[discuss] IPv6 Deployment and IG

Sat Dec 28 13:26:18 UTC 2013

Hi
On Dec 28, 2013, at 4:54 AM, Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 27/12/2013 10:37, Shatan, Gregory S. wrote:
>> I don't think the use of the word "governance" implies in any
>> way that governments will or should be involved.  This is
>> just a mis-impression.
> 
> It isn't implied, but stated as a fact, in the WSIS definition
> of 'Internet governance.’

Sorry Brian but not only is this not implied by the definition, the whole point of the definition was to say precisely the opposite.  That’s a big part of why it mattered.  I think this was understood by most everyone involved in WSIS, including those (e.g. ITU secretariat, many governments in the G77 and China) that accordingly didn’t prefer the definition, and have been surprised lately to keep hearing key people in the technical community speaking like the last decade of thinking and debate didn’t happen.  If the explanation is that people were too busy doing other stuff like making the net work to follow these discussions, fair enough and thanks for that, but please let’s not set the clock back to 2003, trying to move backward and forward at the same time is a bit dizzying and unlikely to get us far.
> 
>> As was pointed out earlier on this list, "internet
>> governance" is equivalent to "corporate governance."
>> "Corporate governance" simply means the system of rules,
>> practices and processes that a corporation chooses to govern
>> itself.
> 
> That applies to a well-defined, finite body with a single
> management structure (a company), not to a diffuse construct
> like the Internet, which has none of those properties.

There is no assumption (or reality) of a single management structure in any of the vast array of global policy arenas in which the term is routinely used and understood.

Governance is social steering.  Governance is not government.  Governance is not necessarily top down.  Governance takes many forms and is arrived at through many paths, collective action—e.g. coordination and collaboration---being one of them.  etc etc etc.

Best

Bill