A United Nations group is calling for greater globalization of the Internet, but there is disagreement over who should be in charge. Where countries like Brazil and the U.S. envision public-private partnerships to that end, China’s representatives have expressed a strong sense that governance should fall squarely within the purview of nation-states.
“Internet is the common home of humanity,” said Tian Lin, the head of China’s delegation, at the annual Internet Governance Forum held in Joao Pessoa, Brazil from Nov. 10-13. “Only with a contribution of all can we actually benefit the best. The government has the role of leadership. The government combines the problems and defines the policies towards its resolutions.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2572941
The primary functions of the Internet fall under the authority of the international, multi-stakeholder Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, based in Los Angeles. The Obama administration has been pushing to transfer the last vestiges of U.S. control to that body by next year, but China and Russia have never been comfortable with the multi-stakeholder arrangement.
Fu Cong, China’s deputy ambassador on nuclear disarmament, similarly voiced China’s objection in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 30. “From the developmental perspective, the Internet is owned and developed by all and should be shared and governed by all,” he said, according to a transcript provided by the Chinese mission to the U.N.
Russia has been a partner in that refrain, saying in written comments that the U.N. should “strengthen significantly the role of governments” in order to “ensure security” around the globe.
However, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff spoke in strident support of the multi-stakeholder model. “One Internet, submitted to intergovernmental arrangements that exclude the other stakeholders would not be democratic, nor … acceptable,” she told the assembly. The language was fairly strong, considering Brazil’s close ties to China and Russia.
The U.N.’s General Assembly will decide whether to reauthorize the group after a performance review scheduled to take place Dec. 15-16 at its headquarters in New York. Several countries, including the U.S., called for the U.N. to reauthorize the group.
“It is imperative that we continue multistakeholder venues like the IGF,” Larry Strickling, assistant secretary for communications and information at the Department of Commerce, said in remarks at the gathering. “They allow us as representatives of diverse stakeholder communities to come together to offer our unique perspectives and to work through our difficult problems and make a case for policies and practices that encourage the development of an open and innovative Internet.”
Constance Bommelaer, who was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon this year to serve on the IGF’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group, said the IGF plays an important role in bringing connectivity to the globe and preserving the openness of the Internet.
“To ensure an Internet for all, and to utilize its ability to advance development, it is important that we recognize and safeguard the properties that form the basis for its success,” Bommelaer told the Washington Examiner.
“Technology can only bring us so far — it is the principles of collaboration, openness, transparency and inclusiveness that has allowed the Internet to flourish. These principles are the core [of] the Internet’s digital DNA, and must guide the path forward to safeguard an open and sustainable Internet. Without them, we lose one of our most important tools as we strive for a sustainable development,” she added.
Strickling and Bommelaer were joined in that sentiment by representatives of the European Commission and several other countries, including China, Japan, and Turkey.
Internet equality
Remarks at the opening ceremony were given by Virgilio Almeida, the secretary for IT Policy in Brazil’s Ministry of Science, who complained about the inequality that the Internet has fostered. “The fruits of the evolution of Internet technologies are not fairly distributed,” Almeida said. He added that the “Internet of the future” should “reduce discrimination and economic and social inequalities” that “plague the developing world.”
The IGF was formed in 2006 as an “an impartial and independent platform” to discuss Internet issues, according to the U.N. The theme of this year’s meeting was titled, “Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development.”
Participants at the conference were tasked with looking at how the Internet could contribute to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, which were released this year. Among those goals are an end to world poverty and hunger, the development of world peace, and ensuring that “economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.”
“Information and Communications Technologies, as a powerful enabler of sustainable development, can make great contributions to the implementation of the goals and targets of the 2030 agenda,” said Wu Hongbo, the U.N.’s undersecretary general for economic and social affairs.
Almeida emphasized the impact he believed the Internet could have in solving the world’s many ills. “We know that the Internet of the future has to make a difference in health, education, employment, security of populations, worldwide, particularly in the developing world. We know that the Internet of the future needs to effectively contribute to the preservation of the environment,” he told the audience.
The IGF estimates that approximately 2,400 people from more than 116 countries attended this year’s meeting, which is the last to be held before the U.N. conducts a 10-year review of its performance next month. The group’s main stated function is to work toward connecting four billion people around the globe who do not have Internet.
