In a year when the confidence of Internet users in the Internet governance status quo was shattered by revelations of systematic and indiscriminate governance surveillance, there is a greater need than ever before for civil society organisations engaged on Internet governance and Internet rights freedom issues to come together to share and strategise. The 2013 meeting of the Best Bits network will address key issues at the intersection of Internet policy and human rights, for direct application over the next twelve months.
Through the shared outputs of this meeting and the indirect benefits of participation, we expect to empower civil society organisations and individual activists to create more informed, effective, inclusive and complementary advocacy outcomes, in which the public interest is better reflected in high-level policy discussions and in the outputs that these discussions produce. The meeting will also place Best Bits itself on a firmer institutional footing, in order to enhance its legitimacy as a broad-based civil society advocacy network and improve its long-term sustainability.
- To raise the level of shared understanding about related groups, initiatives and issues and their political contexts.
- To broaden and diversify participation in the initiatives that participants are undertaking individually or in smaller networks in the areas of Internet governance and Internet and human rights.
- To amplify the voice of global civil society at upcoming multilateral Internet governance and Internet rights meetings.
- To strengthen involvement from civil society from the Global South in particular in global Internet governance and Internet rights debates and to dissolve North-South divides.
- To produce tangible shared civil society outputs addressing pressing current issues that can be used in advocacy at important upcoming Internet governance and Internet rights events.
- To develop an inclusive and sustainable civil society network for Internet governance and Internet rights issues.
Welcome, introductions, logistics, and meeting opening
Jeremy Malcolm
Global Internet governance principles, enhanced cooperation and the IGF
Facilitators: Parminder Jeet Singh and Joy Liddicoat, background documents
- Outline of session one – group agreement on discussion objectives and proposed outputs [15 mins]
- Understanding Multi-stakeholderism, and bringing out key issues: [1 hour]
- some of the best bits of MS definitions, and key issues involved:
- facilitated discussion of definitions, and key issues: group discussion and, if need be, split into small groups for discussion and report back of shared inputs
- summary of these by facilitators
- Break (30 mins)
- Developing a shared civil society position on reforms and the evolution of IGF (1 hour)
Discussion questions:- What is the state of the IGF?
- IGF plus – how can IGF with powers to make soft law recommendations work in a multi-stakeholder environment?
- How can we ensure the legitimacy and sustainability of the IGF? – protecting it from corporate capture, finding a sustainable funding model, reaching out to under-represented groups and constituencies.
If required, divide into groups of 3 and then report back.
- Focus on session output: statement to the IGF (1 hour)
- What is MSism and what are the key issues involved?
- Are there some agreed principles of IGF reform and evolution?.
Lunch and networking break
The ITU, the WSIS+10 process and other IG-related spaces
Facilitators: Joana Varon Ferraz and Matthew Shears, background documents
- Overview of governance themes impacting the WSIS process and the ITU including enhanced cooperation, surveillance, role of governments and recent initiatives for progressing Internet governance.
- Visualisation of Internet governance processes towards WSIS+10 and the ITU Plenipotentiary.
- What next for the Brazilian proposal on operationalising the role of governments in Internet governance and impact on ITU and WSIS
- Civil society participation and substantive issues for the ITU Plenipotentiary 2014.
- Civil society participation and substantive issues for the WSIS+10 review and the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform.
- Engagement plan for IG
Output: Set of draft recommendations based on the following questions:
- Looking at the evolving IG landscape what is the relative importance of 1) the WSIS+10 process, 2) the ITU WTDC/Plenipotentiary and 3) other IG spaces?
- What are civil society’s key priorities/goals within these issue spaces?
- How (and where) can civil society best focus and build on/achieve those priorities?
- What is the best use of civil society’s limited resources and how can they be maximized?
- What counts as a ‘win’ and what counts as a ‘loss’ (what are our red lines)?
Output Setting up of task forces (as necessary) with the aim of building appropriate engagement roadmaps.
State surveillance and human rights
Facilitators: Andrew Puddephatt and Deborah Brown, background documents
- Opening/plenary [20 min]
- Break into working groups [45 min]
- A technical/engineering group to look at the feasibility of establishing technical responses to blanket surveillance eg.
- A group to work on a series of asks for business
- A group focused on the implications for IG processes. (which might pick up on statements developed on the previous day)
- Report back in plenary [30 min]
Potential output from group 1: A list of important upcoming standards discussions and RFCs; sketch out a timeline of more technical meetings where these issues can/should be discussed.
Potential output from group 2: A concrete requests for the private sector- internet companies and telcos- that would outline what actions from corporations civil society would like to see in light of surveillance revelations
Potential output from group 3: Outcome might be a series of action points/ a working group/ a short statement aimed at IGF and potentially other bodies. We will have to take our cue on this one from the previous day, whether it looks like people want to focus on Brazil2014, IGF, a broader statement that can be repurposed, etc.
Lunch and networking break
Best Bits
Facilitator: Jeremy Malcolm and Anja Kovacs, background documents
- What are our goals – short presentation and discussion. [20 min]
- What is the best way to organise the network? [45 min]
- What working procedures do we need to adhere to? [45 min]
- Presentation from Web We Want [20 min]
- Launch and demonstration of new website features. [20 min]
- Research interest in Best Bits. [10 min]
Output: Agreed statement of objectives.
Output: Procedure wiki.
Joint Best Bits/Web We Want dinner at Nusa Dua Beach Grill (own cost of IDR 200.000, transport provided)
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Background papers
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Reports
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Message from Best Bits participants in Bali, 20 October 2013
Best Bits participants gathered in Bali agreed on these basic principles that should guide the development of a planned Rio summit on Internet governance:
- The event should discuss what Internet governance architecture is required to support an inclusive, people-centric, development-oriented information society. We believe that this requires at the very minimum that such a structure is democratic, in that it should be inclusive of all countries and all stakeholders, and that it protects and promotes human rights.
- The full participation of civil society stakeholders in planning and in the meeting should be guaranteed and resourced.
- A strengthened Internet Governance Forum could play a role in the future Internet governance arrangements to be discussed at the event, and it should be linked with the CSTD WGEC process as appropriate.
- The event should extend beyond speeches and presentations, and modalities should be developed to allow all stakeholders, including remote participants, to participate on an equal footing.
