Internet Governance : Some Thoughts after the two WSIS

摘要

The challenges faced by the globalisation of our Information Society are numerous and crucial for the future of our democracies. The two WSIS have tried to answer these challenges by proclaiming new rights and overall a new way for governing the Internet. This paper focuses on two major debates: the first one circumvents the right to “Universal Access” viewed as the right for everyone to become a “netizen”. This includes participation in the Information Society, which incorporates not only the right to be connected to the infrastructure, not only the right to gain access to the informational richness available on the Net but also the possibility for everybody to take part in the large discussion forum that is the Internet. The discussion about Internet Governance was the major topic at the Tunis Agenda. The WSIS definitively advocated a transparent, multistakeholder and co-regulatory approach. What does this mean? What role might ICANN fulfil – do we need to reform that organisation? Among the stakeholders, particularly the international organisations, who are the real winners and who is losing? Might the EU approach to co-regulation be taken as a model for Internet governance? All these questions are raised, even if they are not solved, in our comments.