Mario Rodrigo Canazza

The Internet as a Global Public Good and the Role of Governments and Multilateral Organizations in Internet Governance

ABSTRACT

Internet governance¹ is a bottom-up, multi-stakeholder process in which most developing countries play second fiddle to a few developed countries, large Internet corporations, and civil society. Soft power has been diffused to nonstate actors, thus governments and multilateral organizations have been struggling to play an active role in Internet governance. However, the Internet is a global public good (GPG), therefore achieving the welfare-maximizing global provision of the Internet requires collective efforts coordinated by governments and multilateral organizations. The social attributes of the Internet as a GPG reflect the importance of the Internet for socioeconomic development and the efforts of governments to provide Internet access for all. The economic attributes of the Internet reflect governance challenges associated with nonrivalry and nonexcludability, the presence of significant transnational positive and negative externalities of Internet provision, and the need for government intervention and multilateral cooperation to achieve an optimal supply of the Internet worldwide. This study examines the social and economic attributes of the Internet as a GPG, argues for an enhanced role for governments and multilateral organizations in Internet provision, and recommends reforms to the Internet governance system to achieve an optimal global supply of the Internet.

^{1 This study employs the broad concept of Internet governance that includes technical, infrastructure, legal, economic, developmental and sociocultural issues, in accordance with Kurbalija (2012, 15) and the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (UN 2005b, para. 59).}

Mario R. Canazza received his Public Administration degree from Fundação Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo, Brazil. From 2001 to 2006, he worked in the private sector consulting on strategy, business processes, telecommunication services and billing systems for telecommunication operators in Brazil, Europe, Israel, Southeast Asia and the USA. In 2007, he joined the National Telecommunication Agency (Anatel), the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory authority, as an Adviser of International Affairs.

Since then, he has represented the Brazilian government as a delegate and counselor at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU/UN) and the Interamerican Telecommunication Commission (CITEL/OAS). He is responsible for coordinating the Brazilian government's participation and the elaboration of proposals, and he is Brazil’s focal point on management and financial issues at international telecommunication organizations.

In 2013, he chaired the elaboration of ITU's Strategic and Financial plans for 2016-2019. In 2014, he chaired the Committee on the elaboration of the Dubai Action Plan and the strategic objectives for the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector for 2015-2018 at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14).