Why Athens is the one to watch

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which kicked off today, is a very different affair from last week’s World Congress on Communication for Development. People here in Athens are trying to answer just one question: how should we govern (or, as some put it, ‘control’) the internet?

Admittedly the various participants – from governments, business, civil society, and internet agencies – have their own agendas. But the Forum is the first of its kind to enable all these sectors to sit together and find a way to agree broad guidelines on issues related to access, diversity, openness and security.

Here are three compelling reasons why journalists should watch what happens at the IGF:

Reason 1: You just need to listen to what Vinton Cerf - one of the fathers of the internet’s architecture - had to say this morning: “The internet is the largest distributed collection of historical and current information ever in existence”. I think that alone is a good reason for mainstream media – traditionally society’s information provider – to pay attention to governance of the internet.

Reason 2: This Forum may not be legally binding, but it does offer a space where corporate players, pro-poor advocates, and governments receive equal respect and weight. Until now, global policy-making bodies have shunned civil society. So this is an interesting laboratory that could have implications for decision-making on other policy issues, including trade and environment.

Reason 3: The ‘multistakeholder process’ has been set in motion, and it’s much better seeing it in action than typing it! All the parties involved at least agree that the future of the internet can only be improved through cooperation, not by protection.