Submission to the Brazil meeting

[Milton L Mueller]

Marilia:
In responding, it is best to remember exactly what the proposed principle says:


In multistakeholder institutions for global Internet governance, all individuals - regardless of whether they are agents of governments, international organizations, the technical community, the private sector, civil society or interested individuals - should have equal status as participants in the formulation of public policies.

The key phrase I want to call to your attention is: "In multistakeholder institutions for global internet governance." In other words, I am just talking about policy development  institutions such as ICANN, IETF, RIRs, IGF.

To say that all stakeholders should have equal status in the management of private property such as the Syracuse University network, or the AT&T network, of course it would be crazy.

However, the development of technical standards is "led by" the technical community not because there is a rule or principle that only techies can do it, but because those with technical competence tend to rise to positions of authority by general consensus in the standard-setting institutions. Just as, in policy making institutions, people with legal or policy backgrounds may become more important.

But in general, when you say "I do not think the expression should be abolished, but reinterpreted " I do would have to disagree; insofar as states have done a lot of damage within the ICANN context by claiming that they have special authority over that and I just want to put the clamp down on those claims.

From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Marilia Maciel
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 2:58 PM
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: [NCSG-Discuss] Submission to the Brazil meeting

Dear Milton,
My personal understanding is that the demand for equal roles for all stakeholders in Internet Governance is usually presented vis-a-vis one specific actor: the States. The aim usually is to criticize the lack of equal footing in spaces like ITU or to argue that new issues should not be taken to these intergovernmental spaces.
A more isonomic and fair approach would be to demand equal roles in all internet governance layers and arrangements, considering that most of the areas of Internet governance are private-led and not government led: from the infrastructure layer and interconnection arrangements to the development of standards and to the terms of use of platforms in the applications layer. To be coherent the statement should argue that all stakeholders should participate in all layers and arrangements on equal footing.
But would that be of interest to the development of the Internet? I have doubts. My current understanding is that some areas of governance should be private-led, just like some other areas should be state-led. For example, it makes sense that the development of standards is primarily led by the technical community, although there should be transparency, openness, accountability and also real responsiveness to inputs of other actors (and ways to guarantee responsiveness).  That is what I understand by different roles of different actors. Therefore, I do not think the expression should be abolished, but reinterpreted.
Of course, I understand your point of view (we exchanged many e-mails about similar points over the years :) and it is certainly a valid way of looking at things. I would support that such a document is put forward as a contribution on behalf of those who share this understanding.

Best wishes,
Marilia

On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 4:14 PM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca<mailto:ca at cafonso.ca>> wrote:
It looks quite sound to me, MM. Good contribution!

sent from a dumbphone

On 28/02/2014, at 17:45, Milton L Mueller <mueller at SYR.EDU<mailto:mueller at SYR.EDU>> wrote:
OK, I submitted the document to Netmundial and listed NCSG as my "organization"

From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Olivier Kouami
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 2:10 AM
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU<mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Subject: Re: [NCSG-Discuss] Submission to the Brazil meeting

+1
-Olevie-


2014-02-28 4:26 GMT+00:00 Nicolas Adam <nickolas.adam at gmail.com<mailto:nickolas.adam at gmail.com>>:
I support the statement.

Nicolas

On 2014-02-27 3:00 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
It seems that there were several expressions of support for this statement. I have made a few minor modifications based on suggestions from comments. Should I submit this statement on my own behalf only? Can I claim that it has support from the NCSG? Or can NCSG move forward with it on its own, and submit its own version separately?

From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Milton L Mueller
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 5:18 PM
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU<mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Subject: [NCSG-Discuss] Submission to the Brazil meeting

Dear fellow NCSG members:

I am involved in preparing two submissions to the Brazil meeting. One, with Brenden Kuerbis, is a detailed proposal for globalization of IANA. It is not ready yet, but watch for it.

The other is a proposed principle about stakeholder equality. That statement is ready for your viewing and comment here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tuWn6tnQBFhXKz6FumabAHpG3zfCNx2ZBPzWNw3Ifo4/edit?usp=sharing

It's a short 2-pager, 600 words. I just want to test the waters and see how much support there is for this or whether it needs major revisions.


Milton Mueller
Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://faculty.ischool.syr.edu/mueller/







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Olévié (Olivier) A. A. KOUAMI
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Marília Maciel
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Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade - FGV Direito Rio

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