[governance] Internet as a commons/ public good

parminder parminder at itforchange.net
Thu Apr 25 02:44:07 EDT 2013


On Thursday 25 April 2013 12:07 PM, parminder wrote:
>
> I am happy to add at the end
>
> Internet must also be promoted (or some better word) as a vehicle (?) 
> of free expression and for free flow of information, knowledge and ideas


add here, and for free association


> . Subject to wordsmith-ing..
>
> However, at this point I think we need to perhaps put a stop to 
> further expanding the desirable characteristics of the Internet and 
> corresponding policy objectives. Otherwise it will become an unending 
> process.
>
> parminder
>
>
> On Thursday 25 April 2013 10:15 AM, Izumi AIZU wrote:
>> Hi, I also came late to this round of exchanges, but now have a 
>> simple question.
>>
>> In the current version, there is no mention about the "free flow of 
>> information
>> (and knowledge and/or ideas) nor freedom of speech/press/assembly.
>>
>> If there have already been good discussion about these values most civil
>> society proponents subscribe to, then fine. But if not, I think we 
>> should address
>> these in some way.
>>
>> izumi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2013/4/25 Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com <mailto:kichango at gmail.com>>
>>
>>     Folks, let us not sound like WCIT deliberations... and be stuck
>>     on the order of words or their esthetics, if not their politics.
>>     I see nothing wrong with McTim's formulation and am not sure what
>>     positive difference the latest change proposed by Parminder (on
>>     this specific phrase) makes, while it slows down the rhythm of
>>     reading and maybe the comprehension.
>>
>>     "through open, bottom-up, transparent, participatory democratic
>>     processes involving all stakeholders". [McTim]
>>
>>     vs.
>>
>>     "through due democratic processes, that are open and transparent,
>>     and involve all stakeholders." [Parminder]
>>
>>     Or would the following satisfy all parties? "... through open,
>>     bottom-up, transparent, participatory and due democratic
>>     processes involving all stakeholders". If so please (Parminder)
>>     go ahead and add.
>>
>>     Furthermore...
>>
>>     *The design principles and policies that constitute its
>>     governance ensure its stability, functionality and security, and
>>     aim at preserving and enhancing the global commons and global
>>     public good character of the Internet the combination of which
>>     has made previous innovations possible. Therefore, in the face of
>>     the growing danger for the Internet experience to be reduced to
>>     closed or ***
>>
>>     */[Milton L Mueller] yes, but they are also, and should be also,
>>     aim at preserving and enhancing the private good aspects of the
>>     Internet. As the success of the  internet rests on a creative
>>     combination of both, why are we emphasizing only one aspect of
>>     this? /*
>>
>>     *proprietary online spaces, we urge that the preservation and
>>     enhancement of the Internet's global commons and public good
>>     dimensions***
>>
>>     */[Milton L Mueller] what are these dimensions? Why not specify
>>     them? Why not also recognize that we should not interfere with
>>     the innovation and creativity that has come from affording
>>     entrepreneurs and individuals to experiment and innovate with new
>>     private services? /*
>>
>>     I'm in violent agreement with Parminder's earlier response to the
>>     above. You know Milton, as well as. I do that once first movers
>>     settle in, they tend to foreclose the opportunities for potential
>>     newcomers by all sorts of tactics, whether directly or
>>     indirectly. Left to their own devices, things become naturally
>>     skewed towards entrenched interests while raising entry barriers
>>     and stifling the potential for innovations, etc. As has already
>>     been said, this is about re-adjusting the scale and striking
>>     again a healthy balance between the two ends in order to maintain
>>     and foster the creative combination you're talking about.
>>
>>     As to the question about determining the global commons and
>>     global public good dimensions and for the sake of simplicity, I
>>     suggest we maintain the same expression to mean the same thing
>>     wherever that thing need to be expressed. So let's drop
>>     "dimensions" repeat again "global commons and global public good
>>     character".
>>
>>     Re. the following proposition that has been dropped: "While the
>>     design principles and policies that constitute its governance
>>     should ensure its stability, functionality and security, they
>>     must also aim at..." the reason why I put this in earlier is that
>>     I remember one of us stating that, in a sense, the stability,
>>     functionality and security may be (some of) the salient
>>     dimensions of the public good-ness of the internet as opposed to
>>     the internet itself in the technical sense. That idea started
>>     generating some agreement and no opposition. Now I observe that
>>     the reason why it has been dropped was that we were hesitant
>>     using a prescriptive tense but instead used the indicative
>>     present tense, to which someone objected that the internet *is*
>>     not stable nor secure (or something along those lines.) Now that
>>     we have clarify the tense and the intent, and keeping in mind
>>     that that phrase is about the principles guiding the *governance*
>>     of the internet but not the internet itself, perhaps the basis
>>     for dropping that sentence should not hold any longer. If you
>>     think otherwise and believe that proposition does still not
>>     belong here, please do let us know. For now I will put it back in
>>     because I think that's the logical thing to do, but please be
>>     reassured, I'm not making a religion out of it.  I have also
>>     added a variation of the same as option in square brackets in the
>>     version below (please not that ICANN always refers to their
