OECD members vow to keep the Internet open

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 30 June 2011 18:26

IT Policy - Regulation

OECD member governments and other stakeholders have created a new framework to promote a more transparent, open Internet at a two-day meeting in Paris.

According to the OECD, the new principles aim to advance the debate on Internet governance, and underline the benefits that today's light-touch, flexible regulation has brought in driving innovation and economic growth.

"Meeting at the OECD in Paris, participants underlined the need to maintain the open, decentralised design of the Internet. This model, which includes governments, business, civil society and the technical community in a so-called multi-stakeholder approach, has been key to the Internet's rapid growth and impact," the OECD said in a statement.

According to the official communique of the meeting: "The Internet has achieved global interconnection without the development of any international regulatory regime. The development of such a formal regulatory regime could risk undermining its growth."

Participants called on governments to improve their efforts to protect personal data, the freedom of expression, and other fundamental rights online, "recognising that the Internet economy's success depends upon the free flow of information, which should be promoted and protected."

They also said that countries must develop and promote high-speed broadband access to reap the full benefits of an Internet economy. "Governments have a key role to play in spurring demand for broadband, particularly in areas such as education, health, energy distribution and transport."

They also called for limits to the liability for Internet intermediaries, saying: "Appropriate limitations of liability for Internet intermediaries have, and continue to play, a fundamental role, in particular with regard to third party content.

The full communique "On Principles for Internet Policy Making" can be downloaded from here (This link produced garbage in Safari on a Mac - if you have problems, try a different browser).

In preparation for the meeting the OECD last week released a range of related documents, foremost among them its Communications Outlook for 2011.