This paper explores whether more explicit recognition of the role that values play in policy making might help to build an internet governance regime that supports the public interest. The on-going development and spread of the internet and mobile phones is opening up new horizons for communication, connecting people around the world to a global network for sharing information and ideas. The challenge is to ensure that internet-based communications are used to liberate and empower, rather than to control people. The paper discusses whether there is scope for fostering agreement between different stakeholders about the key values that underpin internet governance, and whether these might in turn affect governance principles. The report also examines the human rights framework as a set of principles to guide policy making and behaviour. As an internationally accepted set of ethical standards, the human rights framework is a useful starting point for defining the public interest, or in other words, what constitutes “positive ends” and “negative ends” in communications policy and practice. The paper concludes with a call for inter-cultural dialogue to identify trans-cultural values to shape public interest policy principles for internet governance.