[discuss] Key point -- different contexts

Tue Jan 7 16:45:34 UTC 2014

(Pulling out the main point from the message)

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:18 AM, Seth Johnson <seth.p.johnson at gmail.com> wrote:
> (Just reposting with its own subject line, as a basic, critical consideration)

It's useful to recognize that "more technical" discussions can proceed
more effectively within a certain type of context, while international
fora inherently place governments in a role where many issues are
addressed in a very different way.

There's a world of difference between a context where governments are
accountable to fundamental liberties because their people set up
limits in a founding act, and a context where fundamental liberties
are only expressed in the form of treaties among governments.  The
biggest problem is dealing with the second, where we aren't in a
position to tell governments to just stop trampling on our ability to
just work things out.

In the first, we hardly had to think about it -- governments are
always aware that they are subject to powerful recourse if they step
in.  In the second, we're dealing with the creation of frameworks that
don't work that way.

Seth