[governance] The German Federal Internet Commission Report (Der Spiegel)

Lee W McKnight lmcknigh at syr.edu
Wed Apr 24 15:39:18 EDT 2013 

And if I may add to that, German commissions have a long record of significantly (and generally, wisely) shaping policy, with what we would today call 'multi-stakeholder' membership.

Perhaps we might call it a Parminderesque style in that the experts are aligned with specific political/representative/democratic blocs; albeit also requiring their own in-depth expertise to merit inclusion, such as our own Jeanette.

Commissions like this are part of Germany's own good governance secret sauce imho.

Lee


________________________________________
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] on behalf of Jeanette Hofmann [jeanette at wzb.eu]
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 7:47 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; parminder
Cc: Peter H. Hellmonds
Subject: Re: [governance] The German Federal Internet Commission Report (Der Spiegel)

The appointed experts of the enquete commission had all sorts of
backgrounds: ngos, academia, trade unions, chaos computer club but also
industry associations and lobbyists. In my view that qualifies as
multi-stakeholder.
jeanette

Am 24.04.2013 10:55, schrieb parminder:
>
> On Wednesday 24 April 2013 01:38 PM, Peter H. Hellmonds wrote:
>> Parminder, please check your facts before making such claims:
>>
>> "For instance, no industry representative here."
>>
>> I know personally at least two business representatives plus one
>> parliamentarian who also runs his own business.
>
>
> Dear Peter
>
> I went by what a member of the commission, Jeanette, told us. To quote "
> 50% of its membership consists of members of the parliament and 50% of
> experts appointed by the parliamentary factions, depending on their
> relative size" . So I really got my facts right here.
>
> It is strange that you consider a parliamentarian who may also run his
> own business as an industry representative.  I am sure the concerned
> parliamentarian will better like to describe himself as a people's
> representative, which is what he is.  I thought stakeholder group
> representatives were those whom stakeholder groups expressly put forward
> as their representative. But it seems more you venture into the
> multistakeholderism world, the less you are clear about it.
>
> You say at least two business representatives other than the
> parliamentarian  - who I understand were 'experts' nominated by
> political parties. Now that makes them experts nominated by political
> parties and not industry representatives, never mind what profession
> that may  pursue.
>
> But let me not argue with you. But I can at least hope that you will
> apply definitions consistently. I simply ask, would you take a global
> commission on the Internet with half the members who are 'experts'
> nominated by various political factions in the UN - say, the regional
> groups or OECD country, G 77 etc groups  - as a multistakeholder body?
>
>>
>> As to your question:
>>
>> "Are you now ready to consider inclusion of 'experts' selected by
>> politicians as enough to make things multi-stakeholder?"
>>
>> Probably as much as a selection of stakeholder reps for the IGF MAG by
>> the UN 'black box' which has been accepted by participants in the IGF.
>
> So, now IGF MAG is less multi-stakeholder than the German parliamentary
> commission. Interesting perspective :).
>
>
>> I'm sure Wolfgang and Jeanette can say more about the selection
>> process in the German national Internet Enquete  Commission.
>
> Jeanette has described the process quite specifically, and it follows
> the pattern of parliamentary committees in many democracies. But happy
> to hear more details.
>
> parminder
>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> On 24.04.2013, at 03:54, "parminder" <parminder at itforchange.net
>> <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday 23 April 2013 10:04 PM, Peter H. Hellmonds wrote:
>>>
>>> First of all, the link provided is not the link to the 1200 pages
>>> report, but to the 48 pages “executive summary”.
>>>
>>> As to the questions about the multistakeholder nature:
>>>
>>> ·The composition of the Internet Enquete Commission was 17
>>> parliamentarians and 17 members from different stakeholder groups, so
>>> this was a multistakeholder commission.
>>>
>>
>> Peter,
>>
>>  (Parminder) 17 members not from other stakeholder groups, but
>> 'experts' nominated by political parties in proportion of their
>> strength in the parliament, right! For instance, no industry
>> representative here. Are you now ready to consider inclusion of
>> 'experts' selected by politicians as enough to make things
>> multi-stakeholder? If so, I can tell you that UN has endless number of
>> committee consisting of such experts, doing very important work.
>>
>>
>>> ·The Internet Enquete Commission has employed a number of innovative
>>> online participation options giving citizens the chance to directly
>>> contribute and comment on the proceedings.
>>>
>>> Regarding Internet Governance:
>>>
>>> The most relevant detailed report about International Issues and
>>> Internet Governance is here:
>>> http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/124/1712480.pdf
>>>
>>> The recommendation of this report is to keep the established
>>> governance framework and to protect the freedom and open character of
>>> the Internet. To assure the government is kept abreast of changes,
>>> there shall be a regular monitoring and reports. Multistakeholder
>>> participation in national and international governance issues shall
>>> be further strengthened. There shall be no new governmental or
>>> intergovernmental Internet Governance institutions as long as the
>>> existing institutions maintain the current way of an open and free
>>> Internet. The Commission is of the opinion that the current US
>>> oversight should yield to a broader supervisory structure for ICANN
>>> and IANA
>>>
>>
>> (Parminder) Exactly the demand of most developing countries, not a
>> penny more... Only, countries like India have gone further beyond
>> generic statements and suggested what such a broad supervisory
>> structure could look like. We, as in IT for Change, have tried to
