Centre for Internet and Society

NGO Profile: Knowledge Ecology International

puneeth — 2014-03-11T16:10:57Z

As CIS’ observer in Geneva, I will be profiling NGOs and other prominent actors at the WIPO. In the first in a series of blogs, I profile the work of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) at the various International Organisations in Geneva.

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is an NGO that searches for better outcomes, including new solutions, to the management of knowledge resources. KEI is focused on social justice, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, including low-income persons and marginalized groups.[1]

KEI has a strong presence in Geneva and their works revolves around the International Organisations that are located here. Their Geneva office is run by Thiru Balasubramaniam, who previously worked with the WHO.

International Organisations in Geneva

KEI is active in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. At the WHO KEI is represented at the World Health Assembly and the WHO Executive Board. KEI was alsoan active participant at the Intergovernmental Committee on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG), which existed from 2006-08.

At the WTO, KEI is engaged in work around TRIPS council meetings- this includes technical assistance to Members and research and analysis of the outcomes of these meetings (the TRIPS Council unlike the WIPO is not open to Observers). KEI along with other NGO’s are also looking towards a possible Treaty on the Supply of Global Public Goods.

Work around WIPO

KEI is active at the following WIPO Committees: the General Assembly, the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP). Their work in these areas is outlined below:

KEI has been actively involved in the Development Agenda at the WIPO from the beginning. They have actively participated in shaping discussions related to the transfer of technology and access to knowledge (A2K). Jamie Love, the Director of KEI was commissioned by the WIPO to author a paper on Alternatives to the Patent System. KEI had also mooted the idea for a Global Conference on Open Collaborative Research in 2003. The idea had widespread support from the scientific community, which saw fruition with the organization of the conference in January, 2014.

KEI was instrumental in the conception and passage of the Treaty for the Visually Impaired (TVI) at the WIPO. They are currently engaged in work surrounding the Broadcast Treaty and Limitations & Exceptions for Libraries and Archives. KEI’s stance[3] on the former is that the proponents of the Treaty have not made a strong enough case in favour of the Treaty and that it could potentially impede access to knowledge and create barriers to the enjoyment of the internet. On the latter, they believe that the Berne appendix must be revisited to recraft it to strengthen the education exception and that the Tunis Model Law on Copyright for Developing Countries (1976) should also be used as a way for developing countries to serve their education and libraries needs.

Publication

KEI’s publications and Research Notes can be accessed here. In addition, they run two Listserves on IP-Health and A2K which can be accessed here.

I would like to thank Thiru Balasubramaniam, KEI’s representative in Geneva for agreeing to do the interview which was the primary source of this blog.

[1]. See http://www.keionline.org/about

[2]. The proposal can be accessed here: http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/kei_wto_agreement_on_public_goods.pdf

[3].Interview with Thiru Balasubramaniam on file with the author.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ngo-profile-knowledge-ecology-international

NGO invites public to peruse its accounts

praskrishna — 2013-05-21T14:38:38Z

Domlur-based The Centre for Internet and Society opens its books for anyone to see and track every rupee of the Rs 13.13 crore it received from donors.

This article by Vandana Kamath was published in the Bangalore Mirror on May 18, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

In an unusual but ‘clean’ way of celebrating its fifth anniversary, a city-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) has invited the general public to inspect its books of accounts, check out its list of donors and view contracts. At a time when several NGOs are under the scanner for trying to shroud financial transactions in secrecy, The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a non-profit research organisation that defends consumer rights on the Internet, has upped its policy of transparency a notch.

Located in Domlur and largely patronised by Bangalore’s tech community, CIS’s books of accounts will be available for public scrutiny during its fifth anniversary celebrations from May 20 to 23 and will show how the NGO has spent the Rs 13.13 crore it has received from donors since its launch.

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, CIS executive director Sunil Abraham admitted that the move was to dispel any lingering doubts on the motives of his organisation. “These days, many NGOs have been in the news for misappropriation of donations,” Abraham said. “We want to keep our books of accounts open to the public. Apart from details like salaries drawn by each board member, many other details like contractual obligations with entities, details of donors and official travel expenses by board members can also be obtained. Anybody can walk into our office and ask to see the accounts. A photocopy of all the details will also be given to them at the earliest.”

In fact, a recent debate in the Rajya Sabha centred on the lack of transparency among NGOs receiving contributions from overseas after the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was passed in 2010. With 17 donors, a majority of who are from overseas, CIS ensures that every rupee obtained is well spent and accounted for.

“We have made public a list of donors and their share of contributions to our society,” Abraham said. “This will give everybody a clear picture of the funds we receive and where and how it is being spent.”

CIS is primarily funded by the Kusuma Trust, The Wikimedia Foundation and The Hans Foundation among others. The society was founded in 2008 and has 17 staff of whom four are based in Delhi and the rest in Bangalore. The society also has seven distinguished fellows and five fellows.

It conducts policy research programmes on topics like accessibility, access to knowledge, openness, internet governance and telecom. The society has churned out 641 research items in five years that include essays, books and blog entries on the topics. It has also conducted research on the accessibility of the e-governance system and has suggested ways to make it more disabled-friendly.

As part of its anniversary celebrations, the society will hold a four-day event in its office starting May 20 that will include an exhibition showcasing its activities so far. Various artists like Kiran Subbaiah, Tara Kelton, Navin Thomas and Abhishekh Hazra are expected to participate and give live demonstrations.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-18-2013-ngo-invites-public-to-peruse-its-accounts

New Release of IPR Chapter of India-EU Free Trade Agreement

pranesh — 2011-09-22T12:34:05Z

A draft of the IPR chapter of the EU-India FTA, made publicly available now for the first time, provides insight into India's response in July 2010 to several EU proposals on intellectual property protection and enforcement.

A draft of the IPR chapter of the EU-India FTA, made publicly available for the first time (PDF, 296Kb), provides insight into India's response in July 2010 to several EU proposals on intellectual property protection and enforcement. The consolidated draft which was prepared to serve as the basis of talks that took place from July 12-14, 2010, in New Delhi, reveals parties' negotiating stances in response to preliminary positions put forth earlier (see IPR Chapter May draft).

In particular, this draft reflects India's rejection of many EU proposals that would require India to:

exceed its obligations under the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), e.g by providing data exclusivity for pharmaceutical products;
impose radical enforcement provisions, such as liability of intermediary service providers, border measures for goods in transit, and raised norms for damages and injunctions; or
require legislative change, e.g., on data protection, and to accommodate the full EU demands on geographical indicators.

A chart compiled by CIS comparing proposed language by India and the EU in several provisions with TRIPS can be found here (PDF, 402 Kb).

Sources close to the negotiations have also confirmed that during the July talks India reiterated its refusal to go beyond TRIPS, and its refusal to discuss issues that require changes to Indian law. India appears to have also reiterated that it could not finalise FTA copyright provisions before passage of the Copyright Amendment Bill in the Indian Parliament.

It is hard to assess the current state of the negotiations on IP or to measure the outcomes of subsequently held talks without access to recent drafts, a public record of deliberations, or the schedule of full and intersessional rounds taking place. However, from press and other statements attributed to the European Commission and Indian officials after the December 2010 EU-India Summit in Brussels, it appears that:

both parties plan to conclude the FTA, the biggest ever for the EU, by Spring 2011;
the EU has not relaxed its pursuit of at least some "TRIPS plus" provisions such as data protection for pharmaceuticals
a mutually agreed solution to India's WTO case against the EU over the seizure of generic medicines may be round the corner. Its impact on the FTA is open to speculation.

Because the India-EU FTA is likely to set a new precedent for future trade agreements between developed and developing countries, and with enormous stakes for patients across the globe, India and the EU need to get it right and ensure no provision runs counter to the interests of millions of citizens.

For further information about the text, contact Malini Aisola <malini.aisola@gmail.com> or Pranesh Prakash <pranesh@cis-india.org>

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/july-2010-ipr-india-eu-fta

New Modes and Sites of Humanities Practice

sneha-pp — 2016-06-30T04:45:25Z

An extended survey of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practices in India was undertaken during the last year. Provocatively called 'mapping digital humanities in India', this enquiry began with the term 'digital humanities' itself, as a 'found' name for which one needs to excavate some meaning, context, and location in India at the present moment. Instead of importing this term to describe practices taking place in this country - especially when the term itself is relatively unstable and undefined even in the Anglo-American context - what I chose to do was to take a few steps back, and outline a few questions/conflicts that the digital practitioners in arts and humanities disciplines are grappling with. The final report of this study will be published serially. This is the sixth among seven sections.

Sections

01. Digital Humanities in India?

02. A Question of Digital Humanities

03. Reading from a Distance – Data as Text

04. The Infrastructure Turn in the Humanities

05. Living in the Archival Moment

06. New Modes and Sites of Humanities Practice

07. Digital Humanities in India – Concluding Thoughts

Introduction

From a brief exploration of the problem of new objects and methods of research in the digital context, we have come to or rather returned to the problem of location or contextualising DH, and whether it may be called a field or discipline in itself, in India. As the previous sections may have illustrated, most of the prominent initiatives around DH in India have largely been within the university context, or have at least focused around the university as the centre of the processes of knowledge production, and emphasise a move away from more traditional ways of doing humanities, and at a larger level the more established and disciplinary modes of knowledge formation. In the context of pedagogy, DH seems to be developing in a very specific role, which is that of training in a certain set of skills and topics, which the existing disciplines have so far not been able to provide or even accommodate. These include tools for working with digitisation processes, digital archives, and the use of computational methods in the study of cultural artifacts. Thus processes such as topic modelling, data visualisation, cultural analytics, sentiment analysis and several more become increasingly prominent in discussions about DH. The university or more specifically the traditional classroom offers a particular kind of teaching-learning experience which may not always have within its ambit the necessary resources or strategies to foster new methods of knowledge production, and a lot of DH work has been posited as trying to plug knowledge gaps in precisely this area.

Wikipedia and internet-based sources of information are entering classrooms with the proliferation of gadgets and tools, and with this there is a tendency towards adopting a more open, participatory and customised model of learning based on collaboration. DH has been characterised by many as a space, or method that intervenes in the traditional ‘hierarchies of expertise’ (Davidson and Goldberg, 2010) – not only in terms of people, but also spaces, methods and objects of learning - to present a significant ‘alternative’ that is now slowly becoming more mainstream. A rather direct example of this in the global discourse on DH is the growth of a number of ‘alt- academics’ [1]: people with training in the humanities who now inhabit what earlier seemed to be a rather nebulous space between academics and an array of practices in computing, art and community development among many others. But it is the in-between, or the liminal space that holds the potential for new kinds of knowledge to be generated. The connotations of this notion however are many and problematic, as seen particularly in the emphasis on new kinds of skills or competences that are now required to inhabit such a space, as also the narrative of loss of certain critical skills that are part of the disciplinary method and the resistance from certain quarters within the university to acknowledge such a trend. Conversely, it is also reflective of how certain kinds of skills in writing, reading, visualisation and curation have now become essential and therefore visible. While the DH discourse in India has developed mostly within the university space, given its multidisciplinary interests and methods, it is often seen as bearing potential in terms of working outside the academic norm. Through an examination of changes in teaching-learning methods, creative and critical practices that come about with the adoption of the digital, it may be useful to explore whether it indeed opens up such alternate modes of humanities practice and how it informs the way we do DH in India; as practitioners, researchers, students, teachers or the lay person. The growth of the internet and digital tools and technologies has led to many changes in teaching-learning practices, and engendered new methods and forms of humanities practice, all of which may now be found within the university or academic space. It is therefore imperative to examine these new modes of research and practice, to arrive a better understanding of the changes in and possibilities available for humanities work after the digital. The notion of the ‘alternate’ is also an important concern here, and the emergence of these new modes of humanities practice help unpack and understand this term better.

Technology in the Classroom

This state of being within and to a certain extent outside of a certain predominant discourse is a peculiar one with several possibilities, and DH, owing to its interdisciplinary content and methods, seems to be a suitable space to foster new and alternate knowledge-making practices. India is also still a multi-layered technological space very much in a moment of transition, and the debates remain largely confined to the English and History departments and to some extent library and archival spaces. Outside of the university circle however, there are a number of initiatives, such as online archival efforts, media, art and design practices and research, where one may see DH–related work being done. What remains an important part of the discourse in the context of the university is the access to and a more substantial and critical engagement with technology in the classroom.

The use of technology in education has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade or so in India, as evidenced by the number of initiatives taken to introduce ICTs in the classroom [2]. However, the digital divide still persists, as a result of which many initiatives come with problems of their own, the most important being the lack of connection among practice, content and pedagogy [3]. Vikram Vincent, a doctoral scholar in the Interdisciplinary Program in Educational Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, attributes this to a problem of understanding technology itself and what it can do for learning. He looks at technology as an extension of the human body and not something alien to it. Over the course of his research, he has found that the prevalent attitude to the use of technology in the classroom, particularly in early ICTs in education projects, has been more techno-centric rather than learner-centric, which is not the most effective approach [4]. Technology has always been around in some form or the other, from drawing on walls to the blackboard to now the smart board; it has always been in the classroom. How you choose to use it determines the outcomes, and one needs to ensure that the learning environment evolves with the new technology that is introduced, because it does not happen automatically but over a period of time.

The Wikipedia India Education programme pilot project, implemented in Pune in 2011 is an example of the number of challenges that the introduction of a new technology in the classroom brought forth, in terms of skills, content and pedagogy [5]. The need to focus on the educational component of the technology, the improvement of skills of the learner in writing, research and communication, rather than on the tool itself has been an important learning from the programme, even as it continues in a different university today. As Vincent adds further, the problem arises with looking at technology as a disruptive element or merely a tool to aid learning, which prevents institutions from envisioning a more holistic model of learning that takes some amount of time and effort. This also requires the appropriate stimulus and other conditions such as training of teachers, access to resources and training in certain required skills, addressing barriers of language and so forth, which is a feature of some programmes, such as the IT @ school in Kerala which have seen a measure of success [6]. Vincent further mentions examples of programmes he has been part of, some of them under the MHRD-NMEICT initiative which focussed on the teaching-learning process rather than the technology itself, key to which is building teacher capacity to use new and already available resources better [7]. These would be crucial steps to take before envisioning a model of teaching-learning that is premised largely on digital technologies and the internet.

While educational technology is a separate field in itself which looks at better interactions between teaching-learning practices and technology [8], it does form part of the context, or landscape in India within which DH would perhaps develop as a discipline, practice or a pedagogic approach.

Another predominant discourse that informs DH is that of Information Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) which is often used as a rather broad, catch-all term, and has been variously defined and used by different groups and stakeholders across domains (Saith et al, 2008). ICT4D is premised largely around the question of access, and seeks to bridge the digital divide in terms of knowledge, resources, people and infrastructure, among other things. This has also been an intensely debated term, given its social and political implications, particularly in the manner in which it informs a larger discourse on development, technology and globalisation in the global South.(Sundaram, 2005) It is important to understand whether DH has been posited as making an intervention into these prevailing systems of knowledge – so that the mode of understanding both technology and the humanities, and the interaction between the two domains (assuming that they are separate) undergoes a significant change. What then goes into promoting more institutional stability for DH, in other words, in teaching and learning it – will be a question to contend with in the years to come, as more universities take to incubating research around digital technologies and related components and incorporating this into the existing curricula.

Towards a Digital Pedagogy

Dr. Abhijit Roy, Assistant Professor at the Department of Media, Communication and Culture, Jadavpur University is positive about the changes he sees in pedagogy and research with the advent of digital technologies. According to him, while a media or film studies department would be close to the concerns of DH, and use some form of digital technology such as video clips or blogs as part of coursework, it is particularly important to see what change it has brought about in traditional humanities disciplines like History and languages. While some of these changes are elementary, such as the use of digital technologies in classroom teaching and learning exercises, it is in the practice of research that he sees a vast change now. Many researchers, many of his students also, have found this a useful part of the research process, through the use of blogs and social media and the possibilities to publish and engage in discussions with other researchers through platforms and tools like Academia or Scalar [9]. It not only makes the process more transparent, but also encourages an ethos of constant sharing, dissemination and a network of usage and storage online. This has transformed the way research and pedagogy can be imagined now, and opened up several possibilities for teaching-learning practices.

It is in realising this potential for new research and pedagogical models that universities have slowly begun to adopt digital technologies, but the institutional efforts at building curricula specifically around DH-related concerns have been few, with the prominent ones in India being the courses at Jadavpur University and Presidency University in Kolkata, and more recently Srishti School of Arts, Design and Technology in Bangalore. The change is recent, as several researchers have pointed out. There have always been concerns about privacy and regulation of content, whether on a university archive or its network. The enthusiasm towards ‘anything digital is good’ is relatively new, and comes from a larger (and sometimes rather utopian) development discourse focussed around modernity and technology. Curricularisation comes with its own issues too, and they stem largely from the fact that one is still unable to understand fully the nature of the digital and its facets - we also inhabit a time when there is a transition from analogue to digital, and both modes exist simultaneously - but the rate of change is faster with the digital than with other domains of knowledge, so much so that the curricula developed may often seem provisional or arcane, which makes it doubly challenging to demonstrate its various facets in practice, particularly in the classroom. A useful distinction would be between DH being brought in as a problem-solving approach to address the extant issues of the humanities, thus also seen as threat to the disciplines themselves, but to see if it has its own epistemological concerns which may be related to but also distinct from the humanities - in short to help us ask new questions, or provide new ways of asking old ones.

The development of courses on DH in three universities in India, and the manner in which the field has been ‘curricularised’ so to say, would be an indication of its specific academic concerns in the Indian context, and the disciplinary challenges and questions that it may throw up for the teaching-learning process. Expectedly, the three courses mobilise a set of resources and expertise that the schools have built over the course of many years. In doing so they also foray into areas that existing humanities courses at the university may not have explored enough, within their own disciplinary framework. For example the course on Digital Humanities and Cultural Informatics at Jadavpur University [10] comprises of components on software studies and digital music preservation, building on work done at the large archives at the School of Cultural Texts and Records. Similarly, the course at Presidency University [11] has components on storytelling in digital media through video games, while the course at Srishti [12] has a focus on design practice and critical making amongst other interests. The courses therefore follow a decidedly interdisciplinary framework, which no doubt interesting, also makes curriculum development and course assessment a challenge. While the ‘digital’ aspect of ‘DH’ forms a significant part of these explorations, the manner in which it is being studied is an important point of focus – whether as a condition, space, concept or object, rather than just a set of tools and methods that facilitate the enquiry of the humanities. Digitisation significantly alters the cultural artifact, and there is a need to understand and theorise this digital object better. As Padmini Ray Murray points out, the digital is one way to mediate the material object, particularly those that are not textual, since that kind of experiential access can only be provided by the digital, especially in the case of archival objects. A critical understanding of the digital needs to therefore be a key aspect of such an enquiry in DH.

