June 2012

At present the internet is governed by a wide range of institutions and actors, each responsible for processes across different geographical, technical and social dimensions. While it is generally accepted that this dispersed and complex model has been working very well at the technical level, at the policy level there is much greater disagreement. It is unclear how challenges – from privacy, to cybercrime and network neutrality – can be dealt with under the present regime. On the one hand there are governments threatened by an empowered citizenry that seek to enforce greater control over the environment as access to the network proliferates. On the other hand there are governments, and some civil society groups, who argue that the current regime is dominated by the global north and serves to facilitate greater business (and hence, non-democratic) control. How to develop policy for an area which is global, decentralised and extremely fast-changing is an enormous and increasingly controversial challenge. This paper does not aim to highlight a way forward. Rather it aims to provide a platform for discussion amongst civil society so that together we can develop shared understandings, demands and strategies to protect the public interest.