Civil society closing statement at NETmundial 2014
SAO PAULO, Brazil, 25 April 2014 (BestBits )
We would like to thank the Brazilian government for organising the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance.
We, as a diverse group of civil society organisations from around the world, appreciate having been part of the process.
However, we are disappointed because the meeting’s outcome document fails to adequately reflect a number of our key concerns.
The lack of acknowledgement of net neutrality at NETmundial is deeply disappointing.
Mass surveillance has not been sufficiently denounced as being inconsistent with human rights and the principle of proportionality.
And although the addition of language on internet intermediary liability is welcomed, the final text fails to ensure due process safeguards, which could undermine the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.
We feel that this document has not sufficiently moved us beyond the status quo in terms of the protection of fundamental rights and the balancing of power and influence of different stakeholder groups.