Alternate Spaces of Humanities Practice

While these are the developments within academia or the university space, there are a number of spaces outside this circle that have also been asking similar questions, and producing new kinds of scholarship and research around these ideas. The Indiancine.ma and Pad.ma archives have not only served as rich repository of material on film and video, used by scholars and film enthusiasts alike, but also as a pedagogic tool in spaces like the Media Lab at Jadavpur University. Through an innovative fellowship programme, Pad.ma has supported research and film making using the archive as a platform. An interesting example here would be a documentary film on power plants in Chhattisgarh made by Sunil Kumar. Available as a film treatment/script on Pad.ma, Kumar’s work is based on research in mainly two districts of Chhattisgarh, where he met and spoke with people, collected documents and shot several hours of video, which he then published in the form of 80 footage series on Pad.ma [13]. There are several other examples on Pad.ma, such as the video-art project on the Radia tapes, and the work on "perfume arts" in Bangalore [14]. The Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW) through its workshops on oral and visual history has tried to engage with the more pedagogic aspects of the archive [15]. While the possibilities are many, the uptake of such platforms in universities has been slow, due to issues that range from lack of internet connectivity to a discomfort or unfamiliarity with the internet and other kinds of technology. This eventually relegates initiatives like these to the space of an alternate, extracurricular or outlier, even though they seem to be asking the same questions as the mainstream institutions and doing similar work.

What this also refers to is the space for new modes of knowledge production that an increased interaction with digital and internet technologies now engenders or even brings to the fore in already existing practices. With these however, also come the questions about the legitimacy of these forms and methods of knowledge production, as seen in the rather polarised positions around DH in its global discourse. The Wikipedia is one example of this, and illustrates some of the core concerns of and about DH as it calls into question notions about authorship, expertise and established models of pedagogy and learning. Lawrence Liang (2011) describes this as a larger conflict over the authority of knowledge, the origins of which he locates in the history of the book, and specifically in the print revolution and pre-print cultures of the 15th -18th centuries. He likens the debate over Wikipedia’s credibility, or more broadly over technologies of collaborative knowledge production ushered in by the Internet to similar phenomena seen before in early print culture and how it contributed to the construction and articulation of the idea of authority itself. He says:

The authority of knowledge is often spoken of in a value-neutral and ahistorical manner. It would therefore be useful to situate authority in history, where it is not seen to be an inherent quality but a transitive one 6 located in specific technological changes. For instance, there is often an unstated assumption about the stability of the book as an object of knowledge, but the technology of print originally raised a host of questions about authority. In the same way, the domain of digital collaborative knowledge production raises a set of questions and concerns today, such as the difference between the expert and the amateur, as well as between forms of production: digital versus paper and collaborative versus singular author modes of knowledge production. Can we impose the same questions that emerged over the centuries in the case of print to a technology that is barely ten years old?

He further goes on to elaborate that the question of the authority of knowledge should ideally be located within a larger ‘knowledge apparatus’, comprising of certain technologies and practices, (in this case that of reading, writing, editing, compilation, classification and creative appropriations) which help inflate the definitions of authority and knowledge even more.

The above argument throws into sharp relief the notion of the ‘alternate’–often posited as the outlier or a vantage point, or even as being in resistance to a certain dominant discourse or body of knowledge. While resistance itself is discursive; the ‘alternate’ has also always existed in various forms, such as the pre-print cultures illustrated in the argument above, and particularly in India where several kinds of prominent practices and occupations are but alternatives - from alternative medicine to education - to the already established or mainstream system in place. As mentioned earlier, these practices may just be increasingly visible and acknowledged now. The attempts to subsume these alternate practices under a unifying term such as DH, which began as and may perhaps have been relegated to the status of a sub-culture for long, within academia then seem to be one way of trying to circumvent the authority of knowledge question.

Humanities and Technology: A Twinned History

Another factor in this reduced visibility of the alternate and now re-emergence is the invisible ‘technologised’ history of the humanities, which prompts us to rethink the separation between the humanities and technology as mutually exclusive domains. Therefore by extension then, the term DH itself may be a misnomer or yet another creative re-appropriation of various knowledge practices already in existence. David Berry (2012) in his essay on the computational turn speaks of possibilities that computationality, and specifically new software and code offer in terms of unifying multiple kinds of knowledge in the university. He says that:

In trying to understand the digital humanities our first step might be to problematize computationality, so that we are able to think critically about how knowledge in the 21st century is transformed into information through computational techniques, particularly within software. It is interesting that at a time when the idea of the university is itself under serious rethinking and renegotiation, digital technologies are transforming our ability to use and understand information outside of these traditional knowledge structures. This is connected to wider challenges to the traditional narratives that served as unifying ideas for the university and, with their decline, has led to difficulty in justifying and legitimating the postmodern university vis-à-vis government funding. (5)

Berry therefore indicates that this turn towards computationality is the result of an emerging need to demonstrate the relevance of the university structure to processes of knowledge production, therefore reiterating the ‘crisis’ argument. The notion of the postmodern university has been examined in detail by Bill Readings, who Berry quotes in his paper. Readings (1997) is sceptical of the term postmodern, preferring instead the idea of a post historical university, which is divested from the notion of the nation-state and further culture as a unifying idea, and is moving towards a notion of excellence that he sees as techno-bureaucratic, a result of several factors including globalisation and the fact that processes of knowledge production and institutionalisation are no longer centred around a liberal subject. If the demonstrated project of the university has changed, the emergence of such new discourse, and specifically concepts and terms such as the ‘alt – academy’ has relevance to how one may now imagine new spaces, objects, processes and figures of knowledge itself.

The significance of the university system to knowledge production has been a recurring point of much debate and discussion in India. Although not explicitly stated as a crisis in humanities by the people interviewed, there are problems of content, pedagogy, infrastructure, and vision that continue to plague higher education at large [16], and very often technological fixes are seen as a solution to these, in some part due to the imagination of a techno-democracy as described in the introduction to this report. As Berry points out then, computationality is a promise, or possibility to do things differently, which is then also inherently assumed to be a way of doing things better. The computational possibilities of DH still need to be explored, but how much of these contribute qualitatively to addressing or even furthering certain disciplinary concerns, still remains an open question. As Jan and Sebastian point out from their experience of working on Indiancine.ma and Pad.ma, the computational aspects of the archives are still to be developed, as there are still restrictions in terms of speed and feasibility (see chapter on infrastructure [17]); the kind of new questions it produces for cinema studies at large will remain a contention. Further, as Padmini Ray Murray observes, drawing on archival material, or data to develop new computational hypotheses would be a direction to work towards, as not much work has been done in this respect in India (See chapter on archives [18]). The challenges with computationality then demand, as Berry argues, a more critical exploration of the term itself, and in fact can be extended to a critical analysis of the state of digitality more broadly.

Final Notes

The problems with the crisis in the humanities and the contribution of technology to these changes could be located to this change in what has traditionally been seen as the space of culture and reason, which has now moved on to something else, a notion of excellence in Readings’ example, thereby changing the questions at the centre as well. This is perhaps the underlying challenge to the ontological and epistemological stake in the field. At best then DH may be seen as the result of a set of changes in the last couple of decades, the advancements in technology being at the forefront of them, whereby certain new and alternative modes of humanities practice have been brought to the foreground, but have also challenged the manner in which we asked questions before to a certain extent. As the field gains institutional stability, it remains to be seen what the new areas of enquiry that emerge shall then be in the years to come. Some of the questions or points or focus that open up are as follows:

The role of extra-institutional/non-academic or alternate spaces in humanities practice, and in producing and creating new kinds of knowledge.
The increased visibility of new objects and methods within informal and marginal spaces of knowledge production. This demands different, and often innovative methods of enquiry, and whether they alter disciplinary modes of humanities practice and research.
The notion of a moving away from established modes of humanities practice, research and scholarship (therefore the question of a ‘crisis’) which would open up a larger debate around the authority of knowledge.
The ontological and epistemological stake of DH, in short the kinds of new questions it enables us to ask.

As important and visible as the idea of the alternate is in DH, it also presents the mainstream itself as fractured space that imbibes several contradictions of the practices in question, which cannot be confined to these watertight silos of formal/informal, academic or creative. Nevertheless, the mainstream spaces remain crucial for widening and deepening creative digital practice and research in arts and humanities disciplines, and will be the spaces to watch to understand the development of a substantive DH discourse in India.

Endnotes

[1] For more on this see: Nowviskie, Bethany, (Ed.) Alternative Academic Careers for Humanities Scholars, July 2011, http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/alt-ac/cluster/alternative-academic-careers-humanities-scholars, last accessed December 23, 2015.

[2] The largest and most ambitious has been the Ministry of Human Resources and Development’s National Mission in Education through ICT programme (NMEICT), started in 2009. See: http://mhrd.gov.in/technology-enabled-learning-0 Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[3] To stay with the example of the NMEICT, an evaluation of the programme pointed out several challenges to technology-enabled learning, namely in the areas of connectivity, content, and pedagogy. See http://www.sakshat.ac.in/Document/NMEICT_Evaluation_Report.pdf. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[4] For more see this position paper by the NCERT on education technology in India: http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/educational_technology.pdf. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[5] See an evaluation report on the programme by Tory Read: http://oceanwork.com/portfolio/wikipedia-education-program-reputation-management/. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[6] See: http://education.kerala.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=59. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[7] For more on these projects see: http://www.et.iitb.ac.in/sanket/?p=87. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[8] See: Spector, J. Michael. Fundamentals of Educational Technology: Integrative Approaches and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2015; and Toru Iiyoshi and M.S. Vijay Kumar. (Eds.) Opening up Education. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2008, https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262515016_Open_Access_Edition.pdf. Also see: http://ciet.nic.in/. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[9] See: https://www.academia.edu/ and http://scalar.usc.edu/scalar/. Last accessed December 23, 2015.

[10] See: https://sctrdhci.wordpress.com/. Last accessed December 12, 2015.

[11] See: http://dhgenedpresi.blogspot.in/2014/01/welcome-to-digital-humanities-presidency.html. Last accessed December 12, 2015.

[12] See: http://srishti.ac.in/programs/pg-program-ma-in-digital-humanities. Last accessed December 12, 2015.

[13] See: http://pad.ma/texts/sunil_kumar:Future_Power_Plants_in_Chhattisgarh:_a_Documentary_Film_Treatment_%2F_Script. Last accessed December 12, 2015

[14] See: http://pad.ma/texts Last accessed December 12, 2015.

[15] See: http://www.sparrowonline.org/.

[16] See the report of 'The Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education: by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development: http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/YPC-Report.pdf; and Roy, Kum Kum, "Decoding 'New Education Policy,'" Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 50, Issue No. 19, May 09, 2015, http://www.epw.in/journal/2015/19/web-exclusives/decoding-new-education-policy.html, last accessed December 23, 2015.

[17] See: http://cis-india.org/raw/the-infrastructure-turn-in-the-humanities.

[18] See: http://cis-india.org/raw/living-in-the-archival-moment.

References

Berry, D.M. "The Computational Turn." Culture Machine. Vol 12, 2012 http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/440. Last Accessed April 12, 2016.

Davidson, Cathy N and David Theo. Goldberg. The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010.

Iiyoshi, Toru and M.S. Vijay Kumar. (Eds.) Opening up Education. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2008.

Liang, Lawrence. "A Brief History of the Internet from the 15th to the 18th Century." In Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader. Geert Lovink and Nathaniel Tkacz (Eds). Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011.

Readings, Bill. The University in Ruins. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Saith, A, M. Vijayabaskar and V. Gayathri. ICTs and Indian Social Change. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2008.

Spector, J. Michael. Fundamentals of Educational Technology: Integrative Approaches and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2015.

Sundaram, Ravi. "Developmentalism Redux." In Incommunicado Reader. Geert Lovink and Soenke Zehle (Eds.). Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2005.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/new-modes-and-sites-of-humanities-practice

NETmundial Transcript Archive

pranesh — 2014-04-23T14:31:50Z

We are archiving the live transcript from the NETmundial meeting (April 23-24, 2014).

