[governance] NetMundial News

Wed Apr 2 13:25:38 EDT 2014

Hi All,

Please find appended below the first of an occasional update from Knowledge
Common on the NetMundial meeting coming up in Sao Paolo.

Warm Regards,

Rishab
(for the Society for Knowledge Commons, India)

*Welcome to the first edition of NetMundial News from Knowledge Commons!*

***********
Knowledge Commons <http://www.kcbrasil.org/> is a consortium of community
media, academics and technologists based in India and Brasil.

For more information please visit www.knowledgecommons.in and
www.kcbrasil.org and follow us on Twitter @KCNetMundial

***********

President Dilma Roussef issued a strong call for a global compact on
Internet Governance at her speech at the UN General
Assembly<http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/9/24/video_at_un_brazilian_president_dilma>
in
September 2013 following revelations about surveillance on various
Brasilian institutions by the NSA.

The NetMundial meeting  <http://netmundial.br/>to be held 23-24 April in
Sao Paolo, will craft new Principles for governing the Internet and a road
map for reform of current governance structures. NetMundial represents an
important turning point in the debate on democratizing Internet Governance.

The NetMundial diplomatic conference <http://netmundial.br/about/> will be
held at the Hyatt hotel and will negotiate the principles and road map.
 Several Knowledge Commons delegates have been accepted into the NetMundial
and are keen to meet up with other like minded people and organisations!

The ArenaNetMundial <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3E1fBMPxY> will be
held at the Sao Paolo Cultural Centre starting 22 February and will feature
a series of incredible panel events and speakers from around the world.  *Stand
by for the full program*!

Knowledge Commons will be transmitting news and updates from the
conference<http://www.knowledgecommons.in/brasil/?page_id=131>* -
let us know if you would like to be on our mailing list by writing to: *
info at knowledgecommons.in*. *

Knowledge Commons has made two
submissions<http://www.knowledgecommons.in/brasil/?page_id=141> to
the meeting - on
policy<http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/towards-reform-of-global-internet-governance/240>
 and technical <http://towards%20reform%20of%20global%20internet%20technical%20framework/>issues
- and has summarized all187
submissions<http://summaries%20of%20submissions%20to%20netmundial/>
from
governments, NGOs and companies.

Our analysis <http://analysis%20of%20netmundial%20submissions/> of the
submissions, explained in this
infographic<http://www.knowledgecommons.in/brasil/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Proposals-for-NetMundial-195x300.jpg>,
shows that

   - 31 came from governments (individual and group), 105 civil society, 42
   private sector, 3 UN and 6 Multistakeholder
   - 99 from the North, 64 from the South, 24 from Global
   - 127 submitted by men, 51 by women, 9 non-gendered
   - 18 submissions mention gender
   - 50 out of 187 submissions protest mass surveillance - while almost all
   mention privacy
   - 110 out of 187 submissions insist that human rights online
   - 135 out of 187 submissions acknowledge that the multistakeholder model
   needs reform and improvement
   - 145 out of 187 submissions affirm the fact that governments have a
   role to play in internet governance
   - 63 out of 187 submissions explicitly support the globalization or
   internationalization of ICANN & its IANA function
   - 46 out of 187 submissions explicitly support the strengthening and
   reform of the Internet Governance Forum

Many principles are under discussion in the submissions including:

   - Drag net surveillance is not legitimate and should be explicitly
   outlawed
   - Surveillance must be necessary, targeted, proportionate and with
   judicial oversight
   - Clandestine backdoors into software and hardware violate users human
   rights
   - We need new limits on information governments and companies collect,
   store and use
   - The Internet is a global knowledge commons not a market place or war
   theatre
   - The concentration of legal power and internet traffic through one
   state is dangerous
   - Competition and consumer law need to apply to online markets in light
   of monopolies
   - Fair and transparent cross border regulation and taxation of global
   internet businesses
   - Net neutrality must not be compromised
   - Digital colonialism of dominant cultures and languages online must be
   addressed.

Of the 187 submissions, a full 135 acknowledge problems with the
multistakeholder model of Internet governance, with reform urgently needed
to:

   - Untangle the Internet from the laws of one country - ICANN and the
   NTIA also agree it's time for the US to withdraw from its role as trustee
   of the Internet.

   - Make ICANN in its new "globalized" form horizontally and vertically
   accountable; most suggest but some overtly state
(CGI.br<http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/evolution-and-internationalization-of-icann/263>)
   that ICANN is captured by dominant industries

   -  Many submissions describe how the "multistakeholder" model is
   suffering from:

   - *Lack of clear standard operating procedures* including transparent
      decision making and reporting
   - *Self selection instead of equitable representation* - many
      submissions note that those who can afford to be present in the myriad of
      multistakeholder encounters, usually held in the Global North, can
      participate, which impacts not only resourced challenged NGOs but also
      developing countries
      - *Structures that are not complimentary* - but are difficult to
      navigate with overlapping mandates
      - *Vague definitions* - "stakeholders" are not easily or simply
      defined. Different configurations are required in public policy or
      technical debates.  The technical community is both private and part of
      civil society. Civil society comprises rights advocates, aid workers,
      philanthropic ventures, librarians and the media. Similarly, governments
      comprise bureaucrats, regulators, legislators, jurists, military,
      intelligence, data protection officers, and civil servants.
Simplistically
      bundling all entities as equal has benefited some actors over others.

Of the 187 submissions, 145 have acknowledged that governments have a role
to play.

   - While the precise role is the subject of a long-standing, bitter and
   polarizing debate, President Rousseff's September 2013 speech at the UN
   General Assembly and many submissions (for instance that of the German
   government) call for governments to take up their role and responsibility
   as representatives of populations

   - While technical standards and protocols must continue to be framed in
   an institutionalized bottoms up manner, Knowledge Commons believes that
   certain public policy functions can only be adequately dealt with through
   governments working together on such issues as:

   - Legal and enforceable protection of human rights, including privacy
   - Cyber warfare and cyber attacks
   - Regularity issues such as cost of access and net neutrality
   - Common ownership of domain name spaces, including control of CCTLDs by
   the country concerned, international control, supervision and oversight of
   IANA functions
   - Protection and stability of international telecommunications services
   (the right against disconnection etc.)

To further explain and demystify the above issues, Knowledge Commons has
prepared a number of papers, including on:

- What is wrong with Internet Governance?
<http://www.knowledgecommons.in/brasil/?page_id=10>
 and
- The false dichotomy between Multistakeholder and Multilateral
models<http://www.knowledgecommons.in/brasil/?page_id=20>

We encourage you to sign up and participate in the discussion - after all
the Internet is our global knowledge commons!

Knowledge Commons Team
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