>>     mandate, particularly the clauses mentioning the need to maintain
>>     stability and security, when making policy... so that's a fact.)
>>
>>     And lastly, I feel there's something too vague about the last
>>     proposition:
>>
>>     *... we urge the preservation and enhancement of the Internet's
>>     global commons and public good dimensions."*
>>     *//*
>>     Shouldn't we try to be specific at on one of the following two
>>     things: either who we are urging or at least the framework where
>>     the preservation and enhancement is being promoted or needs to
>>     take place.
>>
>>
>>     *"We recognise the Internet to be a global, end-to-end, network
>>     of networks comprised of computing devices and processes, and an
>>     emergent and emerging social reality. In that sense, it is an
>>     intricate combination of hardware, software, protocols, and human
>>     intentionality enabling new kinds of social interactions and
>>     transactions, brought together by a common set of design
>>     principles. The design principles and policies that constitute
>>     Internet's governance should be derived through **open,
>>     bottom-up, transparent, participatory democratic processes
>>     involving all stakeholders. Such principles and policies must aim
>>     at**ensuring its stability, functionality and security as well as
>>     [or: While such ***principles and policies strive to **ensure
>>     stability, functionality and security of the Internet, they must
>>     also aim at] *preserving and enhancing the global commons and
>>     global public good character of the Internet, the combination of
>>     which has made previous innovations possible. Therefore, in the
>>     face of the growing danger for the Internet experience to be
>>     reduced to closed or proprietary online spaces, we urge that the
>>     governance of the ***Internet* promote the preservation and
>>     enhancement of the Internet's global commons and public good
>>     character."
>>     *
>>     Mawaki
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 2:28 PM, Garth Graham
>>     <garth.graham at telus.net <mailto:garth.graham at telus.net>> wrote:
>>
>>         On 2013-04-24, at 12:10 AM, Norbert Bollow wrote:
>>
>>         > Governance of the epiphenomenon has always been primarily
>>         through the processes of parliamentary democracy that shape
>>         the laws that govern
>>         > democratic societies;
>>
>>
>>         Not quite.  Inge Kaul finds the standard definition of public
>>         goods that assumes the sovereignty of nation states in
>>         regulation to be of “limited practical-political value:”
>>
>>         “The shifts between private and public thus reflect greater
>>         shared concern for the public domain among all the main
>>         actors—the state, businesses, civil society organizations,
>>         and households—and for what others expect of them and how
>>         their private activities affect others. A wider arena, and
>>         probably a new era, of publicness have emerged.” (1)
>>
>>         She redefines the definition “to require public goods to be
>>         inclusive (public in consumption), based on participatory
>>         decision-making (public in provision) and offering a fair
>>         deal for all (public in the distribution of benefits).”(2).
>>          She sees that, in spite of their legislative and coercive
>>         powers, more than nation states are involved in addressing
>>         the problems of undersupply and market failure.  She sees a
>>         need to develop, “a more systematic approach to public policy
>>         partnerships.”(3).  In her terms, Internet governance as a
>>         public good could be viewed as emerging “against the wishes
>>         of the state.” (4).
>>
>>         “Goods often become private or public as a result of
>>         deliberate policy choices. That is why consideration should
>>         be given to expanding the definition—to recognize that in
>>         many if not most cases, goods exist not in their original
>>         forms but as social constructs, largely determined by
>>         policies and other collective human actions. According to
>>         this revised definition, public goods are nonexclusive or,
>>         put differently, de facto public in consumption.” (5)
>>
>>         “Public goods are not just market failures, and they are not
>>         merely state-produced goods. The public and private domains
>>         exist on their own, beyond states and markets. …. It can even
>>         be argued that the state and the market are part of the
>>         public domain: they are both public goods.” (6).
>>
>>         Personally, I find that phrase “public policy partnerships,”
>>         to be a bit more euphonious and helpful than the mouthful
>>         “multi-stakeholderism."
>>
>>         GG
>>
>>         (1). Inge Kaul and Ronald U.Mendoza. Advancing the Concept of
>>         Public Goods. In: Inge Kaul, Pedro Conceicao, Katell Le
>>         Goulven and Ronald U. Mendoza, editors. Providing Global
>>         Public Goods: Managing Globalization. Oxford University
>>         Press, 2002. 88-89. P78.
>>         http://web.undp.org/globalpublicgoods/globalization/pdfs/KaulMendoza.pdf
>>
>>         (2). Inge Kaul. Public Goods: Taking the Concept to the 21st
>>         Century. Paper prepared for the Auditing Public Domains
>>         Project, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York
>>         University, Toronto, 2001. 3.
>>         http://www.yorku.ca/drache/talks/pdf/apd_kaulfin.pdf
>>
>>         (3). Inge Kaul. 16
>>
>>         (4). Inge Kaul. 9.
>>
>>         (5). Kaul – Mendoza. 80-81.
>>
>>         (6). Kaul – Mendoza. 88.
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>> -- 
>>                      >> Izumi Aizu <<
>> Institute for InfoSocionomics, Tama University, Tokyo
>> Institute for HyperNetwork Society, Oita,
>> Japan
>> www.anr.org <http://www.anr.org>
>

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