[governance] IGC's NETMundial Submission

Mawaki Chango kichango at gmail.com
Fri Mar 7 18:34:55 EST 2014 

Here it is, as posted. I hope it got through as stated on the screen after
posting.

*Statement of Principles Submitted to NETMundial by the Internet Governance
Caucus *


 *Key words:* transparent, accountable, inclusive, equitable, human rights.



*Abstract:* Internet governance processes and decisions should be open and
inclusive, bottom-up and consensus-based in their approach. All
stakeholders from all regions of the world should be given equal
opportunity to participate. Technical design decisions should be weighed
against societal implications of the technology so as to minimize erosion
of individual freedom and liberties.



*IGC Statement:*



The Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) wishes to thank the organizers of the
NETMundial meeting, for the invitation to contribute to its proceedings
through a written submission ahead of the meeting. At this point in time,
the IGC is hereby submitting the following statement of a few fundamental
principles to guide Internet governance processes and decisions.



1- Internet governance institutions and processes should be open and
inclusive. They should be bottom-up and consensus-based in their approach
to policy development.  Internet governance institutions and processes
should be transparent, accountable, and enable the meaningful participation
of all stakeholders.



2- All Internet governance decision making processes must ensure the
inclusion of not just all stakeholders but also all regions of the world in
an equitable manner. As a result, a special effort must be engaged in order
to provide the Less Developed Countries with an equitable share of
resources to participate in activities related to worldwide internet
governance.



3- Any decision to evolve the internet governance institutional field and
mechanisms as well as any new structure evolving from the current
configuration of the implementation of the IANA functions and the role of
US Government and of the other incumbents in that regard, must reflect the
effective inclusion of all regions of the world with a view to ensuring a
truly global cultural diversity in approaches to technical and policy
problems.



4- The technical community working on core protocols and technical
standards of the Internet should seek a broad understanding of the societal
implications of their design decisions and carefully weigh the advantages
of the technological capabilities they are enabling against their potential
adverse effects on individual users' freedom and liberties. This should be
done with a view to minimizing outcomes that continuously erode said
freedom and liberties, leaving the Internet user vulnerable to all sorts of
abuse.



5 - Namely, whether it is by virtue of technical design or by policy
provisions, on-line users must enjoy the same human rights as they are
entitled to off-line.

6- There must not be discrimination in access and contents due to criteria
such as opinion, religion, race, gender, geography, language, or economic
resources.

7- Services offered in the internet must remain equitable and neutral among
service providers, without taking unfair advantage of a dominant or
privileged position.

8- Internet availability, deployment, and service conditions must benefit
all segments of the human society, not just those enjoying richer economic
development.





On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 11:25 PM, Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am going to have to assume that nobody considers differentials in market
> pricing a discriminatory practice. Therefore, saying no discrimination
> based on economic resources cannot be equated to saying no to market
> pricing, certainly not at the level of individual users in the same market
> setting (although political economy level measures are always possible in
> order to reduce imbalances in certain conditions.)
>
> Furthermore, this may also be read as a call on governments and incumbent
> telcos to make every possible effort to prevent or limit the extent to
> which "economic resources" could be used as basis for discriminatory
> decisions on access and availability of contents.
>
> It is 11:25 PM and I am on my way to posting the IGC statement to the
> NETMundial site.
>
> Thanks
>
>  Mawaki
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 9:11 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh at hserus.net>wrote:
>
>> Quite often this is not an internet governance question but a telecom
>> competition policy question.
>>
>> If a country's government has an enlightened attitude in freeing up
>> telecom from being a government monopoly, providing for fair competition
>> such as unbundling, sharing the last mile (whether cell towers or copper /
>> fiber), providing access to government owned rights of way (such as laying
>> fiber along railway track beds, and in city utility tunnels / lamp posts)
>> then you will automatically get to see cheaper Internet access.
>>
>> There is little or nothing that we are going to achieve by putting this
>> on the table at netmundial, I am afraid.   A laudable goal and all that,
>> but we have to stay focused.
>>
>> --srs (iPad)
>>
>> On 08-Mar-2014, at 1:30, Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  I suspect the proponent means to refer to the level of economic
>> development of a region or a group pf people, or something along those
>> lines. Is there a formulation that would make it more acceptable to you as
>> a "pragmatic aspiration"?
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Mawaki
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 4:49 PM, Roland Perry <
>> roland at internetpolicyagency.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In message <CACTo+v9HopxnZKnuR00n-X21oMq-wgxgRy5CDWL5q_+8Fs7H_g at mail.
>>> gmail.com>, at 14:55:15 on Fri, 7 Mar 2014, Mawaki Chango <
>>> kichango at gmail.com> writes
>>>
>>>  6- There must not be discrimination in access and contents due to
>>>> criteria such as opinion, religion, race, gender, geography, language, or
>>>> economic resources
>>>>
>>>
>>> If this means that everyone's international 3G roaming charges should be
>>> the same as buying the cheapest local-SIM available anywhere in the world,
>>> then I'm sure you will get a great deal of support.
>>>
>>> The only question remaining being "who will break this news to the
>>> mobile networks".
>>> --
>>> Roland Perry
>>>
>>>
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>> ____________________________________________________________
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>> For all other list information and functions, see:
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