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<h1 class="title" id="page-title"> Internet Governance: I want your
views! </h1>
<div class="tabs"> </div>
<div class="meta submitted"> <span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2013-10-09T17:34:34+02:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Published by <a
href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/users/neelie-kroes"
title="View user profile." class="username" xml:lang=""
about="/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/users/neelie-kroes"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Neelie
KROES</a> on Wednesday, 09/10/2013</span> </div>
<p>As digital agenda commissioner I have long fought hard to keep <strong>the
Internet driving positive change </strong>- helping Europe's
economy and society. And now we are asking for <a
href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/content/europe-and-internet-global-context">your
views on internet governance</a>.</p>
<p>I have fought especially hard for an open Internet. As a network
of networks, <strong>no one person or country owns the Internet</strong>,
but we do need <strong>a clear set of rules that everybody needs
to play by</strong>. I have defended such rules at international
conferences on the Internet, most recently at the Internet
Governance Forum in Baku – and, in particular, <a
href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-922_en.htm"
target="_blank">resisted attempts</a> by others to push for
significant increases to the scope of International Telecoms
Regulations at the recent WCIT meeting in Dubai.</p>
<p>But since then a lot of things have happened. We have heard about
<strong>massive surveillance operations by secret services</strong>,
within Europe as well as the US. Of course we are extremely
concerned by what that means for personal data protection. But
this also has <strong>deep implications for the governance of the
Internet</strong>. It is clearly influencing how <a
href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45955&Cr=General+Debate&Cr1=#.Uk0gkHea98E"
target="_blank">some international partners are thinking</a>.
And it is even more important now that we agree on common
principles for Internet governance, and how decisions are made in
all Internet-related matters.</p>
<p>This autumn will be crucial in many ways. In Europe, I am
proposing ambitious measures to bring down barriers within our <a
href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/content/building-connected-continent">connected
continent</a>. That's a priority for me, and a priority for our
economic future, which I hope EU leaders will take seriously at
their <a
href="http://www.european-council.europa.eu/council-meetings?meeting=760391ff-5b52-4248-a076-5032044c6288&lang=en&type=EuropeanCouncil">forthcoming
summit</a>.</p>
<p>But, at the same time as we bring those barriers down, <strong>I
want to avoid new ones going up</strong>. Later this month,
Internet world leaders are meeting at the <a
href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/" target="_blank">Internet
Governance Forum</a> in Bali. I am sorry that, for the first
time, I cannot be there in person myself. But I would like to
contribute, both to make clear how closely and seriously we are
watching this debate, and to stress the importance of having a
clear and robust framework for Internet Governance and
policy-making as soon as possible.</p>
<p>As it stands today, the conclusions of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) are the only international-level
political agreement on Internet governance; and they are the
subject of several consultations. Particularly important among
those consultations are the discussions in the <a
href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/review/mpp/" target="_blank">"WSIS+10"
High-Level Event</a>, and the <a
href="http://unctad.org/en/Pages/cstd.aspx" target="_blank">UN
Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation</a>; I hope many of you
will be contributing.</p>
<p><strong>The Internet is increasingly the forum for so much of our
lives</strong>; from transacting through commerce or banking; to
interacting through social networks; to communicating with
governments or pushing for democratic change. It's clear to me
that the Internet is a European strategic domain – and, although
the internet is a different kind of place to the "real world",
our stance towards it should be underpinned by just the same
values, priorities and interests as everything else.</p>
<p>This digital age needs <strong>a new social contract. </strong>Decisions
that affect the Internet shouldn't be taken just by politicians,
companies or technicians alone, without any reference to common
principles.</p>
<p>So I believe that the new social contract <strong>must be based
on sound principles</strong>. My starting point here are those
in the <a
href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/blog/i-propose-a-compact-for-the-internet"
target="_blank">Compact</a> I first floated a couple of years
ago; like that the Internet should remain open, unified,
pro-democratic, enabling trust and confidence, and based on
transparent, multi-stakeholder governance. Recent news shows just
how fragile this balance of values can be; important efforts to
tackle terrorist threats cannot be at the expense of fundamental
freedoms.</p>
<p>But we also must have a clearer view of <strong>what we mean
when we speak of "multi-stakeholder processes"</strong>. I worry
that without a clear definition, everyone will claim that their
decision processes are inclusive and transparent, when in practice
they are not – as was shown recently, when the Governmental
Advisory Committee of ICANN pressed on regardless - in spite of
the EU's <a
href="http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/kroes-to-chehade-crocker-12sep13-en.pdf"
target="_blank">legitimate concerns</a> on new domain names.</p>
<p>As you may have seen, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently
set out her <a
href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45955&Cr=General+Debate&Cr1=#.Uk0gkHea98E"
target="_blank">strong belief in multi-lateral cooperation</a>
as a basis for Internet governance. I am looking forward to seeing
further details – but in principle I very much support that line.
Plus, our future <a
href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/en/blog/gipo">Global
Internet Policy Observatory</a> will help give a more balanced
view of how the Internet should be governed. And I know many of
these issues will also be discussed in Bali.</p>
<p>But I want to take this seriously. These are my thoughts<strong>:
but I want yours too; your ideas on how the Internet should be
governed and what Europe's role should be</strong>.</p>
<p>For the next four weeks, please share your views on the dedicated
<a
href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/content/europe-and-internet-global-context">web
page</a>.</p>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Best,
Veni Markovski
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The opinions expressed above are those of the
author, not of any organizations, associated
with or related to him in any given way. </pre>
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