TIA Blog

The Internet is “everything” – it positively impacts so many aspects of the personal and professional lives of people around the world, as well as being a vital mechanism for governments to deliver services to its citizens.  The economic and societal benefits of the global growth and adoption of the Internet are well documented.  Critical to the historically rapid growth in all aspects of the Internet - from the infrastructure, to the content and services delivered, and of course the users – has been the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet Governance.  Internet Governance is a broad topic of discussion, but also a key factor to the continued stability, security, interoperability and functionality of the Internet. 

On April 23 to 24, Brazil will host the NETmundial – Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance in São Paulo, Brazil.  The focus of NETmundial is “the elaboration of principles of Internet governance and the proposal for a roadmap for future development of this ecosystem.  The goal is to consolidate proposals based on these two topics.”  Stakeholders from around the world, including governments, the private sector, academia, civil society and the technical community, will be participating in the discussions in São Paulo.  The broad spectrum of stakeholders represented is a good thing and will reinforce the importance of the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance.  

NETmundial represents an important continuation of the global discussions on how best to ensure a well-functioning and vibrant Internet for the benefit of all stakeholders, including those that ensure the functionality of the Internet, the content and service providers, and the users.  Rather than attempting to establish a definitive set of Internet governance principles and an associated roadmap, the global Internet community would be best served by a NETmundial conference that advances the global discussions that are taking place in a wide variety of fora.  We look forward to a productive conference at NETmundial, and its contribution to the global conversation on Internet governance.

If you would like more information, please see TIA’s contribution to NETmundial or contact Eric Holloway, the Director for International & Government Affairs at TIA.  He can be reached at eholloway@tiaonline.org.