NETmundial Day 1

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>***LIVE SCRIBING BY BREWER & DARRENOUGUE - WWW.QUICKTEXT.COM***
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>>> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GOOD MORNING. IN SOME MINUTES WE WILL HAVE OUR OPENING SESSION OF OUR GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES OR TURN THEM INTO VIBRATING. PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS. OR SHUT IT OFF. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
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>>> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS AND PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES OR SET THEM INTO SILENT MODE. IN SOME MINUTES, WE ARE GOING TO START OUR OPENING CEREMONY OF OUR GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE FUTURE GOVERNANCE OF THE INTERNET.
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>>> PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS AND TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES OR SET THEM INTO SILENT MODE. IN A FEW MINUTES, WE WILL START OUR OPENING CEREMONY OF THE GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF INTERNET GOVERNANCE.
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>>> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IN SOME MINUTES WE WILL START OFF THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF INTERNET GOVERNANCE.
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>[MUSIC ] >> THIS IS MY INTERNET.
>>> THIS IS MY INTERNET.
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>>> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL, HER EXCELLENCY DILMA ROUSSEFF. THE CHAIRMAN OF NETmundial, VIRGILIO ALMEIDA, AND THE MIKE RODENBAUGH OF SAO PAULO, THE COO OF ICANN, FADI CHEHADE, AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE TECHNICAL SECTOR AND CREATOR OF THE WEB, TIM BERNERS-LEE. REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PRIVATE SECRETARY AND VICE PRESIDENT OF GOOGLE, VINT CERF, AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE -- OF CIVIL SOCIETY, COFOUNDER, NNENNA NWAKANMA.
>[APPLAUSE ] >> WE ARE STARTING OFF THIS EFFORT AND WE ARE GOING TO LISTEN TO THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF BRAZIL.
>[ PLAYING OF NATIONAL ANTHEM. ] [APPLAUSE ] >> WE ARE GOING TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, PAULO BERNARDO.
>>>PAULO BERNARDO SILVA: GOOD MORNING, HER EXCELLENCY DILMA ROUSSEFF, MEMBERS HERE AND PARTICIPANTS OF THIS MEETING.
>LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO BRAZIL AND TO NETmundial. WE ARE VERY PROUD AND FEEL VERY RESPONSIBLE FOR RECEIVING YOU IN SAO PAULO.
>ALL OF YOU WHO CARE ABOUT INTERNET IN THE FUTURE HAVE REASONS FOR BEING PLEASED WITH WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO TODAY.
>THIS MEETING IS THE CONCRETIZATION OF ALL OUR WISHES. WE NEEDED AN ADEQUATE ENVIRONMENT FOR THIS TO BE VOICED. WE BELIEVE THAT NETmundial IS THIS ENVIRONMENT WE NEED. FREE PARTICIPANTIVE AND PLURAL, AS WELL AS THE INTERNET WE BELIEVE IN.
>AND THIS IS SO BECAUSE THE CONCERN THAT GETS US TOGETHER IS GREATER THAN THE CONCERNS OF EACH PARTY. WE ARE DISCUSSING THIS INTERNET AROUND THIS TABLE OR OTHERWISE WE WILL HAVE NO FUTURE FOR THE INTERNET FROM THE VERY FIRST MOMENT, THE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS GOT INVOLVED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THIS EVENT AND THE PROOF OF THIS ENVIRONMENT IS HERE IN THE GREAT DIVERSITY OF CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED.
>WE ALSO HAVE HERE MANY AUTHORITIES AND PARTICIPANTS. WE'D LIKE TO THANK EACH ONE OF YOU AND CONGRATULATE EACH ONE OF YOU FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. WE'RE ALL PROTAGONISTS OF AN HISTORICAL MOMENT AND TODAY WHAT WE HAVE BEFORE US IS A CHALLENGE TO MAKE THE MOST FOR ALL THE DIFFERENT OPINIONS IN FAVOR OF A UNIQUE PATH.
>THIS PATH HAS A VERY STRAIGHT SENSE OF ORIENTATION, A FREE AND UNFRAGMENTED INTERNET. THAT'S THE BEST WE CAN HAVE, THE CAPACITY TO CONNECT, TO MOBILIZE, TO INNOVATE, TO CREATE RICHNESS OF CULTURE OR WHATEVER, AND RESPECT THE LINKS. SO INTERNET BEING RULED BY MORE PEOPLE COULD REACH MORE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.
>SO I WISH THAT WHEN WE LEAVE SAO PAULO, WE CAN 81BRATE A NEW AND PROMISSORY BEGINNING. THIS IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY HERE, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH. AND HAVE A GOOD MEETING. THANK YOU.
>[APPLAUSE ] >> NOW, MR. HONKING, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS FOR BUSINESS MATTERS WILL DELIVER HIS MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY-GENERAL, BAN KI-MOON.
>>>WU HONGBO: YOUR EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT ROUSSEFF, DISTINGUISHED MINISTERS, EXCELLENCIES, DISTINGUISHED DELEGATES, COLLEAGUES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
>I'M HONORED TO BE HERE WITH YOU FOR THIS IMPORTANT EVENT. IT IS MY GREAT PLEASURE TO DELIVER A MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL, MR. BAN KI-MOON.
>HERE I QUOTE: I THANK THE GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL FOR HOSTING THE NETmundial MEETING, AND I COMMEND THIS GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER NATURE. ONLY THROUGH INCLUSIVE AND BOTTOM-UP PARTICIPATION WE BE ABLE TO FOSTER AN ACCESSIBLE, OPEN, SECURE, AND TRUSTWORTHY INTERNET.
>THE INTERNET IS TRANSFORMING SOCIETIES IN ALL REGIONS. IT IS THE BACKBONE OF OUR GLOBAL ECONOMY AND AN ESSENTIAL VEHICLE FOR DISSEMINATING INFORMATION AND IDEAS.
>ONE-THIRD OF THE PEOPLE NOW HAVE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE TOOLS IT PROVIDES. INCREASING NUMBER OF PEOPLE NOW HAVE A PLATFORM TO VOICE THEIR OPINIONS AND PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY FROM COMMERCE TO DEMOCRATIC DECISION-MAKING. THAT IS WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT INTERNET GOVERNANCE POLICIES CONTINUE TO FOSTER FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION.
>THE INTERNET AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY HOLD TREMENDOUS PROMISE FOR THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA.
>THE INTERNET CAN STRENGTHEN EFFORTS TO ERADICATE POVERTY, ADDRESS INEQUALITY, AND PROTECT AND RENEW THE PLANET'S RESOURCES.
>BUT REALIZING THE PROMISE MEANS EXPANDING INTERNET ACCESS TO NEARLY 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE WHO CURRENTLY LACK IT.
>MOST ARE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT GENDER GAPS.
>INTERNET GOVERNANCE MUST, THEREFORE, WORK TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE THROUGH INCLUSIVE RIGHTS-BASED POLICIES.
>INTERNET GOVERNANCE SHOULD AIM FOR UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO AN INTEROPERABLE, GLOBALLY CONNECTED, AND SAFE ONLINE SPACE.
>TO THIS END, THE PRINCIPLES OF THE WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY REMAIN RELEVANT.
>THE UNITED NATIONS INVITES ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO JOIN IN THE ONGOING SUMMIT REVIEW PROCESS.
>CONFIDENCE IN THE INTERNET AND ITS GOVERNANCE IS VITAL. IF IT IS TO BE EFFECTIVELY CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
>IN THIS CONNECTION, I WISH TO INFORM THE MEETING I INTEND TO APPOINT AMBASSADOR JANIS KARKLINS OF LATVIA AS THE CHAIR OF THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP OF THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM.
>[APPLAUSE ] >>WU HONGBO: I COUNT ON MR. KARKLINS TO PROMOTE A STRENGTHENED INTERNET GOVERNANCE THROUGH BROADER PARTICIPATION, NOT ONLY BY GOVERNMENTS BUT ALSO THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY, INCLUDING THE ACADEMIC AND THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES.
>BUILDING CONSENSUS ON THE ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE OF INTERNET GOVERNANCE IS CRUCIAL. THIS NETmundial IS AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE. I WISH YOU A PRODUCTIVE MEETING. UNQUOTE.
>THANK YOU VERY MUCH ON BEHALF OF UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS, UNDESA. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK BRAZIL AND THE BRAZILIAN INTERNET STEERING COMMITTEE FOR NOT ONLY HOSTING THIS IMPORTANT MEETING, BUT ALSO FOR BEING CONSISTENT SUPPORTERS OF INTERNET GOVERNMENT FORUM. THE IGF COMMUNITY LOOKS FORWARD TO RUNNING TO BRAZIL FOR THE SECOND TIME FOR THE 10TH IGF IN 2015.
>THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
>[APPLAUSE ] >> NOW, WE ARE GOING TO LISTEN TO MS. NNENNA NWAKANMA, A REPRESENTATIVE OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND CONTRIBUTOR OF THE OPEN SOURCE FOUNDATION OF AFRICA.
>[APPLAUSE ] >>NNENNA NWAKANMA: OOH-LA-LA. YOUR EXCELLENCIES, COLLEAGUES, PRESENT AND REMOTE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, (NON-ENGLISH WORD OR PHRASE). MY NAME IS I COME FROM THE INTERNET. I ALSO COME FROM DIVERSE CIVIL SOCIETY TEAMS AND NETWORKS, ONE OF WHICH IS THE TEAM THAT WORKS WITH THE WORLD WIDE WEB FOUNDATION.
>AT THE WEB FOUNDATION, WE ARE ENGAGED IN THE ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE INTERNET. WE'RE ENGAGED IN THE WEB INDEX AND OPEN DATA INITIATIVES. ONE THING I DO FOR A LIVING IS TO ESTABLISH THE OPEN WEB AS A GLOBAL PUBLIC GOOD AND A BASIC RIGHT, ENSURING THAT EVERYONE CAN ACCESS AND USE IT FREELY. THAT'S WHAT I DO.
>I ALSO BELONG TO THE (INDISCERNIBLE) CIVIL SOCIETY PLATFORM, THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE CAUCUS FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS, AND THE AFRICA INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM.
>SO FOR ME, NETmundial, IN CONVENING US TO TAKE A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE PRINCIPLES AND ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE AVAILS ME WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE THREE KEY ISSUES.
>THE FIRST ISSUE IS ACCESS.
>AS MUCH AS TWO-THIRDS OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION IS NOT YET CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. THE PENETRATION RATES IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AVERAGE AROUND 31%, BUT IN AFRICA WHERE I COME FROM, WE ARE ABOUT 16%.
>IN THE WORLD'S 49 LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, OVER 90% OF THE POPULATION ARE STILL NOT ONLINE.
>WE HAVE 1 BILLION PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITY, AND 80% OF THESE LIVE IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. EACH ONE OF THESE DESERVE ACCESS.
>ACCESS TO INFORMATION, ACCESS TO LIBRARIES, ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE, AND ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE INTERNET.
>MY SECOND ISSUE IS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
>THE INTERNET IS FAST BECOMING THE DOMINANT MEANS OF WEALTH CREATION, SO THE RIGHTS TO DEVELOPMENT, I THINK, SHOULD INCLUDE SOCIAL JUSTICE.
>FOR ME, IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO DO A SUPERFICIAL CAPACITY-BUILDING JUST FOR A FEW PERSONS. I'M LOOKING FOR THE MECHANISM THAT ALLOWS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PERSONS TO BE INCLUDED, THE LARGEST NUMBER OF VOICES TO BE HEARD, THE WIDEST EXTENT OF ACCESS TO INNOVATION, AND THE DEEPEST CREATIVITY FOR THE HUMAN MIND TO FLOURISH.
>FOR THIS, I THINK WE NEED TO START CONSIDERING THE INTERNET AS PUBLIC COMMENTS.
>MY THIRD ISSUE IS HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM.
>NOW I WILL INVITE YOU TO LISTEN THROUGH MY VOICE TO SOMEONE THAT I GREATLY RESPECT.
>THIS PERSON IS A "SHE." SHE WAS SPEAKING AT THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN NEW YORK ON THE 25TH OF SEPTEMBER RAFT YEAR. DO YOU WANT TO HEAR WHAT SHE SAID?
>>> YES!
>>>NNENNA NWAKANMA: SHE SAID, "I CANNOT BUT DEFEND IN AN UNCOMPROMISING FASHION THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALS. IN THE ABSENCE OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY, THERE CAN BE NO TRUE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPINION AND THERE IS NO EFFECTIVE DEMOCRACY." AND THAT WAS DILMA ROUSSEFF.
>[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ] >>NNENNA NWAKANMA: OKAY. THANK YOU. RIGHT. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IN LOOKING FORWARD TOWARDS THE ROADMAP, I ALSO NEED TO RAISE THREE KEY ISSUES.
>MY FIRST ISSUE IS PARTICIPATION. WHEN WE STARTED, WE KICKED OFF WITH THE BASIC UNDERSTANDING THAT ALL STAKEHOLDERS HAVE A PLACE, A ROLE, A CONTRIBUTION.
>BUT AS WE'VE MOVED FURTHER DOWN THE LINE, THE IDEA OF MULTISTAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT IS GETTING MUDDLED AND IT'S LOSING A BIT OF ITS MEANING, SO I WOULD REQUEST THAT WE GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AND WE REVISIT IT, AND IF IT NEEDS TO UPGRADE, PLEASE LET'S DO THAT.
>BECAUSE WE NEED TO ENGAGE ALL STAKEHOLDERS AT A GLOBAL, REGIONAL, AND NATIONAL LEVELS.
>WE NEED TO ESTABLISH RESPECT AND VALUE FOR ALL CONTRIBUTIONS COMING FROM ALL STAKEHOLDERS, AND WE NEED MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION FROM INDIVIDUALS COMING FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS.
>MY SECOND ISSUE IS RESOURCES.
>HOW DO WE ENSURE THAT RESOURCES ARE MOBILIZED AND MAINTAINED FOR A VIABLE INTERNET GOVERNANCE MECHANISM?
>THE QUESTION IS NOT JUST AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL. IT'S AT CONTINENTAL, REGIONAL, AND EVEN NATIONAL LEVELS.
>WHO'S RESOURCES ARE WE GOING TO COMMIT?
>MY FIRST THOUGHT IS THAT THE INTERNET SHOULD BE ABLE TO PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR ITS OWN GOVERNANCE. MAYBE PART OF THE DOMAIN NAME FEES SHOULD BE REINVESTED IN THIS AREA.
>[APPLAUSE ]
>>>NNENNA NWAKANMA: NOW, MY THIRD ISSUE IS CHANGE.
>NETmundial IS OFFERING US A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE. CHANGE FROM ONE STAKEHOLDER HIJACKING THE PROCESS TO AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE PROCESS. CHANGE FROM ONE OFFICIAL ISSUING ORDERS TO COLLABORATION. CHANGE FROM JUST REPORTS TO REAL TRANSPARENCY.
>CHANGE FROM POWER TO ACCOUNTABILITY. CHANGE FROM MONOLOGUES TO DIALOGUES AND DEBATES. CHANGE FROM THE RHETORIC OF CYBER-WAR TO THE NOTION OF INTERNET FOR PEACE. CHANGE FROM CYBER-THREATS TO DIGITAL SOLIDARITY. AND I DO BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THESE PRINCIPLES WILL ALSO GUIDE US IN IANA TRANSITION.
>LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THERE IS ONE MESSAGE I MUST LEAVE WITH YOU TODAY, IT IS THE MESSAGE OF TRUST.
>WE'RE IN BRAZIL BECAUSE WE TRUST THE PERSON OF DILMA ROUSSEFF. WE ARE HERE BECAUSE WE TRUST THE NETmundial PROCESS. WE TRUST THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER APPROACH OF BRAZIL IN ITS OWN IGF, AND WE HAVE FOLLOWED THE STORY OF MARCO CIVIL AND I WANT TO SEE CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BRAZILIANS ON THIS.
>[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ] >>NNENNA NWAKANMA: HANG ON. HANG ON. HANG ON.
>THE TRUST THAT WE HAVE IN BRAZIL IS NEEDED AT ALL LEVELS. BUT THIS TRUST HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE COLLECTION, PROCESSING, AND INTERCEPTION OF OUR COMMUNICATIONS.
>[APPLAUSE ] >>NNENNA NWAKANMA: YES. SURVEILLANCE ON INTERNET SECURITY AND OUR TRUST IN ALL PERSONAL BUSINESS AND DIPLOMATIC COMMUNICATIONS. THAT'S WHY WE SAY "NO." THE WEB WE CAN TRUST, THAT IS THE WEB WE WANT. THE WEB THAT CONTRIBUTES TO PEACE, THAT IS THE WEB WE WANT. THE WEB THAT IS OPEN AND INCLUSIVE, THAT IS THE WEB WE WANT. THE WEB OF OPPORTUNITIES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, THAT IS WHY I AM HERE.
>LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, NETmundial, I THINK, IS THE WORLD CUP OF INTERNET GOVERNANCE. WE NEED A ROBUST STADIUM THAT CAN HOLD US. THAT IS INFRASTRUCTURE. WE NEED TO ENJOY THE GAME. THAT IS PARTICIPATION. WE SHOULD NOT DISCRIMINATE. THAT IS NET NEUTRALITY. EVERYBODY'S FREE TO SUPPORT THEIR TEAM. I SUPPORT (SAYING NAME) OF NIGERIA. THAT IS FREEDOM. I SUPPORT BRAZIL AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT PLAYING AGAINST AFRICA, ANYWAY.
>[LAUGHTER ] >>NNENNA NWAKANMA: WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO WEAR OUR COSTUMES AS FANS AND THAT IS DIVERSITY. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE NEED TO KNOW THE RULES OF THE GAME AND PLAY BY IT. THAT, FOR ME, IS TRANSPARENCY.
>SO IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ABOUT POWER AND CONTROL FOR GOVERNMENTS. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE JUST INTEREST FOR THE INDUSTRY. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE NAMES AND NUMBERS FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNITY. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE FOR OR AGAINST FOR CIVIL SOCIETY. I THINK THAT WE NEED HUMILITY. THE HUMILITY TO LISTEN TO DIVERSE VOICES IS ESSENTIAL FOR AN AUTHENTIC DIALOGUE. LET US TALK TO EACH OTHER AND NOT AT EACH OTHER. BECAUSE SOMETIMES WE CAN BE SO DROWNED IN OUR OWN VOICES THAT WE DO NOT HEAR THE OTHER STAKEHOLDERS.
>JUST BEFORE I SIT DOWN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TOMORROW IS GIRLS IN ICT DAY, SO I'M GOING TO SPEAK TO LADIES.
>GIRLS, IT IS UP TO US TO SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY THAT THE INTERNET HAS GIVEN US. LET'S SEIZE IT AND LET'S ROCK THE WORLD! LET US GET WOMEN ONLINE. LET US GET US ONLINE.
>AND THIS, I WANT TO SAY A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO ALL THE GIRLS IN MY WORLD FOUNDATION TEAM. ALEXANDRA IS HERE, RENAT AVILA, SONIA GEORGE, ANGELA, AND NOT JUST NETmundial BUT GIRLS ACROSS THE WORLD WORK ON THE INTERNET EVERY DAY. DEBORAH BROWN IS IN THE U.S. MARION FRANKLIN IS IN EUROPE. ANNA IS IN INDIA, (SAYING NAME) IS IN LATIN AMERICA HERE, (SAYING NAME) IS IN AFRICA, JOY LID I COT IS IN NEW ZEALAND, AND SALANIETA IS SOMEWHERE IN THE ISLANDS OF FIJI. GREAT WOMEN WHO DO THIS WORK. AND EVEN HERE IN BRAZIL, WE HAVE GREAT LADIES. ONE IS (SAYING NAME) AND THE OTHER IS (SAYING NAME) BUT COME ON, IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT WOMEN. THERE ARE GUYS, MEN, WHO WORK EVERY DAY, WHO PUT IN THE ENERGY, WHO PUT IN THEIR LIFE, WHO PUT IN ALL THEY HAVE, PUT IN THEIR EXPERTISE, SO THAT WE CAN HAVE A GLOBAL, TRUE, OPEN AND RESILIENT. AND TO ALL OF US WHO LOVE THE INTERNET AND TO ALL OF US WHO ARE HERE AND TO SOMEONE CALLED EDWARD, EDWARD SNOWDEN, THANK YOU.
>[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ]
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>>>VINT CERF: PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF, EXCELLENCIES, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT IS AN HONOR AND A PRIVILEGE TO PARTICIPATE IN NETmundial. THIS DIALOGUE IS TIMELY AND MUCH NEEDED AS THE INTERNET CELEBRATES THE 40th YEAR OF ITS PUBLIC UNVEILING AND THE 31st YEAR OF ITS OPERATION. IN MAY 1974, THE DESIGN OF THE INTERNET WAS PUBLISHED IN THE IE EX-E PUBLICATIONS. ROBERT KAHN AND I FELT STRONGLY THE DESIGN AND THE PROTOCOLS OF THE INTERNET NEEDED TO BE FREELY AND OPENLY AVAILABLE TO ANY INTERESTED PARTIES AND WITHOUT ANY BARRIERS TO ADOPTION AND USE.
>OVER FOUR DECADES BY WORKING TOGETHER AND INCLUDING THE EXPERIENCES GATHERED FROM OTHER GLOBAL NETWORK EXERCISES, AN INFORMAL COALITION HAS BUILT FROM THE BOTTOM UP THE SUCCESSFUL, FREE AND OPEN INTERNET AND THE POPULAR WORLDWIDE WEB. SOME 3 BILLION PEOPLE ARE ALREADY ONLINE WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS GROWTH IN A POWERFUL ECONOMIC ENGINE AND POSITIVE SOCIAL FORCE.
>THIS INTERNET GOVERNANCE MEETING COMES AT A TIME WHEN THE INTERNET AND ITS USE REFLECTS THE FULL RANGE OF INTERESTS OF A GLOBAL AND INCREASINGLY ONLINE SOCIETY.
>IN ADDITION TO APPRECIATING THE ENORMOUS BENEFITS ALREADY OBTAINED THROUGH THE COOPERATIVE CREATION, DISCOVERING AND SHARING OF INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET, IT IS ALSO APPARENT THAT USERS AND GOVERNMENTS ARE BECOMING CONCERNED ABOUT POTENTIAL HARMS THAT MAY BE ENCOUNTERED IN THIS DIGITAL WORLD.
