Hi Andrea,

I went through the European Commission's Communication on Internet Governance

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=4453

And while I do not think the Coop-WG should engage in policy making on Internet Governance – which is mainly what this Commission’s document is about - there is something which caught my eye …

… In section 6 of the Commission document it is mentioned: “[…] even where the technical discussion process is open, key decisions are frequently made by technical experts in the absence of broad stakeholder representation. An effective multistakeholder approach to specification setting on the internet will be based on efficient mutual interactions between technical and public policy considerations so that technical specifications more systematically take into account public policy concerns.[…] “

As someone who is interested in bridging the gap between technology and policy/legislation – and having worked in both environments - I am quite interested on how the European Commission sees this in practice. …. I know in that document you propose "workshops", but that seems to signal language that is more easily understood by the policy/internet governance audience than the technical one. This is by no means a criticism I am just trying to understand the meaning and implications of this section better.

It would be much appreciated if you would be able to expand on that ?

What would this mean in practical terms for the technical community?
What would "good look like" once this "multistakeholder approach to specification setting" is put in place ?
Also, what is the distinction between the European Internet Industry and what I imagine to be the Rest-of-the-World Internet Industry?

Thanks !

Alain Van Gaever

Co-Chair Coop-WG

On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 10:08 AM, <Andrea.GLORIOSO@ec.europa.eu> wrote:

[ I sent an almost identical message to the IAB InternetGovTech mailing list, so apologies for duplications ]

Dear all,

a few words to introduce myself: I'm Andrea Glorioso (Mr - I'm Italian). I work at the European Commission, in the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (sorry for the mouthful - we call it DG CONNECT).

I have been one of the persons working on the Communication on Internet Policy and Governance which our former colleague, Gordon Lennox, has kindly shared on this and other lists (they were on my list but Gordon spared me some typing :).

I just wanted to say that I'm delighted - honestly - that the Communication seems to have already sparked some discussions on this and other lists.

We are very much in listening mode and to the extent possible I'll be glad to react to your points, questions, comments and criticisms. There might be cases in which I will want to double check the position of the European Commission on any particular matter, and this might produce some delay in the exchanges; but I'll do my best to be as quick, open and transparent as possible.

Thanks,

--
Andrea Glorioso (Mr)
European Commission - DG Communication Networks, Content and Technology
Unit D1 (International relations) + Task Force on Internet Policy Development
Avenue de Beaulieu 25 (4/64) / B-1049 / Brussels / Belgium
T: +32-2-29-97682 M: +32-460-797-682 E: Andrea.Glorioso@ec.europa.eu
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