I'm back from Brazil, where I appeared on several panels at the IGF. A podcast version of my remarks at the plenary openness panel is here.
Openness at the IGF
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Governments who want to stomp-out dissidents or just stick a finger in the American eye are attempting to hijack the “Critical Internet Resources (CIR)” debate. For them, the term “Protecting Critical Internet Resources” has become a euphemism for “killing ICANN.” Those who see ICANN as a mechanism for American imperialism over the Internet are grossly overestimating the power of ICANN.
The technology industry spent a trillion dollars to bring the Internet to a billion people, with little help from governments. We are investing even more to help fulfill IGF’s mandate to reach the next billion people – and that is what the world’s repressive regimes fear. We cannot shove the private sector out of room, leaving governments–including some notoriously repressive regimes–in control of a vital Internet resource.
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