[governance] US House Bill to Affirm the Policy of the United States Regarding Internet Governance

Lee W McKnight lmcknigh at syr.edu
Sat Apr 13 14:51:53 EDT 2013 

Before we get too too excited about this Internet governance bill....note it is just at the level of the House subcommittee and would have to go to the full House of Representatives and then...

Oh yeah, there would need to be a corresponding Senate bill for this to be any more than political theater.

Maybe such a thing has been introduced to the Senate but from a quick scan I find no mention.

In sum, lots of noise and no substance here, unless and until the Senate moves something similar along.

Since the Obama administration likes its wiggle room as much as the next government, and is not backing the House (Republicans) efforts, then...much ado about not very much, is my (always humble) analysis.

But hey, at least house republicans have learned to say the words 'multistakeholder model' and 'internet governance,' we should count our blessings ; )

Lee




________________________________
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] on behalf of michael gurstein [gurstein at gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 10:26 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; 'Gene Kimmelman'; 'Jeremy Malcolm'
Subject: RE: [governance] US House Bill to Affirm the Policy of the United States Regarding Internet Governance

This, once visibly put into practice, is very welcome news indeed. Many in the rest of the world were astonished at the capacity of certain elements of US Civil Society and the Technical Community to offer uncritical support for what is so evidently self-serving hypocrisy of the form, do as we say not as we do.

M

From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Gene Kimmonce elman
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 6:55 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Jeremy Malcolm
Subject: Re: [governance] US House Bill to Affirm the Policy of the United States Regarding Internet Governance

Jeremy raises some important points about this proposed legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. A number of U.S. NGOs have written letters objecting to the language in the legislation, both for impact on important aspects of freedom of expression/citizen and consumer protection under U.S. law, and for misstating the current status of global engagement in Internet policy and the multistakeholder process.  I believe the groups will be sharing their views more broadly with this community, and will be pushing for changes in the legislation as it moves through the review process before the U.S. Congress.

On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 10:56 PM, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org<mailto:jeremy at ciroap.org>> wrote:
It doesn't seem to have been mentioned here yet (or maybe only in passing) that there is a bill on Internet governance being debated in the Energy & Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives at the moment.  There will doubtless be stampede of uncritical support for it from politicians of all sides (there is no hidden intellectual property "gotcha"), but unfortunately its premises are fundamentally flawed.

http://energycommerce.house.gov/markup/markup-bill-affirm-policy-united-states-regarding-internet-governance

It only has two sections: one on "Findings" and one on "Policy regarding Internet governance", which flows from the findings.  The latter simply states:

"It is the policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet."

So this is obviously nonsense; it is not US policy to promote a global Internet free from government control, only free from the control of other governments besides itself.  And note that US policy is only to "preserve and advance" not to "enhance" the multistakeholder model, which continues the fiction that the multistakeholder institutions that we have now are adequate both in their inclusiveness and in the breadth of Internet governance topics that they cover.

Of course, you can argue for more beneficial interpretations by defining "control" and "multistakeholder model" expansively, but even so this bill is just going to entrench the standoff between the US and other countries, which is not going to be helpful in reaching compromise on the evolution of Internet governance arrangements this year...

--

Dr Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Policy Officer
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
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