>A SMALL FRACTION OF THE INTERNET'S USERS DELIBERATELY SEEK TO BENEFIT THEMSELVES AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS OR JUST SEEK TO DO DAMAGE THROUGH A KIND OF DIGITAL VANDALISM, AS ALSO HAPPENS OFFLINE.
>MOREOVER, IT IS APPARENT THAT THE RICH SOCIAL NETWORKING APPLICATIONSES THAT ARE RAPIDLY PROLIFERATING ALSO HAVE A POLITICAL POTENTIAL THAT MAY BE ALARMING TO SOME REGIMES.
>GOVERNMENTS UNDERSTANDABLY SEEK WAYS TO DEFEND THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS AGAINST HARM, SUCH AS FRAUD, MALWARE, IDENTITY THEFT AND BULLYING. OTHERS VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS BY USING THE INTERNET TO CENSOR, MISINFORM, CONDUCT SURVEILLANCE AND RESTRICT SPEECH OR USE IT AS A MEANS TO IDENTIFY AND INCARCERATE THOSE WHO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER.
>THE OPENNESS OF THE INTERNET HAS BEEN THE KEY TO ITS GROWTH AND VALUE. PERMISSIONLESS INNOVATION IS THE MAIN SPRING OF INTERNET'S ECONOMIC POWER. WE MUST FIND WAYS TO PROTECT THE VALUES THAT THE INTERNET BRINGS, INCLUDING THE RIGHTS OF ITS USERS WHILE ALSO PROTECTING THEM FROM HARM.
>THESE PRINCIPLES, TOGETHER WITH GROWING ACCESS TO THE INTERNET WILL PROVE TO BE OF LASTING VALUE TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD THAT CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE POSITIVE BENEFITS OF AN EXPANDING INFORMATION ECONOMY.
>OUR WORK IS NOT NEARLY DONE UNTIL THE INTERNET IS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE AND IPv6 IS ACCESSIBLE EVERYWHERE.
>BRAZIL HAS SET A POSITIVE EXAMPLE IN NETmundial. IN A MULTIPARTY INITIATIVE LED BY CONGRESSMAN ALESANDRO MALONE, THE COUNTRY HAS JUST LEGISLATED MARCO CIVIL WHICH OFFERS IMPORTANT SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT INTERMEDIARY INTERNET PROVIDERS AND PROTECT USER RIGHTS. ITS INTERNET STEERING COMMITTEE, CGI.BR, IS A MODEL OF NATIONAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER GOVERNANCE.
>THIS MEETING, AMONG MANY OTHERS, REPRESENTS AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE A MULTISTAKEHOLDER MODEL FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE BASED ON THE PARTICIPATION OF ALL STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING ROLES FOR GOVERNMENT, ACADEMICS, CIVIL SOCIETY, PRIVATE BUSINESSES AND THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY. THIS CONFERENCE HAS BROUGHT TOGETHER A RICH AND VARIED GROUP OF INTERESTED PARTIES TO EXPLORE PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES FOR FUTURE INTERNET GOVERNANCE AS IT REACHES THE OTHER 4 BILLION STILL UNCONNECTED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.
>THE INTERNET HAS BEEN BUILT ON THE BASIS OF COLLABORATION AMONG A DIVERSE AND CONSTANTLY EVOLVING SET OF INTERESTED PARTIES. AND THIS IS A FOUNDATIONAL IDEA THAT MUST BE PRESERVED. NEW INSTITUTIONS AND OPERATIONAL PLAYERS HAVE BEEN FORMED AT NEED, SUCH AS THE INTERNET ARCHITECTURE BOARD, THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK, THE INTERPRET SOCIETY, THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS, THE REGIONAL INTERNET REGISTRIES AND THE NUMBER RESOURCE ORGANIZATION, OTHER REGIONAL TLD ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS CENTR AND LacTLD, THE ROOT SERVER OPERATORS, REGIONAL NETWORK OPERATION GROUPS, THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS, INTERNET EXCHANGE POINTS, THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN REGISTRIES AND REGISTRARS AND THE NETWORK INFORMATION CENTERS SUCH AS THE BRAZILIAN NIC.
>OUT OF THE WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY HAS COME THE ANNUAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM AND ITS REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ANALOGS. WE CREATE INSTITUTIONS AT NEED.
>AS WE GATHER HERE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS, WE HAVE TWO SPECIFIC CHALLENGES TO CONSIDER. THE LARGER ONE IS THE GENERAL DESIGN OF A GLOBAL, MULTISTAKEHOLDER INTERNET GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK THAT PRESERVES THE FREE AND OPEN INTERNET AND PROVIDES TRANSNATIONAL PROTECTIONS FOR THE RIGHTS OF USERS.
>THE FRAMEWORK HAS TO ENABLE THE EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET AND BE ABLE TO ADAPT TO IT. THE MORE FOCUSED CHALLENGE IS TO DEVISE A RESPONSE TO THE U.S. INVITATION TO ASSURE THAT WHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND ITS CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ICANN, THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER FRAMEWORK FOR ICANN'S MANAGEMENT OF UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS AND PARAMETERS WILL ADHERE TO THE PRINCIPLES THAT HAVE MADE THE INTERNET A REMARKABLE, GLOBAL AND BENEFICIAL INFRASTRUCTURE.
>I BELIEVE THAT THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US, ASSURING ICANN'S ADHERENCE CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY REINFORCING ITS ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY MECHANISMS. THE LARGER CHALLENGE, PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF USERS WHILE ASSURING THEIR SAFETY WILL REQUIRE LAYERED, LOCAL, NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL ENABLING MECHANISMS. WE CANNOT PRETEND TO KNOW THE SOLUTION TO ALL THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE INTERNET POSES. WE CAN, HOWEVER, CREATE STRUCTURES THAT WILL ALLOW MULTISTAKEHOLDER COLLABORATIONS TO DISCOVER AND EVALUATE POSSIBLE ANSWERS.
>AMONG THE MECHANISMS THAT SHOULD BE REINFORCED AND SUPPORTED, I WOULD SINGLE OUT THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM. IT NEEDS FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND A PROPERLY STAFFED SECRETARIAT. IT HAS ILLUMINATED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS ARISING FROM THE GLOBAL GROWTH OF THE INTERNET.
>MOBILE TECHNOLOGY RAPIDLY DROPPING COSTS FOR INTERNET-ENABLING EQUIPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS, AND BOUNDLESS DEVELOPMENT OF NEW APPLICATIONS HAVE CREATED A RICH PALATE FROM WHICH TO PAINT A BENEFICIAL DIGITAL FUTURE. THE GLOBAL IGF AND ITS REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COUNTERPARTS CAN BECOME AN EVEN MORE HELPFUL MECHANISM FOR HIGHLIGHTING ISSUES BY TRACKING THEIR SOLUTIONS IN A VARIETY OF FORUMS AND ENABLING THE EMERGENCE OF NEW APPROACHES WHEN THESE SEEM NECESSARY.
>WE WOULD HAVE TO BE A PRETTY SILLY SPECIES NOT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GIFT THAT THE TECHNOLOGY HAS GIVEN US. THOSE OF US PARTICIPATING IN THE NETmundial -- WELL, I HAVE A VERY INTERESTING PROBLEM HERE, MY SPEECH ENDS BECAUSE THE REST OF IT WASN'T PRINTED OUT.
>[LAUGHTER ]
>SO I WILL END BY THANKING YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE TIME ON THIS STAGE.
>[APPLAUSE ]
>>>TIM BERNERS-LEE: TECHNOLOGY IS PERFECT THEN.
>45 YEARS AGO VINT CERF AND BOB KAHN PUT TOGETHER THE IDEA OF THE INTERNET, DESIGNED THAT, AND MADE THAT OPEN. 25 YEARS AGO -- A LONG TIME LATER, THE INTERNET WAS RUNNING. THERE WAS REMOTE --- . THERE WAS EMAIL RUNNING OVER THE INTERNET. BUT THERE WERE NO WEB, NO WEB SITES, NO WEB PAGES, NO LINKS. I FELT IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT THERE SHOULD BE SO I INVENTED THE WEB. AND AS THE WORLDWIDE WEB PROJECT GREW, I NEEDED COLLABORATORS. I INVENTED HTML AND HTTP AND URLS BUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THOSE HAD TO BE DONE BY A LARGE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY. I WENT TO THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE, I FOUNDED THE WORLDWIDE WEB CONSORTIUM THAT ASSESS THE STANDARDS FOR THE WEB AND ITS MOTTO IS TO LEAD THE WEB TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL.
>SO THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THESE MULTISTAKEHOLDER GROUPS LIKE IETF AND W3C AND ALL THE PEERS THEY WORK WITH LIKE ECMA, TC39 FOR (SAYING NAME) THAT HAS BEEN REALLY CRUCIAL AND IT REALLY HAS BEEN HOW THIS HAS ALL WORKED.
>I HOPE YOU WILL AGREE THAT PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER HAVE DONE A REASONABLE JOB AND LOOKING BACK AT THE 25 YEARS OF THE WEB, IT HAS BEEN -- IT HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLE RIDE AND WE REALIZE NOW THAT RATHER THAN BEING A FUN PROJECT LIKE ALL THESE THINGS STARTED OFF WITH, IT NOW BECOMES SOMETHING WE HAVE TO REGARD AS TO BEING CRUCIAL.
>SOME OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS WHICH BELIEVE IN OPEN STANDARDS IN THIS PARTICULAR SORT OF MULTISTAKEHOLDER OPEN ON THE WEB SORT OF MEANING OF THE WORD, DEVISED THE WORD OPEN STAND. YOU CAN GO TO OPENSTAND.ORG TO EXPRESS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE ABOUT WITH OPEN DISCUSSION WITH THE DOCUMENTS BEING FREELY AVAILABLE ON THE WEB. WITH W3C SPECIFICALLY COMPANIES COMMIT THAT WHEN THEY START AND WORK TOWARDS THESE STANDARDS, THAT WHEN THE STANDARDS COME OUT THAT THEY WILL NOT CHARGE ROYALTIES TO ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO IMPLEMENT IT. SO KEEPING IT ROYALTY FREE HAS ALSO BEEN REALLY IMPORTANT.
>THE WEB GREW AS SOMETHING WHICH DID NOT INVOLVE BORDERS BECAUSE IT GREW ON THE INTERNET AND THE INTERNET, WHEN YOU CONNECT -- WHEN I WROTE A PROGRAM TO CONNECT FROM ONE COMPUTER TO THE OTHER, NEITHER PROGRAM HAD AN AWARENESS, NEEDED TO KNOW OR NECESSARILY FOUND IT EASY TO FIND OUT WHICH COUNTRY THOSE TWO COMPUTERS WERE IN. BUT INTERNET WAS TECHNICALLY -- IS A NATIONLESS THING. SO IN A NON-NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT, THE WEB GROWING UP, IT HAS BEEN A NON-NATIONAL SOCIETY WHICH HAS GROWN UP AROUND IT.
>YES, THERE HAS BEEN -- FORMALLY, THERE HAS BEEN A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND THE WAY INTERNET NUMBERS AND NAMES HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED. AND I'M VERY GLAD THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS ACCEPTED TO RELEASE THAT OVERSIGHT. I THINK THAT IS VERY OVERDUE AND A VERY IMPORTANT STEP.
>IT IS AN IMPORTANT STEP BECAUSE ICANN SHOULD SERVICE -- IT SERVICES THE GLOBAL PUBLIC INTERNET, AND, THEREFORE, IT SHOULD BE A GLOBAL PUBLIC BODY. SO FOR ME, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? IT IS EASY TO SAY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST. FOR ME, FOR ICANN, THAT MEANS THAT DECISIONS THAT IT MAKES ABOUT TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS, ABOUT WHATEVER, ABOUT HOW TO SPEND ITS FUNDING, THEY SHOULD BE MADE BY STEPPING BACK AND THINKING, WELL, NEVERMIND THE PEOPLE WE KNOW INTIMATELY WHO ARE INVOLVED IN THAT DECISION BUT LET'S THINK ABOUT THE PLAN AS A WHOLE. WHAT IS BEST FOR HUMANITY AS A WHOLE? THAT SHOULD GUIDE EVERY DECISION THAT ICANN MAKES.
>OBVIOUSLY, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT ICANN DOES IS IT HAS FUNDS TO SPEND AND SO PARTLY IT CAN FURTHER THE WORLD BY SPENDING THOSE IN A BENEFICIAL WAY SUCH AS SUPPORTING -- WELL, SUPPORTING STANDARDIZATION, SUPPORTING HARDENING WEB TECHNOLOGY, SUPPORTING PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY LIKE THAT, THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE TECHNOLOGY, KEEPING IT SO IT WORKS WITH EVERY CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND, OF COURSE, CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE FOR REALLY IMPORTANT AGENDAS WHICH ICANN CAN THINK ABOUT SUPPORTING.
>THE INTERNET HAS THRIVED FROM THE EMPOWERMENT OF CAPABLE AND PUBLIC-SPIRITED PEOPLE. INITIALLY, THEY WERE FROM THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY AND ACADEMIA BUT MORE RECENTLY THE WHOLE PRIVATE SECTOR, CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENTS. WE NEED INTERNET GOVERNMENTS WHICH ALLOWS EACH COMMUNITY TO BRING ITS PARTICULAR STRENGTHS TO THE TABLE BUT ALLOWS NONE OF THEM TO ELEVATE ITS OWN INTEREST ABOVE THE PUBLIC GOOD.
>FIVE YEARS AGO, RELATIVELY RECENTLY IN INTERNET TIME, SOME OF US REALIZE THAT ALL THE TECHNICAL WORK WE WERE DOING WAS WONDERFUL BUT IT WAS EVERY SINGLE THING DID WAS INCREASING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, INCREASING THE GAP BETWEEN THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD THE WEB AND DID NOT HAVE IT. SO AT THAT POINT, WE STARTED THE WORLDWIDE WEB FOUNDATION ABOUT WHICH YOU ALREADY HEARD SOME TO MAKE SURE THAT THE WEB -- WELL, YES, THAT IT GETS TO, FOR EXAMPLE, THE 60% OF THE PEOPLE WHO IN THE WORLD WHO DON'T HAVE IT AT ALL BUT ALSO FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE IT, THAT IT REALLY IS THE WEB THAT WE WOULD WANT, THE WEB HAS NOW BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PUBLIC UTILITY SO WE HAVE TO REGARD IT AS SUCH.
>MUCH OF OUR TRADITIONAL THINKING ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS APPLIES DIRECTLY TO EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET SUCH AS FREE EXPRESSION. BUT NEW THINGS BECOMING IMPORTANT IN THE NETWORK CONTEXT, NET NEUTRALITY MEANS KEEPING THE NET FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION, BE IT COMMERCIAL OR POLITICAL.
>THE INNOVATIVE EXPLOSION WHICH HAPPENED ACROSS THE NET OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS HAS HAPPENED ONLY BECAUSE THAT NET HAS BEEN NEUTRAL. THE SOCIAL GROUND-BREAKING SENSE OF POSSIBILITY THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER AND POSSIBLY LIVE IN PEACE RELIES ON AN OPEN NET. OH, AND THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO HAS EVER HELD UP A BANNER IN ANY FORUM ABOUT PUSHING FOR THE OPEN NET AND PUSHING AGAINST LAWS WHICH RESTRICT THE OPEN NET.
>SO THAT SENSE OF EXCITEMENT WHICH WE ALL HAVE GIVES US ALSO A RESPONSIBILITY THAT WE MUST KEEP THE NET NEUTRAL -- THE NET AS A NEUTRAL PLATFORM IN THE FUTURE.
>FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS A CRUCIAL RIGHT BUT IT HAS TO BE COUPLED ON THE NETWORK WITH A COMPLIMENTARY RIGHT TO PRIVACY AS, MADAM PRESIDENT, YOU HAVE POINTED OUT BEFORE AND HAVE ALREADY BEEN QUOTED TODAY.
>SO I WON'T QUOTE YOU AGAIN, BUT I WOULD, YES, AGREE THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT ARE WORRIED ABOUT SURVEILLANCE AND FEEL IT IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMMEDIATE THREAT. IT FEELS THE MOST IMMEDIATE THREAT. AND, OF COURSE, SURVEILLANCE ALL AFFECTS THE INTERNET, IT IS ONE OF THE MORE INSIDIOUS ONES BECAUSE YOU DON'T SEE IT HAPPENING UNLIKE CENSORSHIP.
>IT IS GREAT TO BE BACK IN BRAZIL TODAY, NOT JUST BECAUSE BRAZIL IS A WONDERFUL COUNTRY AND ONE WHICH HAS HAD A REALLY VIBRANT SENSE OF WHAT OPPORTUNITY ON THE NET BUT, OF COURSE, ESPECIALLY TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY. YESTERDAY WAS A VERY SPECIAL DAY, THE MARCO CIVIL GOING THROUGH IS WONDERFUL. A FANTASTIC EXAMPLE OF HOW GOVERNMENTS COMPARE POSITIVE ROLE IN ADVANCING WEB RIGHTS AND KEEPING THE WEB OPEN. YES, EUROPEANS ALSO CELEBRATE, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PASSING LEGISLATION PROTECTING USERS ON THE WEB. WELL DONE. SO TWO DATA POINTS THAT SUGGEST WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS. THAT IS GREAT, BUT, BOY, WE HAVE GOT A HUGE WAY THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE NET ARE NEW AND THEY'RE NOT UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED.
>THE WEB BECOMES EVER MORE EXCITING WITH EVERY ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY LIKE MOBILE WEB AND SO ON, BUT 60% OF THE WEB -- OF THE POPULATION CAN'T USE THE WEB AT ALL.
>AS THE WEB GIVES PEOPLE GREATER AND GREATER POWER, INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY, SO MANY FORCES ARE ABUSING OR THREATEN TO ABUSE THE NET AND ITS CITIZENS. THE WEB THAT WE WILL HAVE IN ANOTHER 25 YEARS' TIME IS, BY NO MEANS, CLEAR. BUT IT IS COMPLETELY UP TO US TO DECIDE WHAT WE WANT TO MAKE THAT WEB, WHAT WE WANT TO MAKE THAT WORLD.
>THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING WEB USERS AROUND THE WORLD, NOT JUST PEOPLE HERE IN THIS CONFERENCE ROOM AND THE OTHER CONFERENCE ROOMS WHERE THIS IS BEING RELAYED, NOT JUST PEOPLE IN THIS CONFERENCE BUT PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD, TO GO AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT AND TO FIND SOME SORT OF GLOBAL MAGNA CARTA FOR THE INTERNET. THAT IS WHY --
>[APPLAUSE ] >>TIM BERNERS-LEE: THAT IS WHY I'M ASKING COUNTRIES EVERYWHERE TO FOLLOW BRAZIL'S EXAMPLE AND EUROPE'S EXAMPLE AND DEVELOP POSITIVE LAWS THAT PROTECT AND EXPAND THE RIGHTS OF USERS IN AN OPEN, FREE, AND UNIVERSAL WEB.
>[APPLAUSE ]
>>>TIM BERNERS-LEE: THANK YOU.
>[APPLAUSE ] >> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC HAS APPROVED A LAW THAT GUARANTEES THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES FOR THE USE OF INTERNET IN THE WORLD.
>[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ] >>H.E. DILMA ROUSSEFF: GOOD MORNING TO ONE AND ALL. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THOSE WHO SPOKE BEFORE ME FOR PERFECTLY PRONOUNCING "GOOD MORNING" IN PORTUGUESE, (NON-ENGLISH WORD OR PHRASE) AS VOICED BY OUR DEAR REPRESENTATIVE FROM AFRICA, NNENNA NWAKANMA.
>THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PERFECTLY PRONOUNCING (NON-ENGLISH WORD OR PHRASE) IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE. GOOD MORNING.
>AND BY GREETING HER, I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND MY GREETINGS TO ALL WOMEN WHO ARE CURRENTLY ACTIVE ON THE WEB. BOTH THE GIRLS AND THE GUYS WHO ARE EQUALLY ACTIVE ON THE WEB.
>GREETINGS, LIKEWISE, TO THE MAYOR OF SAO PAULO WHO HAS SO KINDLY WELCOMED US, AND ABOVE ALL, I WOULD RECYCLE TO, FIRST OF ALL, GREET TWO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM BRAZIL. NAMELY MR. (SAYING NAME) REPRESENTING THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WHO SERVED AS RAPPORTEUR OF THE BILL OF LAW WHICH LED UP TO THE PASSING YESTERDAY OF THE INTERNET CIVIL FRAMEWORK, AS WELL AS REPRESENTATIVE -- RATHER SENATOR (SAYING NAME), AND THROUGH HIM, I WOULD LIKE TO FURTHER EXTEND MY GREETINGS, LIKEWISE, TO THE SENATE RAPPORTEURS WHO WERE ABLE TO PASS THE PIECE OF LAW IN A RECORD TIME, SENATOR (SAYING NAME), SENATOR (SAYING NAME), AND SENATOR (SAYING NAME). THANK YOU.
>AND SO SENATOR (SAYING NAME) AND TO REPRESENTATIVE (SAYING NAME), I WOULD LIKE TO VOICE MY THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS IN PASSING THE INTERNET CIVIL FRAMEWORK.
>GREETINGS, LIKEWISE, TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, HONG BO. SPECIAL GREETINGS LIKEWISE TO THE INVENTOR OF THE INTERNET, TIM BERNERS-LEE.
>I WOULD LIKE TO GREET THE VICE PRESIDENT OF GOOGLE, AND A KEY PERSON -- RATHER A KEY PERSON IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERNET, MR. CERF.
>GREETINGS, ONCE AGAIN, TO MR. (SAYING NAME) WHO, ON OCTOBER THE 8TH LAST YEAR, 2013 -- CORRECT, FADI, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, WE MET IN BRAZIL YEAH AND ON THAT OCCASION DURING THAT MEETING WITH YOU THE SEMINAL IDEA SURFACED OF ESTABLISHING THIS INTERNET GOVERNANCE SUMMIT MEETING THAT IS REALIZED HERE TODAY, SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH AN ALL OF YOU, INCLUDING CABINET MINISTERS AND FOREIGN DELEGATES ATTENDING THIS SESSION TODAY. ---
>MAY I ALSO USE THE OPPORTUNITY ---
>MAY I ALSO USE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GREET ALL CABINET MINISTERS WHO HAVE BEEN ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS THAT LED UP TO THE PASSING OF THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE CIVIL FRAMEWORK, AN EFFORT WHICH OF COURSE INVOLVED ALL STAKEHOLDERS AND SOCIETY.
>SPECIAL THANKS TO MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AMBASSADOR (SAYING NAME), MINISTER OF JUSTICE CARDOZO, ALSO MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, (SAYING NAME), AND MAY I ALSO GREET AND THANK SENATOR AND MINISTER OF CULTURE (SAYING NAME) AS WELL AS THE BRAZILIAN SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, (SAYING NAME). GREETINGS LIKEWISE TO ALL ATTENDEES, PARTICULARLY THE MEDIA PROFESSIONALS, JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND CAMERAMEN AND WOMEN.
