IGP's Milton Mueller and Jeanette Hofmann have been invited to attend a European Commission Hearing on Internet Governance Arrangements to be held in Brussels on May 6. The agenda focuses attention on the international dimension of "security and stability" as governments continue to use the "critical infrastructure" rubric to position themselves for a stronger role. For example, it asks whether "self-regulation for critical infrastructures and services [should] be more closely monitored by governments and relevant public authorities?"

In his submitted comments, Mueller focuses on the role of governments as conceived by the WSIS and the broader question of the role of public authorities in Internet governance. He argues that the Tunis Declaration of a preeminent role for governments in determining "public policy" and the "advisory" role of the GAC within ICANN are inappropriate arrangements for government participation in shaping the global Internet.

Instead he proposes that governments "get out of their silo" and join the rest of ICANN stakeholders as peers in policy making, that ICANN’s global governance regime should explicitly and formally yield control of purely national aspects (e.g. ccTLDs), and that insofar as governments wish to supervise ICANN globally, they should do so via globally applicable, collectively agreed treaties or laws.

Read his entire comment here.