The new US concept of "digital sovereignity" can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/defending-american-c... Is this the beginning of the US-EU digital war? The ÈU-US-TTC is dead, isn´t it? What the Europeans should do? Remove all the laws, they have adopted during the last five years? Von der Leyen was proud, that the EU is not a "Norm Taker", but a "Norm Maker". Now they have the digital rulebook with more than 1 500 pages of legal text (which pushes private companies to hire law firms to understand all the complexities), but they do not have European champions. Henna Virkkunen, the new EU Commissioner, understands this and she argued in the European Parliament for a "simplification of regulation". I asked her at the Munich Security Conference last month weather J.D. Vance call for "digital re-regulation" and her concept of "simplification of digital EU regulation" could converge. Her answer was lala. "We want to clear our digital rule book from duplications, contradictions and not needed details, but de-regulation is not an option." Interesting times. Wolfgang
Alejandro Pisanty via wsis20 <wsis20@icann.org> hat am 08.03.2025 20:43 CET geschrieben:
Bill, Isra,
thanks. Indeed the signal Isra has detected is most likely only the start. The points Bill makes also point to things to watch. The greatest concern might be less related to budgets and to leaving multilateral organizations and more to a reassertion of nationalism and the recurrence, intensified, of the "the Internet is American" mantra. "Americans made it and the US should own it"... Panama Canal anyone? Over the years, those calls did not succeed in stopping the multistakeholder, Internet-native organizations and mechanisms, but sure were extremely disruptive at times. "Anti-globalist" and nationalist concerted action against ICANN or its principals, with weird allies from the Global South, were really tough during, say, the debate around the adult-oriented gTLD and other periods. I see all the signs that once it gets sparked it will be orders of magnitude more ferocious. And, I already see some people who have been long-time solid supporters of ICANN and the multistakeholder approach siding with the hard-line nationalism in issues like cutting aid and other international expenses and activities of the US.
The discourse on sovereignty, digital sovereignty in particular, may be turned around 180 degrees and start to bite supporters of a diluted or networked concept of sovereignty or the brilliant (IMO) approach of transitioning from digital sovereignty to digital agency as per Akash Kapur's paper.
We should be actively assessing scenarios for ICANN, the I* based in the US and those not, other multistakeholder organizations like APWG and M3AAWG, the IGF and WSIS+20, and of course Internet and AI Governance more broadly. Isra's note is a clarion call we should not ignore.
Alejandro Pisanty
On Sat, Mar 8, 2025 at 10:43 AM William Drake via wsis20 <wsis20@icann.org mailto:wsis20@icann.org> wrote:
Hi Isra
Needless to say, this is more than a data point, it’s a new environment. Probably they’re just getting started and there’s lots more stuff laying around waiting to be broken. According to a State Dept report I read yesterday, as of FY 2022 the US pays 22% of the overall UN budget (not counting arrears) and over $21 billion to 179 international organizations and multilateral entities (85% voluntary funds, 15% assessed). As the cultural revolution’s march through the institutions proceeds, one has to assume the administration will claim to find lots more “woke/DEI/waste, fraud and abuse” in those budgets, as well as lots more treaties and agreements to abandon.
Taking a "business as usual" approach to WSIS20 and related might lead to some surprises down the road...
Cheers
Bill
On Mar 7, 2025, at 3:22 PM, Israel Rosas via wsis20 <wsis20@icann.org mailto:wsis20@icann.org> wrote:
Hi all,
I'd like to bring your attention to the remarks delivered on 4 March by the US Minister Counselor to ECOSOC regarding the USG position about the Agenda 2030. This is a significant shift that can have serious implications in the WSIS+20 review, particularly in a context where many of us have advocated for the Internet as a force for good that helps advance global development.
The remarks are located here: https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-the-un-meeting-entitled-58th-plenary-m... https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-the-un-meeting-entitled-58th-plenary-m...
A couple of concerning extracts:
"We have a concern that this resolution is a reaffirmation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although framed in neutral language, Agenda 2030 and the SDGs advance a program of soft global governance that is inconsistent with U.S. sovereignty and adverse to the rights and interests of Americans."
"Put simply, globalist endeavors like Agenda 2030 and the SDGs lost at the ballot box. Therefore, the United States rejects and denounces the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and it will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course."
Best, Isra
Isra Rosas, Director, Partnerships and Internet Development Internet Society
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-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Facultad de Química UNAM Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico +525541444475 Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614 Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty ---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _______________________________________________ Learn more about the WSIS+20 Outreach Network and review relevant resources: https://go.icann.org/wsis20 Read the public archives for this mailing list: https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/wsis20/ _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.