>MAY I SAY THAT YOU ARE ALL MOST WELCOME TO BRAZIL.
>AS ATTENDEES TO THIS GLOBAL MULTISTAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF INTERNET GOVERNANCE, THE SO-CALLED NETmundial AS WE CALL IT IN PORTUGUESE.
>AT THIS POINT IN TIME I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO VOICE MY GREETINGS TO THE ORGANIZERS, I.E., THE INTERNET MANAGEMENT OR MANAGING COMMITTEE AS WELL AS THE 1net COMMITTEE. IT GIVES ME GREAT JOY TO SEE IN THIS PLENARY HALL REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL DIFFERENT SECTORS WHO -- OR WHICH ARE IN ONE WAY INVOLVED IN THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE.
>IN THIS HALL TODAY, WE HAVE CIVIL SOCIETY, ACADEMIA, MEMBERS OF THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY, BUSINESSES, AND GOVERNMENTS AT LARGE.
>THIS HEALTHY DIVERSITY -- AND I STRESS IT IS A HEALTHY DIVERSITY -- IS ALSO A HALLMARK OF THOSE GROUPS THAT HAVE JOINED US THROUGH THE INTERNET AND THIS MEETING, AND I WOULD LIKE TO USE THE OPPORTUNITY TODAY TO ESTABLISH A DIALOGUE ON THE ISSUES AND THE PURPOSES THAT BRING US TOGETHER IN SAO PAULO TODAY.
>BACK IN MID-2013 WHEN THE REVELATION SURFACED ON THE COMPREHENSIVE MECHANISMS FOR COLLECTIVE MONITORING OF COMMUNICATIONS CAUSED ANGER AND REPUDIATION IN VAST CIRCLES OF PUBLIC OPINION BOTH IN BRAZIL AND IN THE WORLD AT LARGE, IN BRAZIL CITIZENS, COMPANIES, DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIONS AND EVEN THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC ITSELF WERE TARGETED, AND THEIR COMMUNICATIONS INTERCEPTED.
>THESE EVENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE. WERE NOT ACCEPTABLE IN THE PAST AND REMAIN UNACCEPTABLE TODAY, IN THAT THEY ARE AN AFFRONTMENT AGAINST THE VERY NATURE OF THE INTERNET AS A DEMOCRATIC, FREE, AND PLURALISTIC PLATFORM.
>THE INTERNET WE WANT IS ONLY POSSIBLE IN A SCENARIO WHERE HUMAN RIGHTS ARE RESPECTED. PARTICULARLY THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY AND TO ONE'S FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
>ACCORDINGLY, IN MY ADDRESS TO THE 68TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS, I PUT FORTH A PROPOSAL TO TACKLE SUCH PRACTICES. I THEN PROPOSED A DISCUSSION ON ESTABLISHING A GLOBAL CIVIL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE AND USE, AS WELL AS MEASURES TO ENSURE ACTUAL PROTECTION OF DATA THAT TRAVELS THROUGH THE INTERNET.
>ALSO, WORKING TOGETHER WITH GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL WE SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS A DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
>BY CONSENSUS, THE RESOLUTION WAS PASSED AS PROPOSED AND WE ALSO PASSED A CALL FOR STATES TO DISCONTINUE ANY ARBITRARY OR ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF PERSONAL DATA AND TO ENFORCE USERS' RIGHTS TO PRIVACY.
>I SHOULD ACTUALLY STRESS THE FACT THAT THE SAME RIGHTS THAT PEOPLE ARE ENTITLED TO OFFLINE OR IN THE OFFLINE WORLD SHOULD BE LIKEWISE PROTECTED ON THE ONLINE WORLD.
>THIS MEETING TODAY, NETMUNDIAL, PROVIDES FURTHER MOMENTUM TO THAT EFFORT. THIS MEETING ALSO LIVES UP TO A GLOBAL YEARNING AS WE PROPOSE CHANGES IN THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS AND FOR AN ONGOING CONSISTENT STRENGTHENING OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ON THE INTERNET AS WELL AS EFFORTS TO ULTIMATELY PROTECT BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS, AS IS THE CASE OF ONE'S RIGHT TO PRIVACY. AND WITHOUT THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT, THAT IS ALSO THE CASE OF ONE'S RIGHT TO PROPER TREATMENT OF WEB-BASED DISCUSSIONS IN A RESPECTFUL FASHION, TO ENSURE ITS OPEN, DEMOCRATIC NATURE. WE HAVE ALL TO SAO PAULO, THEREFORE, WITH A SHARED PURPOSE, THE PURPOSE OF ENHANCING AND DEMOCRATIZING INTERNET GOVERNANCE BY MEANS OF CONSENSUS BUILDING. AND I MEAN CONSENSUS AROUND PRINCIPLES, AND ON A ROADMAP TO BE DEVELOPED FOR ITS FUTURE EVOLUTION.
>A POINT I'D LIKE TO MAKE PLAIN AND CLEAR IS THAT THE IDEA HERE IS NOT, OF COURSE, TO REPLACE FOR THE COUNTLESS FORA OUT THERE THAT ALREADY ADDRESS THE TOPIC OR THE MATTER AT HAND TODAY. THE IDEA, RATHER, IS TO LEND A NEW MOMENTUM TO THE ONGOING DISCUSSIONS IN A MUCH NEEDED SENSE OF URGENCY.
>WE, THEREFORE, WORK FROM TWO PREMISES OR KEY ASSUMPTIONS.
>THE FIRST SUCH PREMISE IS THAT WE ALL WANT TO PROTECT THE INTERNET AS A SPACE, AVAILABLE TO ALL, AS A SHARED ASSET, AND AS SUCH, TRULY HERITAGE OF HUMANKIND, MORE THAN SIMPLY A WORK TOOL AND WAY BEYOND ITS WELL-KNOWN CONTRIBUTION FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, PROVIDED, OF COURSE, THAT IT BE INCREASINGLY INCLUSIVE AND THE FACT IS THAT THE INTERNET HAS ENABLED THE CONSTANT REINVENTION OF THE WAY PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS INTERACT, PRODUCE CULTURE, AND ORGANIZE THEMSELVES, EVEN POLITICALLY.
>AN OPEN AND DECENT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE FAVORS GREATER ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE. IT HELPS MAKE COMMUNICATIONS MORE DEMOCRATIC AND ALSO FOSTERS CONSTANT INNOVATION. THESE BASIC FEATURES ARE THE FEATURES THAT WE WANT AND THAT SHOULD BE PRESERVED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND IN ANY SCENARIO, IN ORDER TO ULTIMATELY GUARANTEE THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET AND, THUS, BOOST ITS TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECTS FOR AND IN SOCIETIES.
>THE SECOND PREMISE OR ASSUMPTION IS THE DESIRE WE ALL SHARE TO INCORPORATE AN INCREASINGLY BROADER AUDIENCE INTO THIS PROCESS.
>OUR COMMITMENT TO AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE DEBATE HAS GUIDED THE EFFORTS TO ORGANIZE THIS MEETING IN SAO PAULO TODAY. ALL DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE HAVE TAKEN PART IN ITS PREPARATION AND ARE DULY REPRESENTED IN THIS PLANE HALL TODAY.
>WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THOUSANDS OF PARTICIPANTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO ARE JOINED BY VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT POINTS OF THE PLANET.
>THE TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF BROAD AND PRIOR INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND HAVE RECEIVED INPUTS FROM PLAYERS OR STAKEHOLDERS LOCATED IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIES.
>THESE PROPOSALS IN TURN, OR INPUTS, HAVE SERVED AS THE FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP A DRAFT DOCUMENT, THE DRAFT DOCUMENT TO BE DISCUSSED AND FURTHER ENHANCED HERE IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.
>I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME THE WORK CONDUCTED BY THE EXECUTIVE METRIC SECTORAL COMMUNITY AS WELL AS THE HIGH-LEVEL MULTISTAKEHOLDER COMMITTEE FOR THIS JOINT EFFORT.
>THE INTEREST OF BRAZILIANS IN THE INTERNET IS REFLECTED ON THE SUBSTANTIAL PARTICIPATION OF BRAZILIAN NATIONALS IN THE DOMESTIC PUBLIC CAPTION AS FACILITATED BY THE.BR PORTAL. AT THIS TIME, CIVIL SOCIETY IS ORGANIZED IN THIS FORUM, THE SO-CALLED NETmundial ARENA, WHICH IS THE BRAZILIAN LOCUS FOR ACCESS TO TODAY'S SESSIONS.
>MAY I REMIND ALL THE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND FRIENDS ATTENDING THIS SESSION THAT BRAZIL ADVOCATES THAT INTERNET GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE MULTISTAKEHOLDER, MULTILATERAL, DEMOCRATIC, AND TRANSPARENT IN NATURE.
>IT IS OUR VIEW THAT THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER MODEL IS THE BEST WAY TO EXERCISE INTERNET GOVERNANCE.
>VERY MUCH IN ACCORDANCE WITH THAT VIEW, OUR LOCAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM WHICH HAS BEEN IN OPERATION FOR 20 YEARS HAS RELIED ON ACTUAL PARTICIPATION OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM CIVIL SOCIETY, MEMBERS OF ACADEMIA, THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY, AND THE GOVERNMENT AT LARGE AT THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE -- OR AT THE INTERNET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE.
>FULLY IN LINE WITH WHAT I JUST SAID, I ALSO ATTACH A GREAT DEAL OF IMPORTANCE TO THE MULTILATERAL PERSPECTIVE, ACCORDING TO WHICH GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION SHOULD OCCUR ON AN EQUAL FOOTING AMONG GOVERNMENTS IN SUCH A WAY AS TO ENSURE THAT NO COUNTRY WILL HAVE OR BEAR GREATER WEIGHT VIS-A-VIS OTHER COUNTRIES.
>[APPLAUSE ] >>H.E. DILMA ROUSSEFF: OUR ADVOCACY OF THE MULTILATERAL MODEL IS THE NATIONAL CONSEQUENCE OF AN ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLE THAT SHOULD GOVERN TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AS ENSHRINED IN THE BRAZILIAN FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. I'M TALKING ABOUT EQUALITY AMONG STATES.
>WE, THEREFORE, SEE NO OPPOSITION WHATSOEVER BETWEEN MULTI- -- OR THE MULTILATERAL AND THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER NATURE OF THE INTERNET. ACTUALLY, THE OPPOSITE OF THAT WOULD BE A ONE-SIDED UNILATERAL INTERNET WHICH IS UNTENABLE.
>AN INTERNET THAT IS ULTIMATELY SUBJECT TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS THAT EXCLUDE OTHER SECTORS OF SOCIETY IS NOT DEMOCRATIC.
>MULTISTAKEHOLDER ARRANGEMENTS THAT ARE IN TURN SUBJECT TO OVERSIGHT BY ONE OR FEW STATES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE EITHER.
>WE TRULY WANT TO MAKE RELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND SOCIETIES MORE DEMOCRATIC, AS WELL AS THE RELATIONS AMONG GOVERNMENTS. WE WANT MORE, NOT LESS, DEMOCRACY.
>THE TASK OF PROVIDING A GLOBAL DONATION TO THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE CURRENTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CENTRAL FUNCTIONS OF THE INTERNET IS NOT ONLY NECESSARY, BUT ALSO AN UN-POSTPONABLE TASK.
>THE COMPLEXITY OF THE TRANSITION AT HAND, WHICH ON THE ONE HAND INVOLVES JURISDICTIONAL COMPETENCE, AS WELL AS ACCOUNTABILITY AND AN AGREEMENT WITH MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS, DOES NOT, NEVERTHELESS, MAKE IT LESS URGENT A TASK.
>THAT IS WHY I'D LIKE TO AGAIN WELCOME THE RECENTLY VOICED INTENTION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO REPLACE ITS INSTITUTIONAL LINKAGE WITH THE AUTHORITY FOR -- OR WITH THE INTERNET AUTHORITY FOR NUMBER ASSIGNMENT, IANA, AND THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR NAMES AND NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS, ICANN, BY A GLOBAL MANAGEMENT OF THESE INSTITUTIONS FROM NOW ONWARDS, A NEW INSTRUMENTAL AND LEGAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE ISDN UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF IANA AND ICANN SHOULD BE BUILT IN SUCH A WAY AS TO INCLUDE BROAD-RANGING INVOLVEMENT OF ALL SECTORS THAT HAVE AN INTEREST IN THE MATTER WAY BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL STAKEHOLDERS OR PLAYERS.
>EACH SECTOR, OF COURSE, PERFORMS DIFFERENT ROLES BASED ON LIKEWISE DIFFERENTIATED RESPONSIBILITIES.
>THE OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF THE INTERNET SHOULD CONTINUE BEING LED BY ITS TECHNICAL COMMUNITY. MAY I, AT THIS POINT, VOICE MY PUBLIC RECOGNITION -- AND THIS IS ON BEHALF OF MY GOVERNMENT -- TO THESE PEOPLE WHO DEVOTE THEIR TIME AND ENERGY ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS TO KEEPING THE INTERNET AS AN OPEN, STABLE, AND SECURE PLATFORM, A KEY EFFORT WHICH REMAINS LARGELY INVISIBLE IN THE EYES OF MOST OF US END USERS.
>MATTERS PERTAINING TO SOVEREIGNTY SUCH AS CYBERCRIME, BREACH OF RIGHTS, ECONOMIC ISSUES OR TRANSNATIONAL ECONOMIC ISSUES, AND THREATS OF CYBER-ATTACKS ARE THE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY OF STATES.
>THE TASK AT HAND IS, ABOVE ALL, TO ENSURE THAT STATES WILL HAVE AT THEIR AVAIL THE TOOLS THAT WILL ALLOW THEM TO FULFILL THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES BEFORE THEIR CITIZENS, TO INCLUDE THE GUARANTEE OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. RIGHTS WHICH ARE ENSURED OFFLINE SHOULD BE EQUALLY INSURED ONLINE.
>THESE RIGHTS THRIVE UNDER THE SHELTER AND NOT IN THE ABSENCE OF THE STATE.
>IN ORDER FOR THE GLOBAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE TO BE TRULY DEMOCRATIC, MECHANISMS ARE REQUIRED TO ENABLE GREATER PARTICIPATION OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN ALL DIFFERENT SECTORS.
>THE MATTERS THAT ARE IN THE INTEREST OF THESE COUNTRIES THAT ARE THE HEAVY-DUTY USERS OF THE INTERNET, TOPICS SUCH AS, FOR EXAMPLE, EXPANDING CONNECTIVITY, ACCESSIBILITY, AND THE RESPECT TO DIVERSITY, SHOULD BE CENTRAL ON THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA.
>IT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR FORA TO BE OPEN FROM A PURELY FORMAL STANDPOINT. WE MUST FURTHER IDENTIFY AND REMOVE THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE BARRIERS TO ACTUAL PARTICIPATION OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF EVERY COUNTRY OR ELSE WE WOULD BE ULTIMATELY RESTRICTING OR LIMITING THE DEMOCRATIC ROLE AND THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL REACH OF THE INTERNET.
>THE EFFORT AT HAND FURTHER REQUIRES THAT THE INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM BE FURTHER STRENGTHENED AS A DIALOGUE FORUM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
>IT ALSO REQUIRES A COMPREHENSIVE, BROAD-RANGING REVIEW OF THE 10 YEARS FOLLOWING THE SUMMIT -- WORLD SUMMIT MEETING OF INFORMATION SOCIETY AS WELL AS A DEEPER DISCUSSION ON ETHICS AND PRIVACY AT THE UNESCO LEVEL.
>GIVEN THE ABOVE, MAY I SAY THAT WE ARE STRONG BELIEVERS THAT THE CYBER-SPACE -- AND I'M SURE THAT BELIEF IS SHARED BY ALL OF US -- THE CYBER-SPACE SHOULD BE THE TERRITORY OF TRUST, HUMAN RIGHTS, CITIZENSHIP, COLLABORATION, AND PEACE.
>TO ACHIEVE THESE OBJECTIVES, WE MUST AGREE ON BASIC PRINCIPLES THAT WILL ULTIMATELY GUIDE INTERNET GOVERNANCE.
>AS REGARDS PRIVACY, THE RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT WE MUST -- BUT WE STILL HAVE MUCH PROGRESS TO MAKE.
>ANY DATA COLLECTION OR TREATMENT SHOULD ONLY BE CARRIED OUT WITH FULL AGREEMENT OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED OR AS LEGALLY PROVIDED FOR.
>HOWEVER, THE DISCUSSION ON PRINCIPLES IS MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE. IT SHOULD -- AND I STRESS IT SHOULD -- INCLUDE UNIVERSAL INTERNET ACCESS, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY KEY FOR THE WEB TO SERVE AS A TOOL FOR HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SO AS TO ULTIMATELY HELP BUILD INCLUSIVE, NONDISCRIMINATORY SOCIETIES.
>IT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND NET NEUTRALITY AS AN SINE BRAZIL HAS ITS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAKE FOLLOWING A BROAD RANGING DISCUSSION, DOMESTIC PROCESS THAT HAS ULTIMATELY LED TO THE PASSING OF THE INTERNET CIVIL FRAMEWORK ACT AS PASSED YESTERDAY BY CONGRESS IN WHICH I HAD THE HONOR OF SANCTIONING JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO. THE LAW -- AND I MAY QUOTE TIM BERNERS-LEE WHO QUOTED THE LAW AS A PRESIDENT TO THE WEB ON THE OCCASION OF THE 20th -- OR 25th ANNIVERSARY AS SUCH THE LAW CLEARLY SHOWS THE FEASIBILITY AND SUCCESS OF OPEN MULTISECTORIAL DISCUSSIONS AS WELL AS THE INNOVATIVE USE OF THE INTERNET AS PART OF ONGOING DISCUSSIONS AS A TOOL AND A INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION PLATFORM.
>I THINK IT IS FAIR TO SAY THAT THE PROCESS THAT LED UP TO THE CIVIL FRAMEWORK ACT CAN BE DESCRIBED AS A VIRTUOUS PROCESS IN THAT OUR CIVIL FRAMEWORK, AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS, HAS BEEN EVEN FURTHER APPRECIATED GIVEN THE PROCESS THAT PRECEDED THE EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH IT AS SUCH.
>MAY I, THEREFORE, CALL TO MIND THAT OUR CIVIL FRAMEWORK ESTABLISHES PRINCIPLES, GUARANTEES AND USER RIGHTS, CLEARLY ASSIGNING DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ON AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT. AND EQUALLY IMPORTANT, IT ENSHRINES NETWORK NEUTRALITY AS A KEY PRINCIPLE, A MAJOR GAIN WHICH WE WERE ABLE TO MATERIALIZE AS A CONSENSUS IN THE PROCESS.
>IT ENSHRINES NETWORK NEUTRALITY BY ESTABLISHING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY SHOULD TREAT ANY DATA PACKAGES ON IN A --- FASHION WITH ACCOUNT TO AGENT, DESTINATION, SERVICE, TERMINAL OR APPLICATION. THE LAW OR FRAMEWORK AS HAS TRULY ENSHRINED NETWORK NEUTRALITY. FURTHERMORE, COMPANIES MAY NOT BLOCK, MONITOR, FILTER OR ANALYZE THE CONTENT OF DATA PACKAGES.
>THE CIVIL FRAMEWORK PROTECTS CITIZENS' PRIVACY IN THE ONLY IN THE RELATION WITH THE GOVERNMENTS BUT ALSO WITH RELATION WITH THE INTERNET COMPANIES. COMMUNICATIONS ARE, BY DEFINITION, NON-VIABLE EXCEPT BY A SPECIFIC COURT ORDER TO THAT EFFECT. THE RECENTLY PASSED LAW FURTHER CONTAINS CLEAR RULES GOVERNING WITHDRAWAL OF CONTENT FROM THE INTERNET. ALWAYS, OF COURSE, WITH A VIEW TO ENSURING THAT THE APPLICABLE COURT ORDERS BE AVAILABLE.
>THE CIVIL NETWORK IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE FACT THAT THE INTERNET DEVELOPMENT CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT A DISCUSSION PROCESS AND THE INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATES. AS SUCH, IT STANDS AS AN INNOVATIVE BENCHMARK MILESTONES BECAUSE IN ITS DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, WE HEARD THE VOICES OF THE STREETS, THE NETWORKS AND OF DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS.
>FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE, IT IS OUR FIRM CONVICTION THAT ON A NETWORK, EACH NODE MATTERS. THE LARGE NODES SUCH AS THE MEGA PORTALS TO WHICH A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WORLD TRAFFIC CONVERGES AND SMALL NODES ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT.
>AT THIS TIME, I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO THE FORE A KEY FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE AND TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS TAKEN A MAJOR STEP FORWARD AS PART OF THE ONGOING PROCESS WHEREBY WE NOT ONLY INCLUDE BUT ALSO GUARANTEE A STEADY STREAM OF INCOME TO A SUBSTANTIAL SHARE OF THE POPULATION.
>INCOME AND ACCESS ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT. WE BELIEVE THAT IT IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO ENSURE WE HAVE PLACE IN SOCIETY WHERE CITIZENS HAVE THEIR OWN VIEWS AND THEY ARE ABLE TO VOICE THEIR VIEWS FREELY. HENCE, THE INVALUABLE DEGREE OF IMPORTANCE WE ATTACH TO THE INTERNET IN OUR SOCIETY.
>WE ALSO HAVE YET ANOTHER MAJOR ASSET. I'M TALKING ABOUT BRAZIL'S ETHNIC CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. IT IS OURS TO NOT ONLY RESPECT BUT ALSO PROMOTE AND FOSTER OUR CULTURAL DIVERSITY. WE DO NOT WISH TO IMPOSE BELIEFS, CUSTOMS, VALUES OR POLITICAL VIEWS ON ANYONE.
>MAY I PARTICULARLY HIGHLIGHT THE THOUSANDS OF USERS THAT MULTIPLY ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS NOT ONLY HERE BUT IN ALL THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF LARGE URBAN AREAS AND ALSO IN TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES OUT THERE. ALL OF THESE NEW USERS ENRICH THE NETWORK WITH NEW ALTERNATIVE IDEAS AND ACCOUNTS OF THE WORLD, NEW WORLD VISIONS. THESE PEOPLE MAKE THE INTERNET A STRONGER AND MORE UNIVERSAL PLATFORM.
>AND IT IS ON THEIR BEHALF AND BECAUSE OF THEM, THAT I WOULD LIKE TO AGAIN VOICE MY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR ATTENDING THIS MEETING IN SAO PAULO. FOR US, THE INTERNET IS A MODERN-DAY PRO EMANCIPATION, PRO TRANSFORMATION TOOL THAT CHANGES SOCIETY. SWEEPING CHANGES ARE INTRODUCED THROUGH THE INTERNET. YOU ARE ALL MOST WELCOME. AND I HOPE YOU WILL ALL COME BACK FOR THE WORLD CUP OF ALL CUPS. IF NOT, MAKE SURE YOU WATCH IT THROUGH THE INTERNET. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AGAIN.
>[APPLAUSE ]
>>> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENCE OF YOU ALL. WE CLOSE NOW THIS CEREMONY.
>
>
>
>

