Tech Luminaries Voice Concerns over UN's Global Digital Compact
Tech Luminaries Express Unease Over UN's Global Digital Compact
Numerous senior figures who have made substantial contributions to the development of the online world have addressed the United Nations with their worries. They have voiced their reservations over aspects of its Global Digital Compact. The United Nations introduced the Compact with the aim of defining shared principles for a secure, free, and open digital future for every individual.
The Purpose Behind the Compact
The UN established the Compact with the intention of leveraging digital technologies to enhance societal conditions. However, these same technologies can potentially fuel divisions within and among countries and exacerbate inequality when misused. The Compact aims to tackle these concerns by reaffirming the commitment to connect the unconnected, avoid internet fragmentation, provide users with options to control data usage, apply human rights online, and promote a trustworthy internet by introducing accountability criteria for misleading content and discrimination.
Disapproval from the Internet Tech Community
The document, unfortunately, has not been well-received by the technical community. Major internet governance organizations feel overlooked and excluded from the Compact discussions. The critique is primarily because these discussions have been generally framed to involve the governments, civil society groups, and the private sector, leaving the tech community marginalized.
The Open Letter
Notable internet figures, including WWW inventor Tim Berners-Lee, TCP/IP co-creator Vint Cerf, W3C's technical director Chris Lilley, and top officers from the Internet Architecture Board, Internet Society, Internet Engineering Steering Group, and Internet Engineering Task Force, have put forth their objections to the Compact via an Open Letter. They have expressed concern that the Compact, instead of promoting decentralized governance, could potentially push for more centralization, thereby going against the basic architecture of the internet.
Call to Preserve the Multistakeholder Model
In conclusion, the tech luminaries have called on the UN member states, tech envoy, and secretary-general to ensure that digital governance proposals align with the highly successful multi-stakeholder internet model.
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