A Major Win for the Open Internet

As one of Brazil’s leading Internet scholars and chair of Netmundial Virgilio Almeida brought NETmundial to a close, the US government delegation rose in applause. And almost everyone else in the room rose with us.

We affirm the Multistakeholder Statement of São Paulo, the ideas it presents, the ideals it embraces, and the multistakeholder process that made it possible. We rose out of appreciation for the Brazilians and the Internet community leaders that brought us together and impressively managed a challenging conversation. And we rose in joint commitment to preserving, promoting, and expanding the benefits of a single, interoperable, open, and global Internet for all of the world’s people.

NETmundial clearly demonstrates the suitability of the multistakeholder approach over intergovernmental discussion to address Internet governance issues. We will carry this experience forward as we approach upcoming multilateral events like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Korea in October, where we will work to ensure that the ITU remains relevant and responsive to the evolution of technology in its traditional areas of competence, and leaves issues such as Internet governance to the fully capable global multistakeholder community.

[Michael Daniel serves as Special Assistant to the President and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. Lawrence Strickling serves as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda serves as US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the US Department of State. Christopher Painter serves as Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the US Department of State. Scott Busby serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]