NETmundial Adopts Roadmap on the Future of Internet Governance

0
195

The Global Multi-Stakeholder Conference on the Future of Internet Governance (NETmundial) has adopted a non-binding statement that lays out a roadmap for Internet governance for the world. Held in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 16 and 17, 2014, the NETmundial Multi-stakeholder Statement of Sao Paula, lays out the principles and roadmap of Internet governance.

The meeting was convened by the Brazilian government and Brazil’s Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and co-hosted by 12 countries, namely: Argentina, Brazil, France, Ghana, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States of America. The meeting had over 900 participants from 97 countries and 33 remote hubs for virtual participation. The participants represented civil society, academia, private sector, technical community, and governments.

President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil declared the NETmundial open by signing Brazil’s Marco Civil da Internet into law on stage and presenting it as a model bill of rights for Internet users. The Marco Civil is a law designed to enforce net neutrality in the country, protect Brazilians’ freedom of expression, and give Brazilian citizens a reasonable expectation of privacy. President Rousseff said that NETmundial is not intended to replace existing Internet governance fora, but rather,” to lend momentum to the ongoing discussions under two key premises: the preservation of an open, democratic Internet, and the desire to incorporate an increasingly broader audience into the process.”

The NETmundial advocated a multi-stakeholder model aimed at welcoming the contribution of all stakeholders. It also stressed that internet governance should promote sustainable and inclusive development and for the promotion of human rights globally.

The Netmundial statement covered issues such as: protection of intermediaries; culture and linguistic diversity; human rights and shared values; security, stability and resilience of the internet; and open standards etc.

However, a lot of participants from the civil society sector showed displeasure with the outcome document especially in the omission of net neutrality in the statement as well as the weak text on mass surveillance.

The document was created with the consultation of government representatives and various industry and citizen groups, to show a consensus of these parties. Although government representatives from India, Russia and Cuba did not support the document, there was a significant effort to find a consensus from such a diverse group of stakeholders.

To view the NETmundial Multi-stakeholder Statement of Sao Paula, kindly click on the link:  http://netmundial.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NETmundial-Multistakeholder-Document.pdf