An open internet, copyright, and telecommunications are not exclusively United States policy issues. Governments and public interest stakeholders across the globe engage with these three areas, as well. International policies affect U.S. policy and vice versa. Precedents set by any global player can have a ripple effect on the rest of the world, resulting in waves of similar policies. Like U.S. policy, it is also useful to scrutinize international policies for all their pros and cons. Whether it be for exemplary policies or not so favorable ones, the interplay between the domestic and international arenas is important.

Public Knowledge has worked in collaboration with organizations, advocates, and users from around the world, especially in Latin America and the Global South, to provide support and capacity building on local, regional, and global policy issues.

What PK Is Doing…

Public Knowledge is working in the global policy landscape by:

• Building alliances, engaging with international institutions, and providing resources and education to allies, domestic and abroad;
• Advocating for balanced copyright and an open internet globally in order to protect users’, innovators’, and consumers’ rights;
• Preventing policy laundering on issues that impact consumers, such as privacy, over-the top (OTT) regulation, and intellectual property;
• Advocating for a multistakeholder model of global internet governance.

Among many other things:

We participated in the 12th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2017.

We organized a joint roundtable on “Cybersecurity and Civil Society in the Americas” with the Organization of American Studies (OAS).

We filed International Internet Policy Comments in response to the National Telecommunications Information Administration’s Notice of Inquiry.