Saturday 6 December 2008, 09:30 - 11:00, HICC Room Seven
Workshop Organizers:
Dr. Hong Xue, Professor of Law of Beijing Normal University and Chair of Council of Chinese Domain Name Users Alliance, China
Panelists
Prof. Hong Xue, Beijing Normal University, China
Mr. Daniel Rainey, Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution Services, The National Mediation Board, USA
Mr. Graham Ross, Founder and Managing Director of The MediationRoom, United Kingdom
Prof. Vivekanandan, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, India
Mr. Jeff Aresty, InternetBar, USA
Mr. Pavan Duggal, Head of Pavan Duggal Associates, India
Participants
Although the workshop was held in the early morning of the last day of IGF, there were 35 participants joining the session face-to-face. 11 people made the comments or raised the questions from the floor. There was around 20 minutes of interaction between the panel and the audience. Even after the session adjourned, many people continue their discussions and around 10 people from China, India, US, Greece, Netherland, Tanzania and UK gathered on 2nd floor Concourse and decided to launch a dynamic coalition on ODR.
The remote participation was disastrous though. Mr. Daniel Rainey and Mr. Graham Ross were waiting to join the session online. There was either no video or no sound. Despite their tremendous effort to participate at midnight in their time zones, the organizer could eventually play their podcasting. The technicians and staff in the conference room were not helpful at all. They always said “it is Okay”. But obviously both the connection and sound system were screwed up and they could not fix them. Given the terrible network connection, no audience could join online.
Summary of Discussions
ODR is not only for important to e-commerce but essential for the people’s access to justice in the information society. The workshop focused on the e-justice, which is a overlooked area in the Internet governance discussion.
ODR and Economic Development: in the present financial crisis, ODR’s function to facilitate the economic development has become particularly important. If ODR can increase the financing for SMEs, employment opportunities and international trade, ODR can gradually enter into the mainstream of dispute resolution.
ODR and social justice: in addition to improving the judicial efficacy and save the costs and resources, ODR can let more people, particularly those disadvantaged, access to justice and dispute resolution services. This is critically important to the disable people and the people living in the remote regions of the developing countries.
Redefinition of ODR: The term "online dispute resolution" (ODR) is the product of an observation that was made in the mid-1990's about the nature of "new" disputes being created through the use of ICT - Information and Communication Technology. The observation was direct and powerful - by using ICT, we are creating a cyber-environment (the Internet) and cyber-transactions that are different from the transactions we are used to in the "real" world, and we are creating conflict that is different in nature than the conflict we create in the physical world. The classic example is eBay. A buyer in India and a seller in Iowa may have a dispute over an online transaction and find it physically impossible to engage in mediation or other types of dispute resolution in the traditional, face-to-face sense. Additionally, there may be no clear legal authority to help them settle the dispute. For individuals in this position, some online dispute resolution system is the only game in town. This observation and the reaction to it was the birth ground for Ethan Katsh and Janet Rifkin’s identification of ODR technology as the “Fourth Party.”
Indian Experience: Online Dispute resolution has various practice models in US, Europe and Australia to name a few spaces. In Indian context the Information Technology Act 2000 opened the Digital age regulation. The Act aimed at legitimizing Digital signature and bringing the E-commerce revolution. The IT Act 2000 has touched upon various issues of contract formation, digital signature validation, cyber crimes and jurisdiction issues. It has not explicitly dealt with ODR. Yet the provisions could be optimized for ODR in various sectors. The sections on E-Governance provide for prop active use of dispute resolutions methods. yet the effective ODR needs other inputs like the training, infrastructure and most importantly the willingness to the disputants to be part of the process. This presentation analysed such optimization for ODR for stakeholders.
Future of ODR: it was proposed that a Global ODR Development Panel (Panel) initially take the lead and become a driving force for building a trusted online community responsible for collectively drafting documents, circulating information and organizing promotional events about building an online justice system. Panelists should include the leading figures in ODR research and practices. An effective working organization should include up to 30 members, and have gender and geographical balance. The Panel will particularly encourage the participation of the disabled people for their access and exercise of justice through ODR proceedings. The Panelists will be by invitation plus public recruitment.
Follow-up
Given the tremendous interests and strong momentum of the panelist and participants of the workshop, an ODR Dynamic Coalition will be formed. An initial website has been set up at http://cde.iiit.ac.in/odpr/. A charter is being drafted and the application for the DC will soon be submitted to the IGF secretariat.