A presentation to the Giga-Net Workshop on Internet governance

1. Ewan Sutherland
LINK Centre, Wits University
CRIDS, University of Namur
GIGA-net Workshop
17-18 May 2013 Geneva

2.  Corruption
 Washington consensus
 US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
 UN Convention Against Corruption
 Web sites against corruption
 IGF and other odies
 What to do
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 2

3.  Washington consensus
 Competitive telecommunications markets
 Privatisation of fixed line incumbents
 Liberalisation – allowing additional mobile
network operators
 Regulation by an independent authority
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 3

4.  Privatisation:
◦ Monopoly on international gateway
◦ Mobile network licence
◦ Concealed assets
 Licensing:
◦ Bribery
◦ Cronyism
◦ Nepotism
◦ Head of state/government
 Regulation:
◦ Façade
◦ Bribe takers
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 4

5.  Post-Watergate era legislation
 Outlaws paying bribes in other jurisdictions
 Applies to any:
◦ Corporation registered or listed in USA
◦ Citizen or resident
 Obligation on corporations to self-investigate
and to inform investors and the SEC
 Prosecuted:
◦ Siemens, Alcatel, Lucent, Qualcomm
◦ Deutsche Telekom, Magyar Telekom, some smaller
operators
◦ Ex-Congressman Bill “Cold cash” Jefferson
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 5

6.  Entered into force in December 2005
 Requires the outawing of:
◦ domestic bribery of officials
◦ bribery of foreign officials
 Provides for:
◦ Mutual legal assistance
◦ Asset recovery
 Biennial conferences of the states parties
 Beginnings of a system of peer review
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 6

7.  India
 Kenya
 Morocco
 Azerbaijan
 Ukrain
 Italy
 Greece
 Kosovo
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 7

8. Year Conference Location Control of
corruption
2011
CPI
2012
2003 WSIS Phase I Geneva, Switzerland 95.7 6th
2005 WSIS Phase II Tunis, Tunisia 53.1 75th
2006 IGF Athens, Greece 55.9 94th
2007 IGF Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 63.0 69th
2008 IGF Hyderabad, India 35.1 94th
2009 IGF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt 28.0 118th
2010 IGF Vilnius, Lithuania 65.9 48th
2011 IGF Nairobi, Kenya 18.5 139th
2012 IGF Baku, Azerbaijan 9.5 139th
2013 IGF Bali, Indonesia 27.5 118th
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 8
Worldwide governance indicator for the control of corruption is a
“percentile rank”, with higher numbers indicating less corruption

9.  Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
◦ UN General Assembly resolution A/Res/60/252
 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN)
◦ Registered in California as a non-profit corporation C3289942
 Government Advisory Committee (GAC)
◦ Article XI of the ICANN Bylaws
 Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
◦ Own charter (RFC 2850) and is a committee of the IETF and an advisory body to the
Internet Society
 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
◦ “a large open international community”
 Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
◦ RFC 2014 and RFC 4440
 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
◦ “W3C does not have a typical organizational structure, nor is it incorporated.” W3C is
administered via a joint agreement among four host institutions: MIT, ERCIM, Keio
University, and Beihang University.
 Internet Society (ISOC)
◦ Registered in the District of Columbia as a non-profit corporation 924447
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 9

10.  International Telecommunication Union:
◦ We cannot name the convicted
 Body of European Regulators of Electronic
Communications:
◦ Lack of resources
 Our sponsors would not like it
 Is your research not dangerous?
◦ My imminent bloody demise
◦ My bankruptcy through defamation damages
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 10

11.  Talk about it
 Set a no tolerance policy
 Require
◦ Bodies to register and publish accounts
◦ Individuals to declare interest
 Dynamic Coalition against Corruption:
◦ UN Office for Drugs and Crime
◦ Corporate Compliance Officers (e.g., Siemens)
◦ Transparency International
 Internet Initiative against Corruption
◦ Like other sector initiatives
◦ Follow the money
◦ Publicise codes of conduct
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 11

12.  Assumption seems to be that
multistakeholderism is immune to corruption
 Money and influence are very hard to track
 Everybody is a lobbyist
 Corruption has been and is a severe problem
in network infrastructure:
◦ Consequently markets badly underperform
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 12

13.  Unpick the lobbying efforts of various
commercial groups
 Identify if there has been
◦ capture or corruption
 Re-examine conventional anti-corruption
methods to check they fit with
multistakeholderism
 Identify and publish data to improve
transparency
Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 13

14. Ewan Sutherland, May 2013, GIGA-net, Geneva 14
 Ewan Sutherland
 sutherla [at] gmail.com
 http://anti-corruption-telecoms.blogspot.com/
 http://www.ssrn.com/author=927092
 +44 141 649 4040
 skype://sutherla