Internet G8 2011 second round on intellectual property copyright

Turn the E-G8 Public! The people of Internet don't want to be left in the audience!

Internet is made by all of us, we are the tissue of the Net. And yet, we are not represented in the international Forums, among all the E-G8/E-G20 and the meetings that devised ACTA, where important decisions regarding the neutrality of Internet are taken. Help us fighting for the right to be included!

Last May, at the first E-G8, the civil society was left at the door. Luckly, governments and big industries weren't able to find an agreement: the former wanted a strict regulation of the Internet, while the latter feared governmental interference. What was the role of the civil society? NONE.
We weren't there, we weren't invited and we weren't able to raise our voice to defend our rights.

The position of the governments:
* Sarkozy and the 'civilized' Internet

The position of the industries:
* Eric Schmidt 'Technology will resolve its problem itself'

The position of the civil society:
* Lawrence Lessig
* John Perry Barlow
* Jeff Jarvis "Shame on us, the citizens of the internet, WE didn't call this meeting." 


Ongoing regulatory discussions

The Human Rights Council, in its "Report on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression" expressed its concerns about the Internet regulation: while affirming that "the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression", it noted that there have been "increased restrictions on the Internet" adopted by governments that fear the potential of a free Net.
The governmental's fear about Internet and its potential it's visible in several approaches toward the regulation of the Net, expecially in the ACTA agreement. This international treaty, that among other things forces signatory countries into implementing anti file-sharing policies under the form of three-strikes schemes and net filtering practices, has been negotiated in strict secrecy among States and the major copyrights industries. The final text aroused many perplexities about its adherence to several human rights. The European Parliament Trade Committee commissioned a study on ACTA...the results? The study stated that: "There does not appear to be any immediate benefit from ACTA for EU citizens". Further on, the study confirmed that ACTA goes beyond current EU legislation, and it concludes recommending to ask the European Court of Justice an opinion on ACTA. Copyrights industries, worried about the Court's opinion , are reacting quickly: they are asking the European Parliament to get around the Court and go ahead with the ratification. After a negotiation that bypassed every democratic processes, we are assisting at the attemp to enforce a regulation that is suspected to be in violation of basics human rights, and that has already been rejected by the mexican senate, without waiting for the authoritative and impartial opinion of the European Court of Justice.
These references are few examples of a broader worldwide tendency to chain the Net's contents and its freedom. That's one of the reasons why we believe that it's important that at the next E-G8/E-G20 Forums the civil society has a chance to speak and defend its rights.

Why are we looking for an international involvement

Internet, more than every other tool, can't be traced back to a domestic dimension: news, opinions, contents, travel across the world without being limited by national borders. Internet has an international DNA, and, differently from the national experiences, it has demonstrated that it's able to self-adjust itself more effectively than what the governments are capable of doing. To interfere in the Internet environment through heavy regulation dictated by governments can be harmful to the neutrality and freedom of the Net, and can jeopardize its delicate balance.
Nevertheless, sometime governments try to manage Internet as a domestic issue: however, in this effort, the national authorities still repeatedly seek an international legitimacy to their regulations.
The italian case is a good example: our organization is worried about the bill regarding internet regulation that has been presented by Agcom, the italian authority on telecommunications. In June we stand out against the passage of the bill, and we were able to force the Agcom to reconsider the draft. Corrado Calabrò, Agcom president, to defend his work and to meet the public outrage is continuously referring to Sarkozy's crusade for an 'internet civilized' and to the international regulations mentioned above. Moreover, he asked the European Commission and the WIPO (World intellectual property organization) to give international legitimacy to the bill.
The possibility that we have to put pressure on these international bodies in order to attain a negative judgment on domestic regulations harming the Net can be an important result in our commitment toward a neutral and free Internet.
EG-8, ACTA, EU, WIPO might seem distant entities...they are not. As this italian example shows, nowadays domestic issues are tightly bonded to the international developments. Without asking for your opinion they are affecting your everyday life.
 

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