<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Eric and Others<div><br></div><div>I will attempt to put down more detailed comments. I am traveling in Italy. However, in case I do not have a chance to do so, I would like to support the general direction of Christopher's and Norbert's comments. The By-laws have moved some way from where they started, but they fall short of recognizing the role, and providing proper mechanisms for the involvement and treatment, of the Chapters (and hence ordinary members). </div><div><br></div><div>The Internet Society has declared that it wants to substantially increase its membership. The Society is working in involving Chapters in the the Society's crucial efforts to preserve an "open" Internet in the face of significant challenges. But the By-laws still reflect too much of the Society's earlier mindset. The Chapters still are not recognized as essential components of an activist Society. For example, there seems to be no provision for a Chapters annual meeting equivalent to that of the Organizational members. There should be at least five Chapter trustees to permit representation (and hence a feeling of involvement) of the major geographic regions of the Society.</div><div><br></div><div>Most essentially Chapters are not recognized as part of a structure that should be on a par with the Organizational Members. Chapters are not provided protections. Most importantly there should be a recognition that not all Chapters can be organized the same way because of local law.</div><div><br></div><div>Since I have been involved in presenting comments and attending meetings concerning the Bylaws, I know that there has been a lot of hard work and good intentions put into this new draft. But I fear it still falls short and will only confirm the suspicions of some (not me) that the Society is not serious about the crucial role that Chapters have to play in organizing their members to support the Society's positions and efforts.</div><div><br></div><div>Yours,</div><div><br></div><div>John H. More</div><div>Greater Washington DC Chapter</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Sep 13, 2012, at 8:57 PM, President of ISOC Cambodia <<a href="mailto:president@isoc-kh.org">president@isoc-kh.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/13/2012 11:32 PM, CW Mail wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:F001A0E8-B9DC-4B55-A9A1-563F51BEA3E0@christopherwilkinson.eu" type="cite"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">Dear Eric Burger:</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">Thankyou. I appreciate the enormous amount of
work that the Bylaws Committee has recently undertaken and
trust that the new Board of Trustees will be able to draw
this excercise to a successful conclusion in the
foreseeable future. I would however invite the Committee
and the Board to 'go the extra mile' to accommodate the
practical consequences of the avowed objective of
enhancing the participation and the interests of the
Chapters in the Internet Society as a whole.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">1. In Article IV the Chapters are still not
recognised as Members, on a par with Organisational
Members. For some of us this is a line in the sand. We
cannot continue to try and mobilise our members if our
Chapters are still treated in the formal texts as second
class citizens.</font></font></font></p>
</blockquote>
<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The draft for new Bylaws for the
Internet Society have been discussed since months by e-mail and in
webinars. It is disappointing to see that the fundamental question
about the role and place of the Chapters, discussed at that time,
seems to be still lost. Some of the related “deafening silence”
had been deplored at that time – but it seems without much
response. We are repeating...</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This problem is not only a question of
Bylaw formulations, it shows up in public announcements, like in
the
following from 22 August 2012: [ISOC] NEWS RELEASE: Internet
Society
Welcomes Sofie Maddens as Senior Director of Global Services,
which
says:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“The Internet Society is a global
organization, at the heart of which are our Regional Bureaus,”
said
Walda Roseman, Chief Operating Officer of the Internet Society.”</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Am I the only one who thinks that at
the heart of the Internet Society are its members? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I admit that I do not know much about
ISOC's Global Services, but they may be even further away from our
reality - where we face challenges of a tightening environment for
the freedom
of communication - than the Asia Pacific Regional Office. From
there,
we got not ONE mail related to our predicament during two years,
until recently, and then we were told that in a “Meet and greet”
meeting, for which we had pleaded in extensive correspondence to
discuss the difficult situation our Chapter is facing, that the
meeting would be only “<font color="#3333ff">to enable me to use
my
powerpoint slides and present the global/APAC activities and
plans,
and no other.”</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font>“and no other”!
