Brussels, 05/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 25 April, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes welcomed the outcome of the NETmundial conference on internet governance in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She said that this paves the way to the reform needed for internet governance. Kroes stated: “Netmundial has put us on the right track. The concluding declaration adopted by acclamation proves that a global multistakeholder approach can produce concrete outcomes”. Summit participants affirmed that internet governance should be oriented towards a single, interoperable, flexible, stable, decentralised, reliable and interconnected network that is available to all. In the final text they also criticised Web espionage and, in a reference to the “Snowden affair”, called for the unauthorised surveillance of personal data to be punishable by law.
The NETmundial conference was held on 23-24 April and sought to launch discussion on the future of internet governance. This governance is currently very dependent on the US and must be shared more among the different global actors. The forum closed with a non-binding common statement of intent aimed at laying the foundations for global multi-stakeholder governance of the internet. Commissioner Kroes is determined to urge her partners to take concrete action to transpose these worthy intentions into practice and stated: “We now have a clear set of issues that must be addressed to strengthen and refine models for internet governance. All stakeholders have important contributions to make to the future of the internet”. The declaration sets out a raft of clear principles to change internet governance, as well as a roadmap for initiatives that need further development through 2014-2015, “which is a particularly welcome outcome from this conference from the perspective of the European Commission”.
Those defending internet neutrality do not share the European Commission's satisfaction. They emphasise that this document remains a non-binding statement of intent and, despite the insistence of Brazilian representatives, fails to include internet neutrality in its principles. This question has been postponed until a discussion at a later date but which is likely to be tackled during the next Internet Governance Forum in Istanbul, next September. (IL)