>> present some structural possibilities and trigger a debate here in the
>> IGC. But coming from the Southern side, all that looks like so
>> explosive, betrayal and so on.....  Now since a German nationally
>> constituted 'multi-stakeholder' commission also calls for a new
>> 'supervisory structure' can we at least now debate the possible
>> contours of one...
>>
>> parminder
>>
>>> and suggests more engagement by the German government and the EU. To
>>> enable that, German ministries should get expanded funding to enhance
>>> their support for multistakeholder participation. The IGF should get
>>> German funding through the trust fund managed by  UN DESA.
>>>
>>> There is a lot more, but this summarizes some of the main points.
>>> Jeanette has already provided some background into the general
>>> working of the commission. I’m sure Wolfgang and Jeanette can shed
>>> some more light on the content of the Internet Governance debate.
>>> Throwing the text through an automatic translation engine might also
>>> help to access its contents for those who don’t understand sufficient
>>> German.
>>>
>>> -- Peter
>>>
>>> *Von:*governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] *Im Auftrag von *parminder
>>> *Gesendet:* 22 April 2013 07:18
>>> *An:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> *Betreff:* Re: [governance] The German Federal Internet Commission
>>> Report (Der Spiegel)
>>>
>>> On Monday 22 April 2013 02:52 AM, Lee W McKnight wrote:
>>>
>>>     Very interesting material.
>>>
>>>     Link to final report:
>>>     http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/125/1712550.pdf
>>>
>>>     Perhaps IGC's own Jeanette Hoffman who participated, might
>>>     summarize the 1200 pp full report, and suggest implications for
>>>     global internet governance? : )
>>>
>>> http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/special-commission-calls-for-internet-commissioner-in-germany-a-895412.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> While one awaits further information, one thing is clear from the
>>> referred news item that the Commission strongly underscored the
>>> importance of cross cutting Internet-related public policy issues in
>>> asking the "German government to get more serious about
>>> Internet-related issues" and in seeking the setting up */a new
>>> committee of the parliament for Internet-related public policy
>>> issues/* . To me, it closely parallels the Indian demand for the UN
>>> Committee on Internet-related Policies. The overall logic and
>>> justifications are very similar, especially with what we all
>>> recognise as an inherently global nature of the Internet.
>>>
>>> Will be interesting to know if the prosed German Parliamentary
>>> Committee will have similar levels of multistakeholder engagement as
>>> the India' proposed UN CIRP.  And I quote from the CIRP proposal so
>>> that people/ we can make a comparison.
>>>
>>> (quote from UN CIRP proposal begins)
>>>
>>> It will ensure the participation of all relevant stakeholders by
>>> establishing four Advisory Groups, one each for civil society, the
>>> private sector, inter­governmental and international organizations,
>>> and the technical and academic community. The Advisory Groups will
>>> provide their inputs and recommendations to the CIRP . The meetings
>>> of CIRP and the advisory groups will be serviced by the UNCTAD
>>> Secretariat that also services the meetings of the Commission on
>>> Science and Technology for Development. The Internet Governance Forum
>>> will provide inputs to CIRP in the spirit of complementarity between
>>> the two.
>>>
>>> (ends)
>>>
>>> With further elaboration in the Annexure to the CIRP proposal
>>>
>>>
>>> (quote begins)
>>>
>>>     */Multi­stakeholder participation/*: Recognizing the need to
>>>     involve all stakeholders in Global Internet Governance in their
>>>     respective roles, the CIRP shall ensure the participation of all
>>>     stakeholders recognized in the Tunis Agenda. Four Advisory Groups
>>>     ­ one each for Civil Society, the Private Sector,
>>>     Inter­Governmental and International Organisations, and the
>>>     Technical and Academic Community ­ will be established, to assist
>>>     and advise the CIRP . These Groups would be self­ organized, as
>>>     per agreed principles, to ensure transparency, representativity
>>>     and inclusiveness. The Advisory Groups will meet annually in
>>>     Geneva and in conjunction with any additional meetings of the
>>>     CIRP , Their meetings will be held back ­to­ back with the
>>>     meetings of the CIRP , so that they are able to provide their
>>>     inputs and recommendations in a timely manner, to the CIRP .
>>>
>>>     */Links with the IGF/*: Recognizing the value of the Internet
>>>     Governance Forum as an open, unique forum for multi-stakeholder
>>>     policy dialogue on Internet issues, the deliberations in the lGF
>>>     along with any inputs, background information and analysis it may
>>>     provide, will be taken as inputs for consideration of the CIRP .
>>>     An improved and strengthened lGF that can serve as a purposeful
>>>     body for policy consultations and provide meaningful policy
>>>     inputs to the CIRP , will ensure a stronger and more effective
>>>     complementarity between the CIRP and the IGF.
>>>
>>> (ends)
>>>
>>> Parminder
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Lee
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> *From:*governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> <mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org>
>>> [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> <mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org>] on behalf of michael
>>> gurstein [gurstein at gmail.com <mailto:gurstein at gmail.com>]
>>> *Sent:* Sunday, April 21, 2013 4:07 PM
>>> *To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>>> <mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
>>> *Subject:* [governance] The German Federal Internet Commission Report
>>> (Der Spiegel)
>>>
>>> In Germany.
>>>
>>> http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/special-commission-calls-for-internet-commissioner-in-germany-a-895412.html
>>>
>>
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