The elephant in the room – the Internet and its governance

[Commentary] It was said several times this past week at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that the elephant in the room was the IGF itself; everyone was trying to decide what to do with it. Continue forward? Pull the plug? Finding a more productive path forward without an outcome document is challenging, but it’s part of the IGF formula. It’s the best way to keep all interested parties discussing the major issues without spelling out the finer points in a document that would divide the effort. There was another elephant in the room that stayed in the shadows throughout the week: governing the Internet itself.

[Tews is the Chief Policy Officer at 463 Communications]