[npoc-voice] National Net Neutrality Policy, and Civil Society and NGO seats at the table

[Sam Lanfranco <lanfran@xxxxxxxx>]

NPOC Members,

The rapid global expansion of the Internet has been uneven country by 
country depending on technical capacity, market forces and public 
policy. Increasingly the Internet is becoming a target of public policy 
and this is most apparent in two areas. One is the area of political 
voice and advocacy, driven by civil society concerns around human 
rights, freedom and governments concerned with security, advocacy, and 
control. The other is the issue of Net Neutrality driven by notions of 
rights and freedoms on one side, and by commercial interests on the 
other side.
In India cell phone carriers are exploring ways to disrupt voice over IP 
from mobile devices, pushing customers to use metered cell minutes. In 
the United States Congress is poised to vote on net neutrality 
legislation on February 26th. Mozilla Advocacy, supported by the Mozilla 
Foundation, creators of the FireFox browser, is an example of a national 
mobilization effort in support of Net Neutrality.
See: https://advocacy.mozilla.org/

Increasingly some of the operational issues of the Internet and its DNS 
will be impacted country-by-country by national policy and it is 
important that civil society and not-for-profit organizations strengthen 
their awareness of the issues at the national level and deepen and 
broaden their engagement around issues of Internet governance, policy 
and implementation at the national level.
Business and political interests are already around that national policy 
table. It is time for a stronger Civil Society and NGO presence around 
that national policy table.
It is important to realize that Internet policy and its implementation 
will impact the work and mission of all Civil Society and NGO 
organizations and not just those with a primary interest in the Internet 
and Internet governance.
Sam Lanfranco,  Chair, NPOC Policy Committee