Quick Thought on Internet Governance and Edward Snowden
I am neither an Internet governance expert nor am I personally consumed by the issue. However, I wanted to point out a possible rhetorical inconsistency involving the Internet governance debate and another hot topic, theft of secret documents by insiders, namely Edward Snowden. Let me set the stage. First, Internet governance. Too often the Internet governance debate is reduced to the following. One side is characterized as "multi-stakeholder," consisting of various nongovernmental parties with overlapping agendas, like ICANN, IANA, IETF, etc. This side is often referred to as "the West" (thanks to the US, Canada, Europe, etc. being on this side), and is considered a proponent of an "open" Internet. The other side aligns with state governments and made its presence felt at the monumental December 2012 ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) meeting. This side is often referred to as "the East" (thanks to Russia, China, t