Month: August 2024

By Tobias B. Bacherle.

Studying the Convention on Cybercrime I realise that all my worries have been confirmed. During one of the most effective attacks by digital authoritarianism, internet freedom, and human rights in the digital space did not win anything in the negotiations.

The reactions to the adoption of the convention were even more puzzling, where unconcealed joy accompanied the first reports of a deal, followed by happy tweets from diplomats. After three years, the ad hoc working group has agreed on a Cybercrime Convention. Hooray!? Unfortunately not.

The convention seems to be about creating an international set of rules,  which at first glance appear to complement the fight against crime, in the digital space and translate it into international law. However, the content of the agreed document has very little to do with the decent goals one might associate with its title.  

Continue reading “The UN Cybercrime convention is a victory for digital authoritarianism”

By Milton Mueller.

(This is based on the keynote speech at the GigArts 2024 conference in The Hague)

We now have almost 30 years of experience with so-called multistakeholder (MS) governance. Sometimes it is called the multistakeholder model. Sometimes it is the “multistakeholder approach.” Sometimes, it is an “ism,” like communism or liberalism or impressionism. It is a good time to reflect on what it all means. Is multistakeholder just a catchword, or is it a meaningful and important structural shift in governance models. Is it something that we should preserve and protect? Is it something that we should expand? Is it something we should get rid of?

That question needs to be placed in historical context. We need to look at where the word or concept originated and how it has been used in Internet governance debates.

I have just finished a book that recounts an important part of that story. It focuses on the formation of ICANN, which is really the origin of what we now call the MS model. ICANN was an attempt to institutionalize a radical change in the role of state actors in transnational governance. My book analyzes ICANN’s changing ties to the U.S. government. It explains why the US government let go of that control, in a seeming victory for that new governance model. As an organization ICANN is one the most steadfast promoters of the multistakeholder approach.

Continue reading “The Power to Govern Ourselves: (Multi)Stakeholders, States and Collective Action”