Towards a Holistic Approach for Internet Related Public Policy Making

Can the Helsinki Process of the 1970s be a Source of Inspiration to Enhance Stability in Cyberspace?

20 years ago, Internet governance was a technical issue with some political implications. Today, Internet Governance is a key political issue with some technical components. This shift is challenging the institutional balance within the global Internet governance ecosystem and its governmental and non-governmental negotiations mechanisms. Intergovernmental networks like the G20, G7 and BRICS, or organizations like NATO, WTO, ILO and OSCE, which in the past had nothing or only little to do with Internet governance, are now becoming key players. This does not mean that technical organizations like ICANN, IETF, ISOC, RIRs, W3C, IEEE, 3GPP, etc., which dominated the Internet governance discussions in the last two decades, will lose their roles. What we see is a new “Internet governance complexity“. The re-balancing of power within the Internet governance ecosystem pushes for innovative approaches to global Internet related public policy making and for enhanced cooperation among governmental and non-governmental stakeholders as well as for a closer collaboration among code-makers and law-makers, both nationally and globally.