The Freename Forum

Is the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance in danger? Renowned web experts fear so and are calling on the United Nations (UN) to take urgent action in an open letter.

In September 2024, the "Summit of the Future" will take place in New York at the instigation of the UN. In addition to the "Pact for the Future" and the "Declaration on Future Generations", the "Global Digital Compact" (GDC) is also to be adopted there. It goes back to the "Our Common Agenda" initiative of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and defines guidelines for the internet and its regulation, without, however, enjoying the status of an international treaty. The aim is an "inclusive, open, sustainable, safe and secure digital future for all", as the GDC states. To this end, the GDC sets out five principles to be pursued, including the promotion of responsible and fair international data management and the strengthening of the "international governance of emerging technologies". High-ranking experts involved in the development of the Internet, including Internet pioneer Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, are now concerned that the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance is being neglected.

In an open letter dated July 1, 2024, they address the UN and argue that the GDC is being developed in a multilateral process between states, whereby the open, inclusive and consensus-oriented methods with which the Internet has been developed to date will only be used to a very limited extent. They are particularly concerned that the GDC is largely being created by governments that have no connection to the Internet, as people around the world are currently experiencing. They are well aware that governments are taking their responsibility to protect their citizens seriously and that the dangers associated with the internet are becoming increasingly apparent, hence the desire to act through regulation and legislation. However, the Internet is an unusual technology because it is distributed. It consists of many participating networks, and each network participates for its own reasons according to its own needs and priorities. "And this means, necessarily, that there is no center of control on the Internet," is the key sentence of the letter. The bottom-up, collaborative and inclusive model of internet governance that has served the world well over the last half century must be maintained. The experts reject more centralized governance - as called for by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), among others.

According to the experts, the methods used to develop the Internet to date have only been applied to a very limited extent at the GDC. They therefore ask to ensure that the proposals in the GDC are in line with the successful practice of Internet governance according to the multi-stakeholder model; this is a shared responsibility. We will find out in September whether these concerns are also reflected in the GDC.

You can find the open letter here:
https://open-internet-governance.org/letter