By Malou Mangahas, PCIJ

STOCKHOLM, Sweden Freedom for all, and all stakeholders speaking out with equal voice, on how to govern the Internet. Internet Freedom. Internet for Freedom.

These issues drive the two-day Stockholm Internet Forum 2013 (SIF13) that opens today, May 22 in this country that ranks top in the world for leveraging the potentials of the Internet, according to the latest Web Index.

The forum focuses on two themes Internet Freedom and Security, and Internet Freedom and Development. Policymakers, netizens, techies, activists, and business and civil society representatives from 93 countries are participants.

(The PCIJ is attending the conference on invitation of the forum organizers, namely, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, .Se or The Internet Infrastructure Foundation of Sweden, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency or SIDA.)

At the reception for delegates on Tuesday, Fadi Chehade, president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), called the Internet a free gift for all the people. It would thus be wrong for any one party, organization, or government to propose to control or govern it by itself, he said.

While some countries like the United States have played a big part in developing it, Chehade notes that even the US acknowledges that there is need everywhere for this great resource.

No one organization, no one country, no one government, no one, period, can control the Internet, he said. And we must respect it and govern it like that.

However, across nations and regions of the world, he noted that some parties have done a pretty miserable job of managing the Internet.

The conundrum that confronts governments, civil society, academia, and business is precisely how to manage this resources that spans the planet and crosses borders.

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The Internet and freedom for all