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/netmundial-transcript-archive

NETmundial Roadmap: Defining the Roles of Stakeholders in Multistakeholderism

jyoti — 2014-04-28T12:51:40Z

NETmundial, one of the most anticipated events in the Internet governance calendar, will see the global community convening at Sao Paolo, with an aim to establish 'strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in the world.' This post analyses the submissions at NETmundial that focused on Roadmap, towards an understanding of stakeholder roles in relation to specific governance functions and highlighting the political, technical and architectural possibilities that lie ahead.

Introduction

A technically borderless Internet, in a world defined by national boundaries, brings many challenges in its wake. The social, ethical and legal standards of all countries are affected by technical standards and procedures, created by a few global players. This disparity in capacity and opportunities to participate and shape Internet policy, fuelled by Edward Snowden's revelations led to the development of the Global Multi-stakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance or NETmundial. Set against, an urgent need for interdisciplinary knowledge assessment towards establishing global guiding principles with respect to the technological architecture and the legal framework of the Internet–NETmundial is seen as a critical step in moving towards a global policy framework for Internet Governance (IG). As stakeholder groups from across the world come together to discuss future forms of governance, one of the most widely discussed issues will be that of Multistakeholderism (MSism).

Multistakeholderism

The governance structure of the Multistakeholder model is based on the notion, that stakeholders most impacted by decisions should be involved in the process of decision making. The collaborative multistakeholder spirit has been widely adopted within the Internet Governance fora, with proponents spread across regions and communities involved in the running, management and use of the Internet. So far, MSism has worked well in the coordination of technical networking standards and efforts to set norms and best practices in defined areas, in the realm of technical governance of the Internet. However, the extension of MSism beyond truly voluntary, decentralized and targeted contexts and expanding its applicability, to other substantive areas of Internet Governance is proving a challenge. Beyond defining how the process of policymaking should be undertaken, MSism does not provide any guidance on substantive policy issues of Internet governance. With the increasing impact of Internet technology on human lives and framed against the complexity of issues such as security, access and privacy, the consensus on MSism is further rendered unattainable.

The need for contextualizing the model aside, as with most policy negotiations certain open concepts and words have also prevented agreement and adoption of MSism as the best way forward for IG. One such open and perhaps, the most contentious issue with respect to the legitimacy of MSism in managing Internet functions is the role of stakeholders. A key element of MSism is that decisions will be made by and including all relevant stakeholders. Stakeholder groups are broadly classified to include governments, technical community and academia, private sector and civil society. With each stakeholder representing diverse and often conflicting interests, creating a consensus process that goes beyond a set of rules and practices promising a seat at the negotiation table and is supportive of broad public interest is a challenging task that needs urgent addressing.

This post aims to add to the discourse on defining the role and scope of stakeholders' decision-making powers, towards a better understanding of the term "in their respective role". Addressing the complexity of functions in managing and running the Internet and the diversity of stakeholders that are affected and hence should be included in decision making, I have limited the scope of my analysis to cover three broad internet management functions:

Technical: Issues related to infrastructure and the management of critical Internet resources
Policy: Issues relating to the developmental aspects, capacity building, bridging digital divide, human rights
Implementation: Issues relating to the use of the Internet including jurisdictional law, legislation spam, network security and cybercrime

While this may be an oversimplification of complex and interconnected layers of management and coordination, in my opinion, broad categorisation of issues is necessary, if not an ideal starting point for the purpose of this analysis. I have considered only the submissions categorised under the theme of Roadmap, seeking commonalities across stakeholder groups and regions on the role of stakeholders and their participation in the three broad functions of technology, policy and implementation.

Towards a definition of respective roles: Analysis NETmundial submissions on Roadmap

There were a total of 44 submissions specific to Roadmap with civil society (20) contributing more than any other group including academia (7), government (4), technical community (5), private sector (3) and other (5). MSism sees support across most stakeholder groups and many submissions highlight or agree on participation and inclusion in decision making processes.

Regionally, submissions from North (24) were dominated by USA (10) with contributions cutting across academia (4), civil society (2), technical community (2) and other (2). Brazil (5) contributed the most to submissions from South (15), followed by Argentina (3). The submissions were consistent with the gender disparity prevalent in the larger technology community with only 12 females contributing submissions. An overwhelming number of submissions (38), thought that the multistakeholder (MS) model needs further definition or improvements, however, suggestions on how best to achieve this varied widely across stakeholders and regional boundaries. Only 16 submissions referenced or suggested Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in its present capacity or with an expanded policy role as a mechanism of implementing MSism on the Internet.

Many submissions referred to issues related to the management of critical internet resources (CIRs), the role of ICANN and US oversight of IANA functions. A total of 11 submissions referred to or specified governance processes with respect to technical functions and issues related to critical resources with civil society (5) and academia (3) contributing the most. In an area that perhaps has the most direct relevance to their work, the technical community was conspicuous with just two submissions making any concrete recommendations. The European Commission was the only governmental organisation that addressed this issue, recommending an expansion of the role of IGF. There were no specific recommendations from the private sector.

The suggestions on oversight and decision making mechanism were most conflicted for this category of Internet functions and included:

setting up a technical advisory group, positioned within a new intergovernmental body World Internet Organization (WIO) framework;
splitting IANA functions into protocol parameters, that Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) will be responsible for and IP address-related functions retained by ICANN
expanding the role of IGF, possibly creating an IGF Secretariat
expanding the role of Government Advisory Committee (GAC) to mainstream government representatives participation within supporting organisations, in particular the Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNRO)
expanding the role of private sector
expanding the role of ICANN with multistakeholder values
expanding the role of all stakeholders
implementing changes that do not necessarily require legislative acts or similar hard law approaches and implementation does not necessitate international treaties or intergovernmental structures
establishing a new non-profit corporation DNS Authority (DNSA) combining the IANA Functions and the Root Zone Maintainer roles in
improving transparency and accountability of current bodies managing CIRs

16 submissions referred to issues related to policy development and implementation including developmental aspects, capacity building, bridging digital divide and human rights. All submissions called for a reform or further definition of MSism and included recommendations from civil society (5), academia (4), technical community (2), governments (2), private sector (1) and Other (2). All stakeholder groups across regions, unanimously agreed that all stakeholders within their respective role should have a role in decision making and within public policy functions. There was however, no broad consensus on the best way to achieve this.

Specific recommendations and views captured on who should be involved in policy related decision making and what possible frameworks could be developed included:

improving existing intergovernmental organizations
creating Internet Ad Hoc Group
modularization of ICANN’s functions
creating a stewardship group IETF, ICANN and the RIRs
creating an independent IANA as an International NGO with host country agreements governed by its MOUs-defined by the IANA Stewardship Group prior to the signing of MOUs with IANA Partners
creating a 'new body' to develop international level public policies in concerned areas; seek appropriate harmonization of national level policies; and facilitate required treaties, conventions and agreements
responsibility of the definition of these policies rests within the States as an inalienable right
continuity of bottom-up oversight enables a better view of an organization and thus better accountability as government oversight will destroy multistakeholder character
evolving global governance norms that separate DNS maintenance from policies on TLDs, as well as public policies that intersect with nations’ rights to make them
policy makers incrementally develop formal and informal relationships
dealing with conflict of interest and ensuring pluralism
full multi-stakeholder framework including possible establishment of Working Groups where all parties concerned are represented

18 submissions referred to issues related to the implementation of standards including issues relating to the use of the Internet including jurisdiction, law, legislation, spam, network security and cybercrime. All submissions called for a reform or further definition of MSism values and included recommendations from civil society (8), academia (3), technical community (3), governments (2), private sector (1) and other (1). Stakeholders from academia (5), civil society (3) and government (1) collectively called for the reform of ICANN guided by multistakeholder values, but did not specify how this reform would be achieved.

Specific recommendations on the improvements of institutional frameworks and arrangements for issues related to implementation of standards included:

establishment of double system of arbitrage/settlement placed under World Internet Forum (WIF) scrutiny and under the neutral oversight and arbitrage of the UN general secretariat
new legal instruments in establishing MS model need to be adopted
establishment of the Internet Technical Oversight and Advisory Board (ITOAB) replace the US government's current oversight role
multilateral frameworks with oversight role of governments

In summation, the classification of Internet functions discussed above, presents a very broad view of complex, dynamic and often, interrelated relationships amongst stakeholder groups. However, even within these very broad categories there are various interpretations of how MSism should evolve.

To come back to the very beginning of this post, NETmundial is an important step towards a global policy framework for Internet governance. This is the first meeting outside formal processes and it is difficult to know what to expect, partly as the expectations are not clear and range widely across stakeholders. Whatever the outcome, NETmundial's real contribution to Internet Governance has been sparking anew, the discourse on multistakeholderism and its application on the Internet through the creation of a spontaneous order amongst diverse actors and providing a common platform for divergent views to come together.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/net-mundial-roadmap-defining-roles-of-stakeholders-in-multistakeholderism

NETmundial Day 2

achal — 2014-04-25T04:58:26Z

Fadi Chehade, the ICANN boss, closed NETmundial 2014 with these words "In Africa we say if you want to go first, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together." He should have added: And if you want to go nowhere, go multi-stakeholder.

For all the talk of an inclusive global meeting, there was exactly one governmental submission from the African continent, and it was from Tunisia; and the overall rate of submissions from Africa and West Asia were generally very low.

The outcome document perfectly reflects the gloss that the "multi-stakeholder" model was designed to achieve: an outcome that is celebrated by businesses (and by all embedded institutions like ICANN) for being harmless, met with relief by governments for not upsetting the status quo, all of it lit up in the holy glow of "consensus" from civil society.

Of course there was no consensus. Civil society groups who organised on Day 0 put up their position: the shocking omission of a strong case for net neutrality, ambiguous language on surveillance, weak defences of free expression and privacy. All valid points. But it's striking that civil society takes such a pliant position towards authority: other than exactly two spirited protests (one against the data retention in Marco Civil, and the other against the NSA's mass surveillance program) there was no confrontation, no provocation, no passionate action that would give civil society the force it needs to win. If we were to compare this to other international struggles, the gay rights battle, or its successor, the AIDS medicines movement, for instance - what a difference there is. People fought to crush with powerful, forceful action. Only after huge victories with public and media sympathy, and only after turning themselves into equals of the corporations and governments they were fighting, did they allow themselves to sit down at the table and negotiate nicely. Internet governance fora are marked by politeness and passivity, and perhaps - however sad - it's no wonder that the least powerful groups in these fora always come away disappointed.

It's also surprising that there is no language in the outcome document that explicitly addresses the censorious threat posed by the global expansion of a sovereign application of copyright, as seen most vividly in the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation in the United States. The outcome document has language that seems to more or less reflect the civil society proposal, and it's possible that a generous interpretation of the language could mean that it opposes the selective, restrictive and damaging application of what the intellectual property industries want to accomplish on the Internet. But it's puzzling that the language isn't stronger or more explicit, and even more puzzling that civil society doesn't seem to want to fight for such language.

This seems like an appropriate time to end the multi-stakeholder diaries. Hasn't the word been used enough? Here is one last instalment. We thank the kind folks who gave us their time.

Q: What does "multi-stakeholder" mean? What is "multi-stakeholderism"?

A large part of the discourse prior to the NETmundial conference has been centered around the issue of what is the best structural system to regulate a global network – this has commonly been portrayed as a choice between a multistakeholder system – which broadly speaking, aims to place ‘all stakeholders’ on equal footing – against multilateralism – a recognized concept in International law / the Comity of Nation States, where a nation state is recognized as the representative of its citizens, making decisions on their behalf and in their interests.

In our opinion, the issue is not about the dichotomy between multilateralism and multistakeholderism; it is about what functions or issues can legitimately be dealt with through each of the processes in terms of adequately protecting civil liberties and other public interest principles – including the appropriate enforcement of norms. For instance, how do you deal with something like cyber warfare without the consent of states? Similarly, how do we address regulatory issues such as determining (and possibly subsidizing) costs of access, or indeed to protect a right of a country against unilateral disconnection?

.....The crux of the matter rests in deciding which is the best governance ‘basket’ to include a particular issue within – taken from both a substantive and enforcement perspective. The challenge is trying to demarcate issues to ensure that each is dealt with effectively by placing it in an appropriate bucket. (The full post can be accessed here).
Rishab Bailey from the Society for Knowledge Commons (India)

If I would have signed the campaign http://wepromise.eu as a candidate to the European Parliament I would have made it an election promise to defend "the principle of multistakeholderism".

That means that I "support free, open, bottom-up, and multi-stakeholder models of coordinating the Internet resources and standards - names, numbers, addresses etc" and that I "support measures which seek to ensure the capacity of representative civil society to participate in multi-stakeholder forums." Further, I "oppose any attempts by corporate, governmental or intergovernmental agencies to take control of Internet governance."

