The past 18 months have seen unprecedented public unrest over proposed new laws and policies for the Internet that would both undermine its functioning as an open, neutral communications medium, and threaten the human rights of its users. At the national level instruments such as the United States’ SOPA and PIPA, and India’s Internet Intermediary Guidelines, are seen as uninformed and/or unduly influenced by industry lobbyists protecting outdated business models. At the global level, agreements such as the secretively-negotiated ACTA, Trans-Pacific Partnership and International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), are rightly seen as democratically deficient and therefore illegitimate in light of norms of multi-stakeholder participation to which governments pay lip service.

At the same time, civil society has also recently been at the nexus of a flourishing of interest in a positive agenda for Internet governance, such as the development of broad statements of shared principles (including the Declaration of Internet Freedom), ad hocnetworks for engagement on current policy processes (such as the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) at which the ITRs are being renegotiated), and new institutional innovations that could channel public interest inputs into policy development processes either in a reactive (eg. the Internet Defence League) or a proactive (eg. the Enhanced Cooperation Task Force) fashion.

Some of these civil society initiatives are so new that those leading them have not yet had time to adequately allow for the input of other NGOs who may have a long background working on ICT issues in their own countries, with important perspectives to contribute. In fact there is much scope for all of the NGOs working on Internet governance issues, from North and South alike, to gain valuable practical knowledge from each other. In advance of the upcoming meetings of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the ITU’s WCIT, we have an important opportunity to share such knowledge, to deliberate on issues of difference, and to produce tangible outputs to further objectives that we share.

• To broaden and diversify participation in the initiatives that participants are undertaking individually or in smaller networks (in particular dissolving North-South divides), by allowing participants to report on those initiatives to their peers and thereby discover opportunities for collaboration or even merger of similar initiatives.
• To amplify the voice of civil society at the upcoming WCIT about proposed amendments of the ITRs, by sharing knowledge about harmful proposals and empowering participants to raise the shared concerns with their national delegations.
• To produce tangible shared outputs addressing pressing current issues that can be used in advocacy at important upcoming Internet governance events, most notably the global IGF in November and the WCIT in December.
• To raise the level of shared understanding about related groups, initiatives and issues and their political contexts, and thereby increase the quality of advocacy work conducted by individual groups and networks on Internet governance issues, and reduce duplication.
• To jointly outline the development of an inclusive and sustainable civil society network for Internet governance issues, that would provide a platform for collaboration and mutual learning over the longer term.

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.

Following the NETmundial Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance, there is increased awareness of how civil society’s participation in and shaping of multi-stakeholder Internet governance processes can reorient them towards promoting an open, neutral and free Internet that promotes social and economic development and upholds human rights. The 2014 meeting of the Best Bits network moves forward from NETmundial to share analysis and strategy on a range of key Internet policy processes that civil society groups plan to influence over the coming year. 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. Registration is now closed.

• 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.

A meeting to facilitate civil society engagement in the WSIS+10 Review process is being held on October 14 and 15 (Wednesday-Thursday) in New York, USA. The meeting is being organized by Global Partners Digital (GPD), in collaboration with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Access Now, Bytes for All, the Centre for Communication Governance at the National Law University in Delhi, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Coding Rights, FGV/ CTS, Internet Democracy Project, Just Net Coalition (JNC), KICTANet, and Public Knowledge, with support of the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the GovLab at NYU.

The aim of the meeting is to facilitate civil society input and engagement in the WSIS+10 Review process. The WSIS process has been a unique vehicle in promoting a development-oriented, human rights respecting information society, recognizing the important role played by all stakeholders in its governance. This year, as WSIS marks its 10th anniversary, the UN General Assembly is set to evaluate its progress and decide its future. In order for the WSIS to continue acting as a conduit for ICT4D underpinned by human rights beyond 2015, it is important that views of all stakeholders especially those from developing countries, are reflected in its outcomes. In order to contribute towards this goal, the objective of this meeting is to further coordinate global civil society priorities, input and engagement in the Review process. The two-day meeting will take place in the run-up to the deadline for submissions on the zero-draft of the Review outcome document (October 15th) as well as the informal interactive WSIS stakeholder consultations on October 19th.

Expression of Interest:

The Expression of Interest form is now closed. Thank you to all those who applied. We look forward to seeing many of you in New York. If you are unable to join us, please follow the meeting remotely. Information and links to follow the meeting can be found on the “Remote Participation” tab in the middle of this page and below.

The diversity of Internet governance issues and processes creates a ongoing challenge for civil society groups to keep up and to effectively engage. This meeting offers the opportunity to review the landscape, and to dive deep into a few selected key areas. Amongst the highlights of 2015 have been the IANA transition, the ongoing WSIS+10 preparations, rulemaking on net neutrality in both the United States and Europe, and the progress of trade agreements that will impact on the Internet issues. Meanwhile, concerns over state surveillance still occupy as much concern as in previous years. Alongside these substantive concerns, the institutional landscape of Internet governance continues to evolve, including the first meetings of the NETmundial Initiative, and new experimentation with outputs at the Internet Governance Forum this year. Participants at the Best Bits 2015 meeting will share knowledge of recent developments, broaden their understanding of existing initiatives in this space, and collaborate on the development of shared principles and strategies to advance the use of transparent, participatory processes in the development of Internet policies.

Registration for this meeting has now closed.

Since 2012, members of civil society have come together on the weekend ahead of the Internet Governance Forum for a meeting designed to facilitate coordination, knowledge sharing, and partnership on joint activities. Until last year, these events were held under the sole banner of the Best Bits network, but as it no longer has an active steering committee, for 2016 we are broadening out this meeting to explicitly include other civil society networks, while the aims of the event remain largely the same.

Befitting the broader ownership of this year’s meeting, its overall theme is Civil Society’s Role in Internet Governance. The detailed session agenda may be viewed by clicking the “Agenda” tab above.

• 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.

Registrations are now closed.

Since 2012, members of civil society have come together on the weekend ahead of the Internet Governance Forum for a meeting designed to facilitate coordination, knowledge sharing, and partnership on joint activities. Since 2016 this meeting has been broadened out to explicitly include other civil society networks, while the aims of the event remain largely the same.

Joint organizers of this meeting are the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Best Bits, the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC), the Just Net Coalition (JNC), and ICANN’s Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG). The meeting is hosted by courtesy of Diplo Foundation and the Geneva Internet Project.

The overall theme for this meeting is Private Regulation of the Internet. The detailed session agenda (which is subject to change) may be found under the “Latest agenda” tab.

• 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.

Register by clicking RSVP above.