What Internet governance means now and in the future
Topic factors (explanation2)
Importance: Medium
Interest: Medium
Agreement: Medium
Resolution: Low
A stated aim of the Brazil meeting is to create common Internet principles. That has sparked discussion of accepted norms first developed during the WSIS process just under a decade ago.
Also under review have been the large number of Internet principles produced by other organizations (the OECD, G8, EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes, Council of Europe and others).
A comparison of all such pronouncements6 by two researchers at the New America Foundation has been referred to frequently by /1net posters.
Extensive discussion has taken place around the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and the Tunis Agenda (the summation of the World Summit on the Information Society), both from 2005.
Much of the conversation about WGIG has surrounded the definition that was arrived at for "Internet governance". In brief, the final definition was determined to be the result of compromises that some posters - including one or two that were in the small WGIG group - feel are no longer relevant.
Likewise, aspects of the Tunis Agenda - which has been used as a foundational text for Internet governance discussions over the past decade - came under scrutiny, particularly the concept of defined roles for different stakeholders.
While the discussion was informative and interesting, it was largely limited to academics and there was broader disagreement from the group over whether the topic of principles and definitions was something that /1net was best suited to address.