My very rudimentary personal view is basically that it's a bad idea to institutionalise conflicting competences.
Erik Josefsson, Adviser on Internet policies for the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

And so it ends.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/net-mundial-day-2

Netizen's Guide to the Internet Governance Forum

praskrishna — 2011-09-26T08:59:57Z

The Internet Governance Forum is a multi-stakeholder forum where people from all over the world - from government, industry, the technical community and civil society - come together to discuss the Internet's future. The Sixth Annual meeting officially kicks off on Tuesday morning in Nairobi, Kenya. A number of pre-meetings will be held all day on Monday.

The IGF is set up for remote participation, so you do not need to be in Kenya physically to follow the discussions or to ask questions and make your views known. Before the start of each day, IGF staff will post remote participation links for each conference room so that you can participate remotely through the conference's WEBEX system. (Click here to see if your computer is compatible with their system.)

The Monday pre-meetings: Several interesting and important meetings will be held on Monday and four of them are open to everybody on the Internet. Two of them have made their schedules publicly available and promoted them:

The Association for Progressive Communications meeting on access as a right. (10am-6pm Kenya time). Why attend? Click here for the invitation flyer and click here for the full run-down of the day's discussions. Also see APC's briefing paper on priorities for this year's IGF and other short papers on key IGF discussion themes. The final panel of the day, a Roundtable on the State of Internet Rights (17:15-18:15 local time) will be held jointly with the next group. A guest blogger from APC will be reporting from the meeting here on GVA later this week.
Global Internet Governance Academic Network (Giganet) annual symposium. (also approximately 10am-6pm) Many of the papers or abstracts are available for download. See for instance Arresting the decline of multi-stakeholderism in Internet governance by Jeremy Malcolm; The legality of internet blackouts in times of crisis. An assessment at the intersection of human rights law, humanitarian law and internet governance principles by Matthias Ketteman; and Upholding online anonymity in Internet governance. Affordances, ethical frameworks, and regulatory practices by Robert Bodle.

The main conference: So many sessions, which ones to join? At any given time, several different meetings, workshops, and plenary sessions are held concurrently. The IGF organizers have posted the schedule as a rather unweildy Excel file here. Fortunately, other participants have taken the time to post the schedule in more digestible formats. The Diplo Foundation's e-Diplomacy project has an online list of sessions and schedule. The indefatigable Tim Davies has also created a social media page aggregating all tweets, blogs and photos posted by participants. The official hashtag, by the way, is #IGF11.

If you want to get involved with a global community of people working for Internet users' rights whose work extends throughout the year, be sure to join one or more of the “dynamic coalitions.” Examples include the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (meeting on Tuesday from 11-12:30 Kenya time) and the Freedom of Expression Coalition (Wednesday 4:30-6pm).

Many participating organizations have posted lists of the workshops they are organizing or participating in on their websites. Those interested in sessions related to activism, human rights and free expression on the Internet may want to check out session listings by the APC (scroll down below the jump), the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Global Network Initiative, and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, among others.

Kieren McCarthy of dot-nxt has also created a handy practical guide to this year's IGF, with his top session picks. He observes that while the opening session on Tuesday afternoon has “far, far too many speakers,” it will nonetheless be interesting “given all that is happening in the Internet governance world.” No doubt, speeches from Hamadoun Toure (ITU), Neelie Kroes (EC), Janis Karklins (UNESCO), Larry Strickling (US), Rod Beckstrom (ICANN) and Vint Cerf (Google) not be uniform in their visions for the Internet's future.

For those interested in truly doing their homework on the IGF and the current global impasse over Internet governance, see Jeremy Malcolm's post on IGF Watch: Where to develop Internet policy: ITU, G8, OECD or an empowered IGF? Also see his previous posts on twists and turns of the IGF's five-year history.

Written by Rebecca MacKinnon, the story was published in Global Voices Advocacy on 26 September 2011. The original can be read here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/netizen-guide-to-igf

Netizen Report: Transparency Edition

praskrishna — 2011-11-09T04:31:48Z

Global Voices Online has carried a feature story, "Netizen Report: Transparency Edition". We at CIS had filed an RTI application about website blocking. This is reflected in this article by Rebecca MacKinnon which was posted online on 7 November 2011.

Here at Global Voices Advocacy we believe that transparency by governments and companies about how and when censorship and surveillance takes place is a base-line requirement if the Internet is ever to be governed in a manner that is compatible with free expression, dissent, and citizens' right to organize and assemble. Thus we applaud Google's latest Transparency Report - the company's fourth such report detailing government requests for user data and content removal, as well as the traffic flows (or lack thereof) to Google webistes across the world since July 2009. The new data for January-June 2011 contains more detail than in the past, including data on how Google responded to the requests and whether they were honored. The data comes with a list of caveats including that automated content removal is not logged and that some data cannot be released due to local law. Nonetheless, we hope that Google's data will provide an interesting snap shot of the state of Internet affairs and the data could be used to hold governments accountable to their censorship activities. We believe that if all Internet companies disclosed similar data, the world would be further on its way to being a better place. Many articles have been written analyzing the data. A few of them include:

TechPresident: Google Data Shows Government Internet Surveillance Far Outstrips Wiretap Requests
WIRED: U.S. Requests for Google User Data Spike 29 Percent in Six Months
Huffington Post:The 13 Countries That Request The Most User Data From Google
CNet: Google: Governments seek more about you than ever

Adding to the publicly available data about censorship around the world, the Open Net Initiative has released its research data on global Internet filtering, covering seventy-four countries.

Thuggery: Read the latest news on GVA about bloggers jailed in Egypt, Syria, and Kuwait and spread the word.

Surveillance: As GVA and others have recently reported, 13 Internet filtering devices produced by the California-based company Blue Coat have made their way to Syria. According to the Wall Street Journal, Blue Coat executives say that the company will not sell the devices to countries that are under embargo by the United States, and that the devices found in Syria had been sold to a dealer who claimed they were destined for Iraq.

The Wall Street Journal has had several other items related to the role of companies in global surveillance, including a report on how China's Huawei has been peddling its mobile phone tracking and censoring equipment to Iran.

In India, Research in Motion has set up a facility in Mumbai to help the Indian government carry out lawful surveillance of its BlackBerry services including the messenger chat service, but the WSJ reports that India still has no method to intercept and decode BlackBerry enterprise email.

In Russia, bloggers' influence has apparently made the Kremlin nervous. Reporters Without Borders has condemned plans by the Russian government to deploy new software to track “extremist” content on the web, highlighting concerns about an over-broad definition of “extremist,” and the arbitrary and disproportionate approach to punishment and sanctions against websites. For more on the Russian Internet be sure to follow Global Voices' Runet Echo Project.

Moving on the United States, The Guardian has a fascinating report on the super-secret Intelligence Support Systems World Americas conference held recently in Washington DC, at which surveillance professionals shared the latest surveillance technologies and innovations that they don't want you to know about. Hacktivist and friend of GVA Jacob Appelbaum managed to get in, but was thrown out.

On a more positive note in the United States, the Washington Post reports that since 2009 many Internet companies have been more assertive about challenging “national security letters” from the FBI requesting information about users.

The Guardian reports that Civil liberties and privacy groups in the United Kingdom have raised concerns about the deployment by the London Metropolitan Police of a "covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area."

Techdirt reports on the European Union's desire to have a “black box' built in to operating systems that would store a record of all of the computer's internet usage. The EU argues that this ability would be useful in cracking down on child pornography. The system that the EU is looking at as a possible candidate for role of ‘black box' is called LogBox. The developer of LogBox claims that the device is for preserving the freedoms and privacy of internet users, although Techdirt points out the fact that this device does little to ‘protect' the privacy of online users, it in fact, would make anonymous actions on the internet much more difficult and would provide governments and law enforcement a huge set of data on every internet user.

Censorship: The chief executives of China's 39 top Internet, telecom, and computer companies have agreed to “strengthen self-control, self-restraint and strict self-discipline” in order to “contain the tendency of spreading online rumours, pornography, fraud and other illegal, harmful information on the internet.” The move comes amidst a broader crackdown on the Internet and social media.

In India, the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society submitted a right to information request to the government's Department of Information Technology, asking for more information about website blocking. Based on DIT's response the Centre observes that “The data provided by the government seemingly conflicts with the data released by the likes of Google." Their conclusion: "Either the DIT is not providing us all the relevant information on blocking, or is not following the law."

Courts in Belgium and Finland have ordered ISPs to block the Pirate Bay.

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has recently proposed a bill aimed at protecting intellectual property online that some critics describe as the beginning of a "Great Firewall of America". The Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have detailed the bill's problems, including lack of due process, near certainty of over-blocking and abuse, imposition of excessive liability on Internet intermediaries, global legitimization of DNS censorship and potential fragmentation of the Internet, among other things. It is considered even worse than its evil fraternal twin in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act which is also opposed by many tech companies and non-profit groups. Despite such opposition, the bill draws relatively broad support from lawmakers.

Net Neutrality: South African technology journalist Jan Vermeulen ran the M-Lab's Glasnost Test on South African ISP's to see whether their stated bandwith shaping policies match up with reality.

The growth of bandwidth intensive internet applications in South Korea has made Net Neutrality an important issue there. South Korean ISP's are reporting that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain neutral practices with content. The three largest telecommunications companies in Korea are worried by the rise of Smart TV's, which use Internet connections as opposed to traditional cable or satellite links to provide content. The ISP's want to charge companies varying amounts depending on the type and amount of content sent.

Internet Governance: ICANN held its 42nd public meeting in Dakar, Senegal late last month. Wendy Seltzer reported here on GVA why the seemingly arcane debates about domain name registrar accreditation is important. Konstantinos Komaitis, an active member of ICANN's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (Global Voices is also a member), describes the struggle that is taking place took place between governments and other ICANN stakeholders over whether some stakeholders are more equal than others within ICANN's multi-stakeholder governance model. Kieren McCarthy at dotNext also has an in-depth report and analysis on the clash between governments and registrars over law enforcement regarding domain names. Over at the Internet Governance Project Milton Mueller takes an in-depth look at the politics surrounding the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group and related constituencies, and the fight for civil society representation at ICANN.

India has published a formal proposal to put the UN in charge of overseeing Internet governance. For different analyses by three Internet governance wonks see Kieren McCarthy, Milton Mueller, and Jeremy Malcolm.

The International Telecommunications Union has approved a new protocol for relaying biometric information. The protocol is intended to enable doctors to communicate data about patients safely and is geared towards developing countries where the access to medical care in rural areas is poor and communication between clinics and doctors would provide better patient care. You can read the full press release here.

Netizen Power: Lee Yoo Eun at Global Voices reports that the October 26th Seoul mayoral election was swayed by the use of twitter. Read the full article here.

African entrepreneur Herman Chinery-Hesse gave a speech at the Tech 4 Africa conference highlighting what the rise of Internet Communication Technologies has done for Africa. A synopsis of his talk can be found on the Tech4Africa.

Sovereigns of Cyberspace: Facebook has introduced a new “guardian angel” feature to help users restore locked accounts.

The 13th Austrian Big Brother Awards were held on October 25th in Vienna. “Winners” included the CEO of Telekom Austria, the Ministers of Interior and Justice, and the head of the anti-terror police unit. Mark Zuckerberg received the “lifelong menace” award and a “Defender of Liberty” award went to the creators of the “Europe versus Facebook” campaign.

The Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference was held in San Francisco in late October (see GVA's report, Jillian York's report, and The Economist's) and released the Silicon Valley Standard, a set of 15 principles that technology companies should follow in order to protect human rights.

China's Weibo plans to launch an English version in partnership with Flipboard and Instagram. Will they agree to follow the Silicon Valley Standard?

Security Alert: The security researcher Barnaby Jack has found it possible to conduct a blind attack on insulin pumps. While there have been no reports of anyone being harmed by such an attack, this highlights how far behind security technologies are when it comes to wireless devices that are embedded in critical infrastructure and medicine.

Publications: Digital Cameras Reduce Electoral Corruption by Michael Callen and James Long.

Events: Check out this handy calendar of Internet-related events around the world, courtesy of Internews!

Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace, by the OpenNet Initiative, to be officially released in December. Part I of the book (including a chapter by yours truly) can be read online or downloaded here.

Note: This report was compiled with considerable help from Ted Eby and Weiping Li.

Read the original article here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/netizen-report

Netizen Report: The EU Wrestles With Facebook Over Privacy

praskrishna — 2016-02-27T07:39:01Z

Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world.

The blog post published in Global Voices on February 11, 2016 quotes Pranesh Prakash and Subhashish Panigrahi.

In the latest development in the negotiations between the United States and European Union over data transfer rules, Reuters reports France’s data protection authority gave Facebook three months to stop tracking non-users’ Web activity without their consent, and ordered Facebook to cease some transfers of personal data to the United States or face fines. In response, Facebook asserted it does not use the now-defunct Safe Harbor agreement to move data to the United States and instead has set up alternative legal structures to keep its data transfers in line with EU law. Despite this, Facebook was forced last year to stop tracking Belgian non-users after it was taken to court by the Belgian regulator. Last week, the United States and European Union agreed upon a new legal framework to replace Safe Harbor, but as it is not yet operational, several European data protection authorities are still deciding whether data transfers should be restricted.

Big Blow for Facebook’s Free Basics

Indian regulators officially banned “differential pricing”or discriminatory tariffs placed on data services depending on their content. This means that Internet users in India are guaranteed equal access to any website they want, regardless of how they connect to the Internet, ays Global Voices’ Subhashish Panigrahi. The decision is a particular blow to Facebook’s Free Basics application, which uses differential pricing mechanisms to make accessing Facebook, WhatsApp and a limited number of other websites free to users who do not pay for mobile data plans. Though Facebook promotes the program as a means to increasing digital access, it has come under backlash in India and a number of other countries. Internet policy expert Pranesh Prakash emphasizedthat though the ruling is a win for open access in India, these efforts must continue until India is truly and equally connected.

Google’s new scheme to combat online extremism

In an effort to combat groups like ISIS that recruit online, Google has launched apilot schemeto point users who search for extremist terms toward anti-radicalization links. It announced the new effort on February 2 at a meeting with the U.K. Home Affairs Select Committee on Countering Extremism. Representatives of Twitter and Facebook were also challenged by members of Parliament on their role in combatting the spread of terrorist material. Twitter announcedthat it had suspended 125,000 accounts associated with extremism since mid-2015 in response to pressure from the US government. However, as the New York Times’ Mike Isaac notes, “these companies must walk a fine line between bearing responsibility for their platforms and avoiding becoming the arbiter of what constitutes free speech.”

What’s going to happen to Ukraine’s database of ‘explicit content’?

The Ukrainian censorship body, National Expert Commission for Protection of Public Morality, dissolved last year, but its legacy lives on as a database of “explicit content” that no one in the government seems to know what to do with. The database includes a sizeable amount of content “containing elements of sexual nature and erotica,” but the commission was also well known for its attempt to ban Spongebob Squarepants, Shrek, and Teletubbies. Users have suggested the team responsible for dissolving the commission make the content more widely available, so they can see where taxpayers’ money went.

How to protect yourself from government hacking

Hacking human rights workers, journalists, and NGOs has become common practice for governments around the world, according to Amnesty International’s Morgan Marquis-Boire and Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Eva Galperin. In a post for Amnesty International, the two provide a brief history of government hacking and give suggestions for NGOs and human rights organizations to protect themselves.

Taking on Russia’s invasive surveillance

Two Russian Internet service providers are taking the Federal Security Service to court to challenge the surveillance system employed by Russian federal police to spy on Internet use. ISPs play a critical role in making surveillance possible, by installing expensive equipment that provides police access—making this case a significant affront to Russia’s invasive surveillance apparatus.

Telegram in Iran

Messaging app Telegram’s growing influence is being characterized as a major factor in the dissemination and spread of information leading up to Iran’s Feb. 26 parliamentary elections, but the platform’s susceptibility to state manipulation is also becoming more apparent. After the arrest of former BBC journalist Bahman Doroshafaei, the government took over his Telegram account and started to message his contacts. Some believe this was an effort to extract sensitive information or to distribute spyware. Fatemeh Shams, a friend of Doroshafaei, posted the following warning to her Facebook account:

Someone has been talking to me for two hours from Bahman's hacked Telegram account and now is chatting with my friends with my account..If anyone messaged you on Telegram [from my account] please ignore it. I've lost access to my account.

Mahsa Alimardani, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Hae-in Lim and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/global-voices-february-11-2016-netizen-report

Net subs grow significantly but public Wi-Fi idea flayed

praskrishna — 2016-11-21T13:55:18Z

Even as internet subscribers are growing significantly across Indian states, TRAI's idea of public Wi-Fi has been flayed by stakeholders.

This was published by Indian Television on November 21, 2016. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of internet subscribers in India at 29.47 million, followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Karnataka in that order, according to government data. At the end of March 2016, India had a total of 342.65 million subscribers. BharatNet project meantime plans to connect all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country through broadband.

Delhi had registered 20.59 million internet users, while Kolkata and Mumbai recorded 9.26 million and 15.65 million, respectively.

Tamil Nadu recorded 28.01 million subscribers, while the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively registered 24.87 million and 22.63 million. Himachal Pradesh saw the lowest number of subscribers at 3.02 million.

Of the over 342 million subscribers, over 67 per cent are from urban India. At the end of FY16, the rural internet subscriber base stood at 111.94 million. Tamil Nadu recorder the highest number of urban subscribers at 21.16 million, while UP (East) telecom circle is ahead in terms of rural internet customer base at 11.21 million.

Public Wi-Fi condemned

Telecom stakeholders recommending an open and cheap internet have raised concerns over privacy and regulatory hurdles following the release of TRAI's consultation paper on public Wi-Fi.

The Internet Freedom Foundation co-founder Aravind Ravi Sulekha was apprehensive that the proposed regulations could lead to invasion of privacy and interfere with the freedom of hotspot providers to operate freely. The proposals may turn out to be regressive, Sulekha said.

TRAI proposed hotspot providers would have to register with the government and users could access hotspots only after paying using a service tied to their Aadhaar number.

Centre for Internet and Society policy director Pranesh Prakash said that TRAI solution was a classic example of over-regulation and centralism. It turns out that TARI was unclear about the problem to be solved, he added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/news/indian-television-november-21-2016-net-subs-grow-significantly-but-public-wifi-idea-delayed

Net neutrality: Trai receives over 2 lakh mails

praskrishna — 2015-05-08T02:11:15Z

The idea of an open internet can bring together not just worried netizens but politicians of all hues.

The article by Sandhya Soman and Jayanta Deka was published in the Times of India on April 14, 2015. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

On a day when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India got more than 2 lakh emails by Monday afternoon from Indian netizens annoyed by possible efforts to make internet an unequal space, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and DMK leader MK Stalin also defended net neutrality.

While Kejriwal tweeted that "India MUST debate #NetNeutrality. I support #Saveinternet campaign www.savetheinternet.in", Stalin in his statement said that any move to allow telecom companies to give preferential access to websites would go against the concept of equality.

