Read “Internet Governance is Our Shared Responsibility” paper by Vint Cerf, Patrick Ryan and Max Senges

An paper titled “Internet Governance is Our Shared Responsibility” written by Vint Cerf, Patrick Ryan and Max Senges for forthcoming publication in the I/S Journal is available online.

View/Download the “Internet Governance is Our Shared Responsibility” paper at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2309772 (PDF ; 448K)

From the abstract :

This essay looks at the the different roles that multistakeholder institutions play in the Internet governance ecosystem. We propose a model for thinking of Internet governance within the context of the Internet’s layered model. We use the example of the negotiations in Dubai in 2102 at the World Conference on International Telecommunications as an illustration for why it is important for different institutions within the governance system to focus on their respective areas of expertise (e.g., the ITU, ICANN, and IGF). Several areas of conflict (a “tussle”) are reviewed, such as the desire to promote more broadband infrastructure, a topic that is in the remit of the International Telecommunications Union, but also the recurring desire of countries like Russia and China to use the ITU to regulate content and restrict free expression on the Internet through onerous cybersecurity and spam provisions. We conclude that it is folly to try and regulate all these areas through an international treaty, and encourage further development of mechanisms for global debate like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

About the authors (from the article)

Author Vint Cerf, PhD, is Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google and is one of the original architects of the Internet’s TCP/IP protocol suite.

Author Patrick Ryan, PhD, is Senior Policy Counsel with Google and a Senior Affiliated Researcher at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Author Max Senges, PhD is Policy Manager with Google in Berlin. Although all three authors are employed by Google, this paper is written entirely in their personal and academic capacities and does not reflect the opinion of their employer.