The Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) and the OECD organised a joint session at the 8th Internet Governance Forum (October 2013, Bali, Indonesia), entitled “an open Internet platform for economic growth and innovation”.
The workshop addressed the key question of how an open Internet can be preserved and designed to maximise the benefits for all stakeholder groups while limiting the risks.
It was discussed from the perspective of the OECD Recommendation on Principles for Internet Policy Making (http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/49258588.pdf). More particularly, the panel focused on the following three principles of the OECD Recommendation:
1. Promote and protect the global free flow of information;
2. Promote the open, distributed and interconnected nature of the Internet;
3. Encourage multi-stakeholder co-operation in policy development processes.
Panelists from government, business, civil society and the technical community discussed how they perceive openness and its value for further economic and social development, addressing both the benefits and the possible shortfalls of openness, including the importance of the Internet policy framework provided in the OECD Recommendation. The discussion also touched on the importance of open standards and open collaboration as enablers for the free flow of information on the Internet.
Further takeaways from this workshop can be found in the session report on the IGF website (workshop n° 209):
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/workshops2013/reports-with-transcripts