The Public Core of the Internet: An international Agenda for Internet Governance

Abstract

It advised the Dutch government to make cyberspace and Internet governance a serious priority for its foreign policy. The successful organisation of the Global Conference on Cyber Space in April 2015 (gccs2015) in The Hague provided the Dutch government with an excellent stepping stone to promote its goals of a safe and open Internet through the global arena of cyber diplomacy. Dutch cyber diplomacy will be intensified in the wake of this conference, building -amongst others-on the insights and recommendations put forward in this report.The core messages in the original report and in this book are not limited to the Netherlands however, but have a global appeal. Its main argument is that the Internet's infrastructure and core protocols should be regarded as a global public good that is in need of protection against unwarranted interventions by states and other parties. Its main policy recommendation is that states should work towards establishing an international standard that identifies the Internet's core protocols as a neutral zone in which governments, pursuing their national interests, are prohibited from interfering. This is a goal that is of crucial importance for all states whose societies and economies depend on the integrity and functionality of the Internet. Increasingly, that is the vast majority of states.The original report was drawn up by a project team headed by Dennis Broeders, senior research fellow at the Council and professor of Technology and Society at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The other members of the group were Erik Schrijvers and Lisa Vermeer, both research fellows at the Council. Member of the Council Mark Bovens was also involved in the project.While writing this report, the project group consulted numerous experts in the fields of Internet governance and cybersecurity. Their comments were extremely valuable and the Council would like to thank the interviewees for their time and effort. The Council would also like to thank Jan van den Berg, Nico van Eijk, Marieke de Goede, Erik Huizer and Corien Prins, who commented on earlier versions of the Dutch report. Prof. André Knottnerus Chairman Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy summaryThe Internet's core of key protocols and infrastructure can be considered a global public good that provides benefits to everyone in the world. Countering the growing state interference with this public core requires a new international agenda for Internet governance that departs from the notion of a global public good.internet governance between the technical and the political Everyday life without the Internet has become unimaginable. It is inextricably interwoven with our social lives, our purchasing behaviour, our work, our relationship with the government and, increasingly, with our everyday objects, from smart meters to the cars we drive and the moveable bridges we cross en route. For a long time, Internet governance was the exclusive domain of what is known in Internet circles as the 'technical community'. That community laid the fo...

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