Net Mundial, a global internet governance conference being held this week in Brazil, ended on Thursday with little concrete progress to show. Nevertheless, optimistic participants representing a wide range of interests celebrated the constructive conversations that took place during the two-day event, which coincided with Brazil signing its groundbreaking "Internet Bill of Rights" into law.

Representatives from governments, internet companies, and advocacy groups met in São Paulo this week at the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (Net Mundial) conference to discuss a wide range of issues, including surveillance, privacy, internet governance, netizen rights, and net neutrality.

The result of the conference was mixed, with no firm consensus found between the representatives with varied interests. But a general, non-binding outcome document resulted form the conference, leading to a sense that the conference was a step forward.

Non-Binding Outcome

The Brazilian organizers, led by Net Mundial Chairman Virgilio Almeida, underlined the importance of the outcome document, which simultaneously presented the general findings of the conference while also drawing attention to the growing importance of Brazil and other emerging internet markets in the governance of internet policy.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Almeida said that while the document was "not legally binding," it represented "a broad convergence of ideas, perceptions, suggestions and visions coming from different stakeholders in different parts of the world."

Among many principles that emphasized the importance of global internet governance among many stakeholders, the document called for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to underpin internet governance principles. Such rights include freedom of expression, freedom of association, accessibility for the disabled, freedom of access to information, global participation in the development of the internet, and importantly, privacy.

The emphasis on privacy and an anti-surveillance stance comes after a year of revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's global spying practices, some of which spilled details about the NSA conducting surveillance on world leaders, including Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

The document called on the "right to the protection of the law against such interference" saying that "procedures, practices and legislation regarding the surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data, including mass surveillance, interception and collection, should be reviewed, with a view to upholding the right to privacy by ensuring the full and effective implementation of all obligations under international human rights law."

No Full Consensus Yet

Some activists, according to PC World, wanted more forceful and specific language addressing the NSA surveillance of the internet and the involvement of U.S. internet companies, saying the text would lack any strength if it didn't mention the NSA.

The outcome document also called for low barriers to "affordable and high quality internet access," but did not specifically address the issue of net neutrality -- which was put off until future meetings, much to the chagrin of many activists who wanted it listed among the top issues facing the internet today.

The document's vague language on these issues lead some participants, like free expression advocate Niels ten Oever to be disappointed in the outcome, telling the WSJ, "This document has not sufficiently moved us beyond the status quo in terms of protection of fundamental rights and the balancing of power and the influence of different stakeholder groups."

Brazil's Internet Bill of Rights

However, there were reasons for optimism in Brazil this week, and not all of them had to do with the Net Mundial conference. As we previously reported, Brazil's Senate passed the first ever "Internet Bill of Rights" bill on Tuesday, which was ratified on Wednesday by Rousseff.

The first-of-its-kind law, called Marco Civil, enshrines open internet principles, net neutrality, some privacy protections, and many other principles promoting a free and democratic culture for Brazil's internet.