For over a decade, the Internet Society, along with many in the Internet community, have been strong advocates of using multistakeholder approaches to make decisions in a globally distributed network environment. We are encouraged that, within the Internet ecosystem, the multistakeholder model has grown in understanding and acceptance over the past several years. But we also know that the open, global Internet faces enormous challenges and that it is crucial that we not take this progress for granted.
While
the IANA transition was, indeed, a
pivotal moment that demonstrated how
this model could work in practice, the
Internet Society believes that we
cannot simply “declare success” and turn
our attention elsewhere. This is a
crucial moment for the Internet’s growth
and development and we believe that we
must continue to work hard to expand and
enhance uses of the multistakeholder
model to address these inherently cross
border challenges.
As an organization committed to taking
on the most challenging issues facing
the Internet and doing so on a
global level, the Internet Society,
along with our network of chapters, is
deeply committed to growing the
multistakeholder model. We would like to
see multistakeholder approaches adopted
across the globe and used to address a
broad range of Internet-related issues.
Thus, we have asked Larry Strickling and
Grace Abuhamad, who many of us know
well, to study the feasibility of
building a resource to expand and
enhance the use of the model and report
back to us by September 2017. In the
last few weeks, they have already
started to meet with experts and
stakeholders from around the world to
get their views as to how best to expand
the use of the model.
Specifically, we think any such resource could have three components or work streams:
- Demonstrating the efficacy of the model: provide a neutral place and expertise where parties could come to work through Internet related issues in a multistakeholder fashion.
- Capacity building: provide training to equip stakeholders with the skills to participate actively and effectively in multistakeholder processes.
- Research: sponsor academic research and analysis on multistakeholder models and processes.
From
the start, we have made it clear that
any Internet governance activity of this
sort must have a global focus and
community support. We have also
specified that this should not duplicate
the important efforts of
existing multistakeholder processes such
as ICANN, IETF, and the IGF. We are
also mindful that a number of
multistakeholder initiatives and
training programs already exist in the
ecosystem and are doing important work.
The goal of this effort would not be
to duplicate, replace or centralize
those efforts but rather to work
collaboratively to advance our mutual
goals.
We want to emphasize that we are at a
very early stage and that the Internet
Society has not made any decision to
proceed. But we hope the feasibility
study will provide a concrete set of
ideas and recommendations for what might
be an effective way forward for the
community to discuss later this year.
In the meantime, if you have initial
thoughts or reactions to how we might
approach this issue, we encourage you to
submit your ideas to multistakeholder@isoc.org.
We will make sure that they are taken
into account during the feasibility
study. We also commit to our community
that we will share the final report of
the feasibility study before taking any
action on it later this year.
- For more background, please read Internet Governance - Why the Multistakeholder Approach Works.