 
from changing the basic nature of the global Internet into a tightly 
state controlled space.

The middle, which is supposed to be the sane lot, and that should have 
included many countries, as well as, prominently, the civil society, 
which is supposed to contribute a positive agenda,  failed. That I think 
is the primary failure here. The 'sane public interest-oriented middle' 
did not get formed. And the civil society was supposed to have a big 
role in it. So, perhaps, we failed, more than anyone else. (Do we want 
to look into this failure?)

A global treaty, especially as concerning a matter of such monumental 
importance as the Internet, is supposed to give the people of the world 
some hope.... Take any treaty or global summit process till now, whether 
concerning climate change, trade, traditional knowledge, etc 
etc........... There is always some hope built from a summit/ treaty 
process, and civil society is on the side of this positive hope. Mostly 
leading the positive hope brigade.

What was the hope or positive expectation offered by the WCIT? Was there 
any? No, none. It was a battle between two perverse agendas. And, I dare 
say, good that neither won, and the process broke down. I highly 
appreciate the sentiment of Marilia's email, but in this case, I am not 
too unhappy that the treaty process kind of failed. I am not celebrating 
the breakdown of dialogue. I am hopeful that this breakdown will come as 
a positive shake-up to our collective and selective slumbers that many 
of us seem to be caught in, in terms of public interest regulation of 
the Internet. My hope is that such shake-up will now start a real honest 
dialogue. Thus I am still celebrating the process of dialogue - honest 
and open dialogue about real issues (and not shadow boxing) and beyond 
selective hype, focussed on global public interest and not narrow 
partisan agendas as the WCIT process was.

The situation which had been reached in the WCIT process, I am 
completely unable to figure out, if WCIT process had succeeded, /what 
would it have succeeded at./ I am unable to form any conception of what 
I could have considered as WCIT success - that, one could say proudly, 
/it gave the world this and this/.... I will be happy if anyone here can 
share any such possible conception of a 'successful WCIT' (keeping 
within the limits in which WCIT process has been trapped for a long time 
now), and perhaps I can still be persuade to feel bad about this 
'failure'. But right now, I am unable to do so.


parminder


> Instead he seems to have allowed the Union under his leadership to 
> become divided. We'll see how badly later on. Also found his comments 
> last night poor: Last night: "I have been saying in the run-up to this 
> conference that this conference is not about governing the internet. I 
> repeat, that the conference did not include provisions on the internet 
> in the treaty text." etc. Opening plenary: "In preparing for this 
> conference, we have seen and heard many comments about ITU or the 
> United Nations trying to take over the Internet. Let me be very clear 
> one more time: WCIT is not about taking over the Internet. And WCIT is 
> not about Internet governance." Sorry, that's twisting words and 
> twisting generally. The resolutions are part of the ITRs, they can be 
> binding on the secretariat, they are "WICT. So I wonder if Toure's 
> blown his chance for a legacy. Best, Adam
>> Cheers
>>
>> Keith
>>
>>
>> On 14/12/2012 4:31 p.m., Adam Peake wrote:
>>>
>>> Toure's words of congratulation (and sound-bites for the media) we hollow.
>>>
>>> Adam
>>>
>>
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