[Privsec] NGO Manifesto from Madrid Democracy&Terrorism Summit: The Internet: The Infrastructure of Democracy

[Ralf Bendrath]

A nice statement. We can surely use it for our lobbying work.
I have written a brief news entry for www.worldsummit2005.org about it and 
also published the document there. You also find all of the links there.

Ralf

-----------

The Internet: The Infrastructure of Democracy  	
A Civil Society Manifesto from the Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security
   	
10 March 2005. The Government of Spain is currently hosting the 
“International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security” that takes 
place in Madrid from 8-11 March 2005. The summit is one more attempt to 
discuss how to fight terrorism without restricting human rights and 
endangering the fundamental values of democracy. Another important event 
in this direction was the Council of Europe’s “Declaration on freedom of 
expression and information in the media in the context of the fight 
against terrorism”, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 2 March 2005.

Some civil society people at the Madrid summit, including Joi Ito , Marc 
Rotenberg, John Perry Barlow, Wendy Seltzer and others, have worked all 
day yesterday drafting a document they have called “The Infrastructure of 
Democracy”. The key idea is nicely phrased in the very first subtitle: 
“The Internet is a foundation of democratic society in the 21st century, 
because the core values of the Internet and democracy are so closely 
aligned.” It nicely fits into both the discussions around human rights and 
civil liberties in the "war on terrorism" and around Internet governance.

They group is now asking for feedback. The drafting and commenting process 
is taking place on the Global Voices wiki. We document the draft below and 
encourage our readers to take part in further discussions and work around 
this.

---------------------------------------

The Infrastructure of Democracy:
Strengthening the Open Internet for a Safer World
March 11, 2005

The Internet is a foundation of democratic society in the 21st century, 
because the core values of the Internet and democracy are so closely aligned.

     * The Internet is fundamentally about openness, participation, and 
freedom of expression for all -- increasing the diversity and reach of 
information and ideas.
     * The Internet allows people to communicate and collaborate across 
borders and belief systems.
     * The Internet unites families and cultures in diaspora; it connects 
people, helping them to form civil societies.
     * The Internet can foster economic development by connecting people 
to information and markets.
     * The Internet introduces new ideas and views to those who may be 
isolated and prone to political violence.
     * The Internet is neither above nor below the law. The same legal 
principles that apply in the physical world also apply to human activities 
conducted over the Internet.

Decentralized systems -- the power of many -- can combat decentralized foes.

     * Terrorist networks are highly decentralized and distributed. A 
centralized effort by itself cannot effectively fight terrorism.
     * Terrorism is everyone's issue. The internet connects everyone. A 
connected citizenry is the best defense against terrorist propaganda.
     * As we saw in the aftermath of the March 11 bombing, response was 
spontaneous and rapid because the citizens were able to use the Internet 
to organize themselves.
     * As we are seeing in the distributed world of weblogs and other 
kinds of citizen media, truth emerges best in open conversation among 
people with divergent views.

The best response to abuses of openness is more openness.

     * Open, transparent environments are more secure and more stable than 
closed, opaque ones.
     * While Internet services can be interrupted, the Internet as a 
global system is ultimately resilient to attacks, even sophisticated and 
widely distributed ones.
     * The connectedness of the Internet – people talking with people – 
counters the divisiveness terrorists are trying to create.
     * The openness of the Internet may be exploited by terrorists, but as 
with democratic governments, openness minimizes the likelihood of 
terrorist acts and enables effective responses to terrorism.

Well-meaning regulation of the Internet in established democracies could 
threaten the development of emerging democracies.

     * Terrorism cannot destroy the internet, but over-zealous legislation 
in response to terrorism could. Governments should consider mandating 
changes to core Internet functionality only with extraordinary caution.
     * Some government initiatives that look reasonable in fact violate 
the basic principles that have made the Internet a success.
     * For example, several interests have called for an end to anonymity. 
This would be highly unlikely to stop determined terrorists, but it would 
have a chilling effect on political activity and thereby reduce freedom 
and transparency. Limiting anonymity would have a cascading series of 
unintended results that would hurt freedom of expression, especially in 
countries seeking transition to democratic rule.

In conclusion we urge those gathered here in Madrid to:

     * Embrace the open Internet as a foundation of 21st Century 
democracy, and a critical tool in the fight against terrorism.
     * Recognizing the Internet's value as a critical communications 
infrastructure, invest to strengthen it against attacks and recover 
quickly from damage.
     * Work to spread access more evenly, aggressively addressing the 
Digital Divide, and to provide Internet access for all.
     * To protect free speech and association, endorse the availability of 
anonymous communications for all.
     * Resist attempts at international governance of the Internet: It can 
introduce processes that have unintended effects and violate the bottom-up 
democratic nature of the Net.

Background

This document was drafted by participants in the Madrid Conference on 
Terrorism, Democracy and Security. For more information on the conference, 
please see the Safe Democracy website. The discussion sessions that led to 
this draft were broadcast via IRC - transcripts of that session are 
available: Morning Session, Afternoon Session.