“Having your cake and eating it too: can Internet rights an access goals be reconciled?” is the title of this session to address how Internet governance often seems to navigate between two seemingly competing goals: on the one hand, the protection of desirable governance principles such as user privacy and the open architecture of the network; on the other, the provision of affordable access to Internet infrastructure and services to as many users as possible. The tensions between Internet governance principles and access goals are hardly new, dating back to the walled-garden architecture of early access services and privacy concerns over free email services. More recently, these tensions have resurfaced in debates about zero-rating plans offered by many mobile broadband operators in developing countries, which has pitted those defending neutrality principles against those arguing for expanded access opportunities for low-income populations. This roundtable session brings together academics, activists, and representatives from the public and private sectors for an honest, open format discussion about these tensions, particularly from a developing countries’ perspective. Key questions that will orient the debate are: How to strike a balance between these seemingly competing goals? Can empirical research help advance the discussion beyond the statement of principles? Are Internet governance principles necessarily at odds with expanded access goals? In other words, can we have our cake and it eat too? Are there best practices cases in developed or developing countries for striking such a balance? To what extent is government regulation desirable in this area?
Speakers:
- José Clastornik, AGESIC – Uruguay
- Helani Galpaya, LIRNEasia
- Martín Waserman, Facebook
- Eduardo Bertoni, Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE)
- Alison Gillwald, ICT Africa
- Carolina Botero, Karisma Foundation
- Anriette Esterhuysen, Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
- Sebastián Bellagamba, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for Internet Society
- Juan Jung, Iberoamerican Association of Telecom Enterprises (AHCIET)
- Mishi Choudhary, Software Freedom Law Center
Moderator: Hernan Galperín, Annenberg School for Communication - University of Southern California
