February 24, 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNET GOVERNANCE
HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNET GOVERNANCE
Statement by the Civil Society Human Rights Caucus
23 February 2005, Geneva
Rikke Frank Joergensen from the Danish Institute for Human Rights On
behalf of the Human Rights Caucus
1. The civil society human rights caucus would like to express our
support to the open and inclusive approach, which has been taken so far
by the working group on Internet Governance. However, we wish to express
our concerns with the following issues.
2. Internet governance has important impact on human rights and
democracy. Whether defined broadly or narrowly, at least human right
issues of privacy, freedom of expression, access to information, and the
public domain of knowledge are at stake in Internet governance. The
effective enjoyment of freedom expression and the right to assembly is
tightly linked with the protection of privacy. In addition, the current
forum for domain name management is a private party, dominated by a
limited number of countries and based on a contract with a single
government. This lack of inclusion of especially developing countries
also applies to many Internet protocols and standard setting bodies. Any
decision resulting from WSIS on Internet governance must ensure that
future mechanisms are human rights compliant, both through their
composition and governing structures and through regular assessment of
their decisions.
3. The civil society human rights caucus is deeply concerned with the
tendency to address any Internet related aspect within the framework of
Internet governance. We recognize that a number of transnational issues
related to Internet lack a global space for political discussions and
agreement. However, discussions on issues such as privacy, freedom of
expression, prohibition against discrimination, access to information,
intellectual property, and illegal content, must be addressed within a
human rights framework. Internet governance must not result in a lawless
zone escaping international human rights protection. This is especially
important since, in the information society context, a number of human
rights are threatened.
4. We agreed to develop an information society based on human rights. As
reaffirmed in the Geneva Declaration of principles, the information
society should be based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the UN Charter, protecting and upholding the universality and the
indivisibility of all human rights, and their centrality to democracy,
the rule of law and to development. The protection of human right
standards is the first responsibility of governments. It is a state
responsibility to ensure that Internet governance mechanisms are
compliant with human right standards, that there are means to enforce
them, and that governments can be held accountable for human rights
violations, including before international courts. Holding governments
responsible and accountable for human rights protection does not exclude
the active participation of private parties and civil society; however
there must be clear divisions of responsibility.
5. An essential feature of Internet relates to its transnational nature.
International agreements have traditionally been based on the assumption
of territorial jurisdiction, whereas Internet is a global communication
forum. One of the results of the World Summit of the Information Society
in Geneva was a growing acceptance of the Internet as a global commons.
This implies effective access for all countries to participate in
decisions regarding enjoyment of this common good.
6. Internet governance mechanisms can and should further human rights by
ensuring an enabling environment that protects and enforces human rights
standards and democratic principles of inclusiveness, transparency,
checks and balances, and the rule of law.
Posted by shade at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2005
William (Bill) Drake on Internet Governance
Drake's bio page at CPSR lists his publications including those on internet governance...
Posted by shade at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
Internet Governance Meetings to be Webcast
From: governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org
[mailto:governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org] On Behalf Of Vittorio Bertola
Sent: February 10, 2005 6:02 PM
To: WSIS Plenary
Cc: WSIS Internet Governance Caucus
Subject: [governance] Webcast of the WGIG meetings
All,
This is to inform that the open sessions of the WGIG meetings next week
- that is, the morning of Monday 14th, and the full days of Tuesday 15th
and Wednesday 16th - will be webcast.
I am especially proud of the fact that the webcast will be provided
thanks to a cooperation between the WGIG Secretariat and Civil Society,
using only free software, and in two languages (English and French).
More details (including links, detailed instructions, and a long list of
thanks and acknowledgements) will follow in the next days.
But beware - this is still an experiment. It is the first time that a
webcast is attempted in the WGIG environment, so we cannot guarantee
that everything will work smoothly at the first try (also, we will only
have one hour to set everything up before the meetings begin!). However,
everyone is welcome to try and show that there is actual interest in
this kind of remote participation tools.
Please feel free to forward the notice to other caucuses and lists.
Thanks,
--
vb. [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<-----
http://bertola.eu.org/ <- Prima o poi...
Posted by shade at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2005
Who rules the internet?
- Who looks after the billions of web addresses that make up the internet?
- Why are web addresses only in English?
- Should countries manage their own country code names?
At the moment it seems that the internet is free, democratic and
unstoppable. But a closer look reveals controversies...
Some argue that the current system of internet governance keeps the web's
essential characteristic of freedom, and keeps the internet out of the
hands of governments. But others say the system isn't transparent or
accountable enough.
These critical issues will be debated in November 2005 at the World Summit
on the Information Society. Journalists are all too aware of the importance
of being able to freely access and exchange information. That's why the
media has a responsibility to analyse and report on the politics of the
internet.
For the full story, read:
Who rules the internet? Understanding ICANN
from the Panos Network
Posted by shade at 01:02 PM | Comments (3)
February 03, 2005
Internet Governance Resources
Image from Heftige Diskussionen über die künftige Internet-Verwaltungm, Heise Online, 21.09.2004
WSIS Online forum on internet governance
WSIS Working Papers on IG
WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance
ITU Internet Governance resources
WSIS Internet Governance documents
WSIS ICT Policy and Governance resources
Carlos Afonso, Member of WGIG, An opinion report on the Un Working Group, on the first meeting in Geneva November 2004, written Dec. 2004.
UN ICT Task Force. Internet Governance: The State of the Play, from the Global Forum on Internet Governance, UNICT Task Force, NY, 25-26 March 2004. Report from September 2004
Association for Progressive Communication Governance of the Internet
Sean O Siochru with the assistance of Sasha Constanza-Chock. Global Governance of Information and Communication Technologies: Implications for Transnational Civil Society Networking. Social Science Research Council.
See also reports from SSRC's Information Technology & International Cooperation Program.
Posted by shade at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)