This is an original quote.<br>
</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font>Are the future
Bylaws of the Internet Society going to recognize the Chapters
and
their Members differently, or are we just an appendix to ISOC
Global
and the Regional Bureaus at the heart of this structure?</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font>Does the
Internet
Society Global have any interest in our small struggling
Chapter,
when even the </font><a href="http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga"><em><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration:
none">European</span></span></em><span style="text-decoration: none">
Chapters Coordinating Council</span></a> had to raise the
problem of
not having received a response from staff after one year?<br>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Most of the other points Christopher
Wilkinson is raising down here - some of them repeatedly - follow
from the fundamental problem that the Internet Society - in its
top structure - does not seem to see us as their genuine basis. So
what can be the future?<br>
<br>
</p>
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<blockquote cite="mid:F001A0E8-B9DC-4B55-A9A1-563F51BEA3E0@christopherwilkinson.eu" type="cite"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">2. As I have pointed out on several previous
occasions, the number of Trustees elected by the Chapters
is not sufficient: a minimum of 5 seats would be
necessary, with a guarantee of geographical diversity.<br>
<br>
Also I have come to understand throughout this process,
during the past two years, that the Board does not yet
understand that the primary role of many Chapters locally
and in other contexts (e.g. ICANN At Large) is as
participants in Civil Society. From that point of view a
50:50 representation on the Board of Chapters on the one
hand and the industry on the other hand would be more
appropriate - and would I believe be applauded
internationally.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">3. I appreciate that the functions of Chapters
are now expressed in facultative and illustrative manner.
That is an improvement.</font></font></font></p>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 80, 169); font-family: Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 20px; "><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 80, 169); font-family: Helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: 20px; ">Also, personally, I accept the
need for 'standards of performance', provided that they are </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 80, 169);
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; "><u>negotiated
in concert with the Chapters themselves.</u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 80, 169);
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; "> That
will be something for the Board to address in due course in
the context of the proposed exchange of Letters of
Affiliation. Meanwhile, it would be appreciated if the staff
would refrain from prescriptive statements about performance
criteria.</span></div>
</blockquote>
How is "standard performance" to be defined and measured? Only for
Chapters? Is it standard performance that a Regional Officer
announces and brings non-members to the "Meet and greet" who say
that two hours ago they did not know what the Internet Society is -
but the Regional Officer encourages them to become members - OK -
and to stand as candidate two weeks later for Chapter leadership? -
Is it standard procedure that I learn from a mailing list that the
Regional Office is "working within the government to provide more
support and knowledge" (relating to Cambodia) - and when expressing
my surprise and ask what it is - I am still without an answer. Who
is monitoring performance over what?<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:F001A0E8-B9DC-4B55-A9A1-563F51BEA3E0@christopherwilkinson.eu" type="cite"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">4. There is still no provision for a 'special
meeting' (aka Advisory Committee) for Chapter members, on
a par with Organisational members.</font></font></font></p>
</blockquote>
There is - as the experience of the <a href="http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga"><em><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">European</span></span></em><span style="text-decoration: none">
Chapters Coordinating Council shows,</span></a> no real standard
channel to regularly discuss policy.<br>
<a href="http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga"><span style="text-decoration: none"></span></a>
<blockquote cite="mid:F001A0E8-B9DC-4B55-A9A1-563F51BEA3E0@christopherwilkinson.eu" type="cite"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font color="#1f50a9"><font face="Helvetica, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 15pt; " size="4">5. There is still no overarching statement
(preferably in Article 1) as to the objectives of the ISOC
Association. This would be useful, particularly if it
clearly specified the civil society dimension of the work
of the Internet Society.</font></font></font></p>
</blockquote>
Very important - as the international background for us - while we
still struggle to get locally registered "as a non-profit
organization under the laws of Cambodia," as our Bylaws say, Bylaws
that have been "approved by the Internet Society (International)"
before they could be presented to our members for a vote. <br>
<blockquote cite="mid:F001A0E8-B9DC-4B55-A9A1-563F51BEA3E0@christopherwilkinson.eu" type="cite"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 80, 169);
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; ">memberRegards</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><br>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; " align="LEFT"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#1f50a9" face="Helvetica,
sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:
20px; ">Christopher Wilkinson</span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
Thanks, Christopher, and greetings to all Chapter colleagues, <br>
<br>
<br>
Norbert<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<font color="#151B8D">
Norbert Klein<br>
President - ISOC Cambodia Chapter<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:president@isoc-kh.org">president@isoc-kh.org</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isoc-kh.org/">http://www.isoc-kh.org</a><br>
</font>
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