GIPO: Making it easier to follow how the Internet is governed - Main contents

As I’m just back from Egypt, my thoughts are on international issues — including how the internet is governed.

The fact is, everyone agrees that the Internet has become an essential part of our society and at the heart of the everyday activities of citizens, businesses and governments. It’s relevant to many different areas of policy too: security, privacy, consumer protection, human rights, you name it. And the way it’s run, the institutional landscape, is correspondingly complex: with so many public and private organisations dealing with different aspects.

So “Internet governance” isn’t an esoteric or arcane discipline: it affects everyone. All those people whose lives are every day influenced by the Internet should be able to be informed about those debates, and have their voice heard in them.

December’s WCIT meeting in Dubai was beset by political tensions, as certain governments sought to renegotiate the International Telecommunications Regulations Treaty. Given that, it was very encouraging to see a much more positive and cooperative atmosphere at its follow-up, the World Telecommunications Policy Forum (WTPF) at the ITU in Geneva last week. In particular, Hamadoun Touré of the ITU was positive in calling for future ITU discussions on Internet-related public policies to be open to all stakeholders. And for me this is a good and welcoming sign that this debate is maturing, becoming more inclusive and more based on multi-stakeholder consensus.

But I’d like to make that engagement easier. That’s why I recently put forward the idea of a Global Internet Policy Observatory: to help more actors (like developing countries) participate in Internet governance more effectively, through better access to key information. Let me explain why that’s important.

It’s no surprise to me that different people have different (sometimes strong) views on the Internet: how it is and should be managed; how its technological architecture should evolve; how public policy decisions should be debated and taken forward.

Yet as it stands, it’s hard to get the right information: it’s out there, but dispersed, and there’s a lot going on. Even for full-time experts it can be difficult to follow what’s happening or figure out how to influence it. And many important stakeholders - public or private sector, European or global - may not have have the capacity or the resources to do so; so they disengage.

That’s bad for all of us. A unified global internet needs understanding and engagement from all: otherwise it risks fragmenting into a series of national “Intranets”.

That’s why we floated the idea of the Global Internet Policy Observatory. My idea of the GIPO is a web-based platform which would present, in a compact and visually-friendly dashboard, what’s going on with different areas of Internet policy.” It wouldn’t replace existing mechanisms for discussing global Internet governance. But would be more like a “living repository”, with tools and resources for following Internet policies, links and trends.

So whatever your interest — privacy, cyber-security, trade, human rights - visiting the GIPO should give you a dynamic snapshot of those issues; what, where, who and when.

This is not just an EU initiative of course. A number of other countries and organisations have already expressed interest in getting involved - including Brazil, the African Union, Switzerland, the Association for Progressive Communication, the Diplo Foundation and the Internet Society - and now Egypt too. That’s great, and suggests to me that we’re doing something useful. And I think it should be open to any party that shares a commitment to an open, unfragmented and rules-based Internet.

In the coming months, my team will better assess the needs and milestones to develop that Observatory. I would like it to be ready in 2014, and I will need all your views on how we can achieve that. So stay tuned!