[Media Caucus] Internet Governance

Thu Feb 7 23:27:39 GMT 2008

Hence the bounce backs or the "lost in cyberspace--never a response" that
happens when an email address is wrong. 

La familia bien?

Best wishes,

Mark

Quoting Ricardo Trotti <rtrotti at sipiapa.org>:

> Muchas gracias Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: media-bounces at wsis-cs.org [mailto:media-bounces at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
> Of Mark Bench
> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 9:14 PM
> To: WSIS Media Caucus
> Subject: Re: [Media Caucus] Internet Governance
>
> Please note that Ronald Koven's new email is KovenRonald at aol.com. 
>
> Mark Bench,
> WPFC
>
> Quoting RSF INTERNET <internet at rsf.org>:
>
>> Hi,
>> I will put you on the list.I am sorry for what you missed until now. 
>> Best
>> Clothilde Le Coz
>> Le 4 févr. 08, à 12:00, KM Shrivastava a écrit :
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> This is just to check if this email still works. 
>>> Let me have all the news about you. 
>>> K.M.Shrivastava
>>> Professor
>>> Indian Institute of Mass Communication
>>> New Delhi-110067
>>>
>>> --- Ronald Koven <rkoven at compuserve.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> RE: Internet Governance
>>>>
>>>> WPFC Position Paper
>>>>
>>>> INTERNET GOVERNANCE: DEFEND FREE FLOW OF
>>>> INFORMATION
>>>>
>>>> It is becoming increasingly clear that
>>>> so-called  governance,  management
>>>> and administration of the Internet will be the
>>>> central issue in
>>>> preparations
>>>> for the second World Summit on the Information
>>>> Society. UN Secretary
>>>> General
>>>> Kofi Annan was mandated to direct a study
>>>> incorporating the views of
>>>> diverse
>>>> interests to be produced in time for WSIS II,
>>>> scheduled for Tunis, Tunisia,
>>>> in November 2005. 
>>>>
>>>> Civil society caucuses are already exchanging
>>>> message traffic on how to
>>>> determine their positions. Many of those groups
>>>> have histories of favoring
>>>> content controls.  Any proposals that threaten
>>>> press freedom on the
>>>> Internet, whatever the source, should be
>>>> rejected. 
>>>>
>>>> It was clear at WSIS I that there was a general
>>>> feeling among
>>>> member-states,
>>>> including US allies in the European Union, that
>>>>  Internet governance
>>>> should
>>>> not be the exclusive preserve of ICANN, the
>>>> Internet Corporation for
>>>> Assigned Names and Numbers, a California-based
>>>> company under contract to
>>>> the
>>>> US Commerce Dept. 
>>>>
>>>> ICANN has allocated Internet domain names on a
>>>> neutral, technical basis. It
>>>> has included industry, NGOs and international
>>>> representation in its
>>>> governing board and committees. 
>>>>
>>>> Governments which want to turn responsibility
>>>> over to an international
>>>> body,
>>>> presumably in the UN system, want to go beyond
>>>> technical matters to deal
>>>> with content questions, like pornography,
>>>> pedophilia, fraud, hate speech,
>>>> etc., in a way that ICANN has refrained from
>>>> doing. The Council of Europe s
>>>> Cybercrime Convention points the way
>>>> governments seem to be headed. The
>>>> United States signed that Convention, but it
>>>> has a separate protocol on
>>>> hate
>>>> speech that was designed to give the United
>>>> States the option not to sign
>>>> onto an element that would clearly violate the
>>>> US Constitution s First
>>>> Amendment. 
>>>>
>>>> Under the US-accepted compromise of a two-year
>>>> UN study to submit
>>>> recommendations to WSIS II, a process has begun
>>>> that will probably produce
>>>> a
>>>> UN proposal for modifications of the Internet
>>>> governance system. 
>>>>
>>>> A role for ICANN should be preserved as part of
>>>> any new system that may
>>>> emerge under UN auspices. Supporters of a free
>>>> and open Internet should be
>>>> able, with the backing of allies like the UN