Telecom minister Ravishankar Prasad, meanwhile, told media that a special DoT panel will come out with its report on net neutrality in May.

The latest fight for net neutrality — the idea that all traffic is treated equally by internet service providers — gained momentum after Trai put up a consultation paper on the topic asking users to give their views before April 24. The paper was in response to demands from telecom companies seeking to splice up internet into various packages so they could charge users based on what websites and services they were using. The companies' specific grouse is against services like Skype, Whatsapp and Viber, which they claim are eating into their profits.

"Net neutrality is about ensuring that ISPs don't end up harming universal access, effective competition and consumer benefit," says Pranesh Prakash, policy director, Centre for Internet and Society. This means that what Airtel was trying to do in December by preventing its customers from accessing WhatsApp, Skype and Viber without paying extra shouldn't be permitted, Prakash says.

One of the worst case scenarios could be the murder of innovation, says Srinivasan Ramani, 'director, National Centre for Software Technology (now, part of C-DAC).

"New ways of doing things are disruptive — Voice over Internet Protocol demonstrated how inexpensive voice calls could be. Video calls over the internet demonstrate what the old telephone technology could not do in a cost-effective manner, can now be done with ease," Ramani says. If ISPs get greater control over the internet they may end up killing the golden goose, he says.

Neutrality of the internet is essential to a wide variety of users, from bloggers, entrepreneurs and to students. "A non-neutral internet is like offering a separate driving lane to people who own a Ferrari, Mercedes or any other luxury vehicle," says Harsh Agrawal, a professional blogger atshoutmeloud.com. He is clear that he can't pay telecom operators to offer better speeds to his blog. "But what if one of my competitors can afford to pay for preferential treatment for his website? It could be a huge loss to me," Agrawal says.

E-commerce startup-founder Catherine Dohling has the same fear. "We want our website to be accessed by anyone who is interested in our products and this should not be governed by which telecom provider a person buys data from," says Dohling, co-founder of TheNorthEastStore.com.

Activists like Lobsang Tseten, who relies on digital media to reach out to people, fear that if there is no net neutrality, it could mean that a huge chunk of the NGO's grassroots base could be taken away unless users pay. "This is a very underhand way of stopping people from accessing certain websites and products," says Tseten, Asia regional coordinator of International Tibet Network.

With many biggies like Flipkart considering Airtel's Zero plan, which aims to offer free consumer browsing for such companies that sign up with the telco, start-up enthusiasts are also troubled. "An internet that is non-neutral would be a huge set-back for people like me who want to create a tech start-up. We would have to factor in a good sum of money for tie-ups with ISPs," says Rahul Kumar, an IIT-Kanpur student.

However, some activists say that some nuances of what is net neutrality are getting lost as the campaign gathers steam. On Monday, several angry netizens tweeted about uninstalling Flipkart's app and actively working to get it down voted. "What we need are regulations that ensure access, competition and benefit consumers instead of proposing specific outcomes or solutions," says Prakash.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-april-14-2015-sandhya-soman-and-jayanta-deka-net-neutrality-trai-receives-over-two-lakh-mails

Net Neutrality: The argument continues

praskrishna — 2015-05-09T11:35:23Z

Opposing camps pitch their views on what zero rating and differential access to the internet would mean in India.

The interview was published by Forbes India magazine on April 29, 2015. Pranesh Prakash gave his inputs.

The debate on net neutrality in India is playing out on the internet, social media, television and newspapers. On one side, there are telecom service providers who believe in services such as zero rating and sponsor-enabled free access to the internet for consumers; on the other, there are proponents of free and fair access to the internet who consider variable access as a violation of the principles of net neutrality.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has launched a consultation paper, inviting views from the public to analyse the implications of the growth of internet services, apps, over-the-top services (OTTs) and consider changes required in the current regulatory framework.

To get both sides of the argument, Forbes India spoke to Rajan Mathews, director general at the Cellular Operators Association of India, and Pranesh Prakash, policy director at The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based, non-profit, research and policy advocacy.

Q. How are zero rating and net neutrality linked? And if they are separate issues, what differentiates them?
Rajan Mathews: Zero rating and net neutrality are two separate issues. Net neutrality is about not denying access, and about the absence of unreasonable differentiation on the part of network operators in transmitting internet traffic. Zero rating is when operators subsidise tariffs as a result of commercial arrangements with application providers who do not discriminate against the customer, but provide a benefit. Zero rating is not a net neutrality issue since access to all content and applications remains open. Such arrangements increase social welfare by transferring the cost of internet access from consumers to content providers. If a content provider deems its revenues to be substantial and wishes to engage in distribution arrangements with last-mile access providers to subsidise access to its services, it should be allowed to do so. Zero rating should be the customer’s choice.

Pranesh Prakash: The issues of net neutrality and zero rating are intrinsically linked. Zero rating is the practice of not counting certain traffic towards a subscriber’s regular internet usage. The motivations for zero rating are many. Unbundling is one. For example, a consumer wishes to use a WhatsApp pack as opposed to accessing WhatsApp through the regular internet pack. Self-interest is another: Showcase the internet’s value through cheap or free packs of certain internet services so that customers graduate to higher data packages.

All forms of zero rating—zero-priced, fixed-priced, subscriber-paid or internet service provider (ISP)-paid, content-based or content provider-based—have one thing in common: They are instances of discrimination on the network. This links it to net neutrality, which, at its core, is a question about discrimination by ISPs.

We shouldn’t only be focussed on the existing models of zero rating while regulating it, but also on the models that may emerge in the future.

Q. Zero rating is seen as an attempt to give internet access to millions of Indians who can’t afford an internet connection. Is there a different, but net-neutral, way to do this?
Mathews: Zero rating is [offered] in the nature of a subsidy, which is prevalent and practiced in all forms of businesses. For example, MS Office is available at different rates to different consumers such as homes and businesses, students and enterprises. It is for the consumer to choose which version to buy. The same should be applicable to telecom services as well.

Prakash: Just because something provides access to the bottom of the pyramid doesn’t make it something we should have. For example, predatory pricing is something that might benefit all subscribers in the short term but, over time, it harms the market, competition and consumers. Suppose all ISPs are mandated to provide internet for free to everyone; in the short run, everyone will get free internet but it’s not a sustainable business practice for ISPs. If free internet can be sustainably provided, that’s not harmful. The current debate is to evaluate if we can ensure a method where we can have competition while providing access to the bottom of the pyramid.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/forbes-india-april-29-2015-deepak-ajwani-debojyoti-ghosh-net-neutrality-the-argument-continues

Net neutrality: Net activism packs a punch

praskrishna — 2015-05-09T09:02:03Z

For the first time in the history of internet campaigns in India, a protest movement has successfully changed the course of a debate without having to take to the streets. The net neutrality movement is being fought almost totally in the virtual world. Hashtag activism isn't new in India. In recent times, several big campaigns have been bolstered by the internet which helped mobilize mass support and kept people constantly updated on events. Pink Chaddi, Jan Lokpal and the Nirbhaya movements were some examples of successful on-the-ground campaigns that were galvanized by social media. But they still needed public action — dharnas, candlelight vigils and actual pink undies — to make a difference.

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on April 19, 2015. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.

But the ongoing battle for internet freedom has proved that clicktivism isn't just about passive engagement with a cause. While it's all too easy to 'like' a cause, leading to what David Carr describes as "favoriting fatigue" in an article in the New York Times, some clicks can count in the real world.

It all started when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) posted a vaguely worded and complicated discussion paper on net neutrality and called for public responses to it. "Clearly, many people understood that some of the proposals put forward by Trai in its paper threatened the internet as they knew it," says Anja Kovacs, who directs the Internet Democracy Project and has closely followed online activism in India.

Soon, an unlikely collective of techies, lawyers, journalists and even stand-up comics had banded together. Some of them — such as tech entrepreneur Kiran Jonnalagadda and journalist Nikhil Pahwa — had been writing and tweeting about the issue for a while but the Trai paper galvanized them. "I dropped everything and asked for help. Kiran, (lawyers) Apar Gupta amd Raman Chima, Sandeep Pillai, standup group All India Bakchod and several Reddit India users (some of whom remain anonymous), started getting involved," says Pahwa, who is the founder of Medianama. The only common factor was their love for internet and an acute worry what this policy consultation might do to destroy its open and equal nature.

Though scattered across India, once they came together online, this 'apolitical collective' was able to rope in engineers, developers, open source activists, entrepreneurs, policy experts, lawyers and journalists as volunteers.

The best way to counter propaganda and opposition was to get people involved. An abridged version of the voluminous Trai paper was posted online, and a FAQ section created on a public Google Doc. "Many came forward to answer the questions and that exercise helped create an understanding of the situation," explains Pahwa. By the time, Jonnalagadda and a few other developers set up the savetheinternet.in website by April 1, there was enough information and data points. Lawyers Gupta and Chima had also decoded the legalese and prepared cogent answers to Trai's 20 questions. This was turned into a ready-to-use email template for users to hit 'send'.

And send they did. The flood of emails to the Trai inbox number is already 803,723 and counting. The results of the social media backlash are evident — with e-commerce retailer Flipkart pulling out of Airtel Zero and several websites backing out of Facebook and Reliance's internet.org. "I was hoping to get around 15,000 responses to counter, say, 15 from the telecom lobby. Now, people make fun of me because I said that," laughs Pahwa. In this case, what also struck a chord was the idea of a bunch of young guys using tech to take on mismanagement by the older generation and corporate greed, says entrepreneur Mahesh Murthy. "We were telling them we like things on the internet as they are now."

But it is hard to sustain online outrage without an action plan, relentless groundwork and some comic warfare. So, when the contentious paper came out on March 27, the website was followed by AIB's punchy video that decoded the concept and took irreverent potshots at those who wanted to limit access while urging people to write to Trai. A lot of the lessons for the campaign came from the US where a John Oliver video turned the tide in the net neutrality debate. "We had seen that several people don't take internet petitions seriously. Also, we wanted to follow the proper legal course in this issue and not hold dharnas," says Jonnalagadda.

It is also important for campaigns to result in doable action. As Kovacs points out, savetheinternet.in and netneutrality. in gave users practical tools to respond before the April 24 deadline. The team also kept clarifying doubts and complex concepts on social media and also had an AMA (ask me anything) chat on Scrollback on Saturday while the 'other side' stuck to big words and jargon.

Of course, like every movement, this one too has attracted criticism. The proneutrality band has been branded as socialist and utopian and there were intense arguments amongst supporters. "Disagreements and arguments are not unique to the activism online," says Pranesh Prakash, policy director at Centre for Internet and Society.

Earlier in the debate, Prakash had said he'd received strong pushback from friends and allies when he spoke about the possible benefits of non-competitive zero rating, an example would be allowing companies to offer free access to their sites and apps via an arrangement with a telecom company — if effective competition exists. Airtel Zero and Reliance's Internet.org claim to do the same though most supporters remain critical. Says Prakash: "There might've been differences. But the fact that a lot of people are thinking about effects of 'free', and comparing it to predatory pricing shows that #savetheinternet is one of the better examples of engaged activism."

Online campaigns have previously also successfully mobilized people to get involved in issues they do not know much about, says author Nilanajana Roy, who is an influential voice on Twitter. The J&K flood relief efforts last year started on Twitter but got volunteers moving on the ground, she says. "People don't always realize what they care strongly about so, despite the risk of compassion fatigue or armchair volunteerism, it's worth having some online activism," says Roy.

Meanwhile, those behind the savetheinternet campaign are struggling with their new-found identity as "activists". "I think of myself as a venture capitalist and marketing consultant, not a khadi kurta-jholawala from JNU," says Mahesh Murthy, among those who strongly support the movement.

And at the end of the day, most of these activists would like to go back to their cubicles, free to browse or start a business. But not before they've tried to keep the internet open.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-sandhya-soman-april-19-2015-net-neutrality-net-activism-packs-a-punch

Net Neutrality, Free Speech and the Indian Constitution – III: Conceptions of Free Speech and Democracy

gautam — 2014-05-27T10:21:24Z

In this 3 part series, Gautam Bhatia explores the concept of net neutrality in the context of Indian law and the Indian Constitution.

In the modern State, effective exercise of free speech rights is increasingly dependent upon an infrastructure that includes newspapers, television and the internet. Access to a significant part of this infrastructure is determined by money. Consequently, if what we value about free speech is the ability to communicate one’s message to a non-trivial audience, financial resources influence both who can speak and, consequently, what is spoken. The nature of the public discourse – what information and what ideas circulate in the public sphere – is contingent upon a distribution of resources that is arguably unjust and certainly unequal.

There are two opposing theories about how we should understand the right to free speech in this context. Call the first one of these the libertarian conception of free speech. The libertarian conception takes as given the existing distribution of income and resources, and consequently, the unequal speaking power that that engenders. It prohibits any intervention designed to remedy the situation. The most famous summary of this vision was provided by the American Supreme Court, when it first struck down campaign finance regulations, in Buckley v. Valeo: “the concept that government may restrict the speech of some [in] order to enhance the relative voice of others is wholly foreign to the First Amendment.” This theory is part of the broader libertarian worldview, which would restrict government’s role in a polity to enforcing property and criminal law, and views any government-imposed restriction on what people can do within the existing structure of these laws as presumptively wrong.

We can tentatively label the second theory as the social-democratic theory of free speech. This theory focuses not so much on the individual speaker’s right not to be restricted in using their resources to speak as much as they want, but upon the collective interest in maintaining a public discourse that is open, inclusive and home to a multiplicity of diverse and antagonistic ideas and viewpoints. Often, in order to achieve this goal, governments regulate access to the infrastructure of speech so as to ensure that participation is not entirely skewed by inequality in resources. When this is done, it is often justified in the name of democracy: a functioning democracy, it is argued, requires a thriving public sphere that is not closed off to some or most persons.

Surprisingly, one of the most powerful judicial statements for this vision also comes from the United States. In Red Lion v. FCC, while upholding the “fairness doctrine”, which required broadcasting stations to cover “both sides” of a political issue, and provide a right of reply in case of personal attacks, the Supreme Court noted:

“[Free speech requires] preserv[ing] an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that market, whether it be by the Government itself or a private licensee… it is the right of the public to receive suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences which is crucial here.”

What of India? In the early days of the Supreme Court, it adopted something akin to the libertarian theory of free speech. In Sakal Papers v. Union of India, for example, it struck down certain newspaper regulations that the government was defending on grounds of opening up the market and allowing smaller players to compete, holding that Article 19(1)(a) – in language similar to what Buckley v. Valeo would hold, more than fifteen years later – did not permit the government to infringe the free speech rights of some in order to allow others to speak. The Court continued with this approach in its next major newspaper regulation case, Bennett Coleman v. Union of India, but this time, it had to contend with a strong dissent from Justice Mathew. After noting that “it is no use having a right to express your idea, unless you have got a medium for expressing it”, Justice Mathew went on to hold:

“What is, therefore, required is an interpretation of Article 19(1)(a) which focuses on the idea that restraining the hand of the government is quite useless in assuring free speech, if a restraint on access is effectively secured by private groups. A Constitutional prohibition against governmental restriction on the expression is effective only if the Constitution ensures an adequate opportunity for discussion… Any scheme of distribution of newsprint which would make the freedom of speech a reality by making it possible the dissemination of ideas as news with as many different facets and colours as possible would not violate the fundamental right of the freedom of speech of the petitioners. In other words, a scheme for distribution of a commodity like newsprint which will subserve the purpose of free flow of ideas to the market from as many different sources as possible would be a step to advance and enrich that freedom. If the scheme of distribution is calculated to prevent even an oligopoly ruling the market and thus check the tendency to monopoly in the market, that will not be open to any objection on the ground that the scheme involves a regulation of the press which would amount to an abridgment of the freedom of speech.”

In Justice Mathew’s view, therefore, freedom of speech is not only the speaker’s right (the libertarian view), but a complex balancing act between the listeners’ right to be exposed to a wide range of material, as well as the collective, societal right to have an open and inclusive public discourse, which can only be achieved by preventing the monopolization of the instruments, infrastructure and access-points of speech.

Over the years, the Court has moved away from the majority opinions in Sakal Papers and Bennett Coleman, and steadily come around to Justice Mathew’s view. This is particularly evident from two cases in the 1990s: in Union of India v. The Motion Picture Association, the Court upheld various provisions of the Cinematograph Act that imposed certain forms of compelled speech on moviemakers while exhibiting their movies, on the ground that “to earmark a small portion of time of this entertainment medium for the purpose of showing scientific, educational or documentary films, or for showing news films has to be looked at in this context of promoting dissemination of ideas, information and knowledge to the masses so that there may be an informed debate and decision making on public issues. Clearly, the impugned provisions are designed to further free speech and expression and not to curtail it.”

LIC v. Manubhai D. Shah is even more on point. In that case, the Court upheld a right of reply in an in-house magazine, “because fairness demanded that both view points were placed before the readers, however limited be their number, to enable them to draw their own conclusions and unreasonable because there was no logic or proper justification for refusing publication… the respondent’s fundamental right of speech and expression clearly entitled him to insist that his views on the subject should reach those who read the magazine so that they have a complete picture before them and not a one sided or distorted one…” This goes even further than Justice Mathew’s dissent in Bennett Coleman, and the opinion of the Court in Motion Picture Association, in holding that not merely is it permitted to structure the public sphere in an equal and inclusive manner, but that it is a requirement of Article 19(1)(a).

We can now bring the threads of the separate arguments in the three posts together. In the first post, we found that public law and constitutional obligations can be imposed upon private parties when they discharge public functions. In the second post, it was argued that the internet has replaced the park, the street and the public square as the quintessential forum for the circulation of speech. ISPs, in their role as gatekeepers, now play the role that government once did in controlling and keeping open these avenues of expression. Consequently, they can be subjected to public law free speech obligations. And lastly, we discussed how the constitutional conception of free speech in India, that the Court has gradually evolved over many years, is a social-democratic one, that requires the keeping open of a free and inclusive public sphere. And if there is one thing that fast-lanes over the internet threaten, it is certainly a free and inclusive (digital) public sphere. A combination of these arguments provides us with an arguable case for imposing obligations of net neutrality upon ISPs, even in the absence of a statutory or regulatory obligations, grounded within the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of speech and expression.

For the previous post, please see: http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/-neutrality-free-speech-and-the-indian-constitution-part-2.

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Gautam Bhatia — @gautambhatia88 on Twitter — is a graduate of the National Law School of India University (2011), and presently an LLM student at the Yale Law School. He blogs about the Indian Constitution at http://indconlawphil.wordpress.com. Here at CIS, he will be blogging on issues of online freedom of speech and expression.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/net-neutrality-free-speech-and-the-indian-constitution-2013-iii-conceptions-of-free-speech-and-democracy