A presentation from the National Democratic Institute (USA) (work in progress, 2024)
The draft Global Digital Compact (GDC) itself can be found on the UN site.
Personal Opinions:
Many aspects of the GDC draft are laudable, especially its emphasis on "international human rights and principles." However, while the draft superficially appears to endorse the long-standing multistakeholder model of the Internet, it also contains worrying phrases that tend to give primacy to national governments, in particular "Strengthen support to all Member States to develop effective and interoperable national data governance frameworks." In some countries, this may run precisely counter to international human rights.
Additionally there is talk of "establishing an office to facilitate system-wide coordination, serve as focal point for states and stakeholders on digital and emerging technologies", whereas the primary nature of the Internet's overwhelmingly successful technological development since the mid-1980s has been completely decentralized and self-coordinated actions. The GDC appears to neglect this aspect entirely, yet it is the Internet's recipe for success. (It was the rejection of the old telecommunications régime with government monopolies and international regulations that led to the rise of the Internet.)
As it stands, it seems unlikely to me that the technical community will, as suggested in paragraph 65 of revision 2 of the draft GDC, "endorse the Compact and take active part in its implementation."
My previous documents below explore this topic further.
Where to Discuss a New Internet? (April 2020)
Clarifying "Internet governance" (January 2014)
A short review of "The Global War for Internet governance" (January 2014)
Cross-Border Information Governance: It's Time to be More Precise about Internet Governance (December 2013)
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