>>>> Department of Information and
>>>> Communications and the UNESCO Secretariat, to
>>>> resist any changes that
>>>> threaten the free flow of information and ideas
>>>> on the Internet. 
>>>>
>>>>  Governance  must not be allowed to become a
>>>> code word for government
>>>> regulation of Internet content. The
>>>> intergovernmental debates over two
>>>> years
>>>>
>>>> of preparations for WSIS I amply demonstrated
>>>> that authoritarian
>>>> governments, which already censor their own
>>>> Internet traffic,
>>>>
>>>> seek content controls internationally and/or
>>>> legitimization of such
>>>> controls
>>>> nationally. The system must not be reorganized
>>>> to permit this on an
>>>> international level or encourage it at the
>>>> national level. 
>>>>
>>>> In fact, the Internet s growth, popularity and
>>>> integrity are based on its
>>>> content not being regulated by governments or
>>>> international organizations. 
>>>>
>>>> Bearing in mind that the Declaration adopted
>>>> December 12, 2003, at the
>>>> World
>>>> Summit in Geneva provided that  freedom of the
>>>> press and freedom of
>>>> information are essential to the Information
>>>> Society,  the following
>>>> principles should guide any changes in the
>>>> Internet governance system:
>>>>
>>>> 1. There should be no controls over content,
>>>> nor modifications of the
>>>> Internet s technical  architecture  that
>>>> facilitate or permit censorship of
>>>> news or editorial opinion. Nor should
>>>> self-regulation  be allowed to
>>>> become
>>>> a surrogate for governmental regulation of
>>>> content on the Internet. 
>>>>
>>>> 2. The system should explicitly commit itself
>>>> to respect and to implement
>>>> Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
>>>> Human Rights, and to the
>>>> fundamental principle of press freedom. 
>>>> National or international security
>>>> concerns must not be allowed to limit freedom
>>>> of expression, including news
>>>> and editorial comment, in cyberspace. 
>>>>
>>>> 3. Considerations of  ethics  should not be
>>>> allowed to become a veiled
>>>> approach to introducing or allowing censorship. 
>>>>
>>>> 4. There are many forms of communication over
>>>> the Internet, and it is
>>>> important not to confuse them. News, for
>>>> example, is different from such
>>>> things as pornography, pedophilia, fraud,
>>>> conspiracy for terrorism,
>>>> incitement to violence, hate speech, etc.,
>>>> although there may be news
>>>> stories about such problems. Such matters are
>>>> normally covered in existing
>>>> national general legislation and should, if
>>>> appropriate and necessary, be
>>>> prosecuted on the national level in the country
>>>> of origin. 
>>>>
>>>> 5. Any legal actions that may arise should be
>>>> adjudicated in the
>>>> jurisdiction where a disputed message first
>>>> originated, or in a single
>>>> jurisdiction agreed upon by the parties to any
>>>> given dispute. 
>>>>
>>>> The Internet is a major opportunity to improve
>>>> exchanges of information and
>>>> ideas throughout the world. Nothing should be
>>>> allowed to restrict this
>>>> powerful new medium for better communications
>>>> among people. #
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -------------------- End Forwarded Message
>>>> --------------------
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>> Clothilde Le Coz
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Mark Bench, Executive Director
> World Press Freedom Committee
> 11690-C Sunrise Valley Dr. 
> Reston, VA  20191, USA
> Tel: (703) 715-9811
> Fax: (703) 620-6790
> E-mail: embench at wpfc.org
> Website: http://www.wpfc.org
>
>
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>

-- 
Mark Bench, Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee
11690-C Sunrise Valley Dr. 
Reston, VA  20191, USA
Tel: (703) 715-9811
Fax: (703) 620-6790
E-mail: embench at wpfc.org
Website: http://www.wpfc.org