[Chapter-delegates] Fwd: Re: [Itu2012chapters] Board of Trustees statement ... and next steps

[President ISOC-KH]

Thanks, Veni, for sharing this - thanks Nick. I do some cross-posting.

An excellent contribution to our timid discussions - and to our concerns 
here, where the Geneva agenda as announced will influence our public 
here, about the freedom and not-freedom of the Internet - without much 
response so far about the Geneva INET plans, and the direction of ISOC's 
concerns for some better "oversight" over the Chapters, without much - 
so far - how "ISOC" sees the Chapters - not in declarations, but in the 
way how the discussions on the Chapter Delegates list is dragging on.

Norbert Klein
Cambodia

=

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [Itu2012chapters] Board of Trustees statement ... and next 
steps
Date: 	Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:06:08 -0400
From: 	Veni Markovski <veni at veni.com>
To: 	Nick Ashton-Hart <nashton at consensus.pro>
CC: 	itu2012chapters at elists.isoc.org <itu2012chapters at elists.isoc.org>



Needless to say, +1.
Be bold. Be brave. Be cool - all this was built in the foundations of 
Isoc, when Vint and others were engaged. We need this spirit back!

On Wednesday, March 14, 2012, Nick Ashton-Hart <nashton at consensus.pro 
<mailto:nashton at consensus.pro>> wrote:
 > Good morning everyone.
 > I see that the ISOC board made a good statement on protecting the 
open Internet 
(http://www.internetsociety.org/news/internet-society-board-trustees-expresses-concern-over-online-copyright-enforcement-strategies).
 > I think this is a great step in the right direction - but I hope it 
is just one of many steps. The issue of copyright enforcement and trade 
agreements negotiated in secret is important - but the greater problem 
of countries using UN agencies to promote Internet control and a statist 
  policymaking environment is an even greater problem and I think ISOC 
should be out front and center on this issue.
 > In that vein, I think the agenda for the upcoming INET conference in 
Geneva I think really needs some amendments. In particular:
 > * The session with Hamadoun Toure needs at least one additional voice 
who can be counted on to strongly advocate that no UN agency should be 
used as a forum for totalitarian states like China and Russia to promote 
their agenda of Internet control. They've been doing it for a decade 
quietly, and finally, people are starting to talk about it publicly. If 
we let Toure away without him clearly understanding that we know what 
he's doing and he's going to get a lot more pressure if he doesn't stop 
taking cynical advantage of child porn and safety to help his 
country-friends push their agenda, we've missed a golden opportunity.
 > * There seems to be little opportunity for the Geneva diplomatic 
community to engage with INET from looking at the agenda. Where are the 
Ambassadors who are of like mind to us about the importance of the open 
Internet? Geneva is the epicenter of struggles to censor the Internet. 
We have lots of allies here - why don't we ensure they come to our 
meeting when it is local to them?
 > * The panel on intellectual property has one of the most reactionary 
rightsholders representatives - from the RIAA - there is. Where is a 
strong, articulate creator on this panel to advocate for a more open and 
collaborative copyright future? Seriously, how can you have an 
intellectual property panel to talk about creativity with no creators on 
it? I'm happy to ask some friends from the major featured artists 
community to come and talk.
 > You don't turn 20 - and hold a major conference to celebrate it - 
often obviously. Some additions to the panellists would go a long way to 
making this conference far more relevant, frankly, than it seems likely 
to be otherwise.
 > ISOC can and should be at the forefront of efforts to roll back 
Internet censorship efforts - especially given so many of them originate 
at institutions in Geneva where ISOC is based. The structure and format 
of the IGF is important - but pushing back against statist control of 
the Internet is more important IMHO.
 > There are those who say that talking a lot about this makes the worst 
outcomes more likely. I think this is simply wrong. Every country 
delegation in Geneva knows what the Russias and Chinas are up to - it 
isn't a secret: these countries have been trying to get their way for a 
decade. Look at what Russia and China are doing in Syria. Does anyone 
seriously believe that they are going to be persuaded by those who 
oppose them being moderate and diplomatic? There's zero chance of that.
 > What does deter the bad guys is light - exposing their manipulations 
to the public. If they can pursue their censorship and control agenda in 
the dark, there's no price for them to pay in the court of public 
opinion.  Does anyone believe that SOPA and PIPA would have been stopped 
in the US without massive public objection? It is the same here: we 
should seek to aim as bright a light as we can on what is going on at 
the ITU and call out countries that are part of the problem. It may not 
prevent everything, but it will certainly give countries pause. And the 
ITU does not want thousands of Internet activists breathing down its neck.
 > For those of you who don't know me, I'm an ISOC member but I'm also 
one of only two people representing the ICT industry who are based in 
Geneva. (the association I represent is CCIA, the Computer & 
Communications Industry Association). We care a lot about preserving the 
open Internet and multi-stakeholder decision making. I know what's going 
on in Geneva with these issues because I live here and I get a lot of 
facetime with governments and UN staff in all kinds of issue areas. 
Those of us who believe in the open Internet need to get more active - 
and be more forceful - as our opponents are strong, ruthless, and have a 
lot of countries who are sympathetic because they don't want social 
media-driven revolutions.
 > What I'm saying is: let's be bold. Now.

-- 
Best,
Veni

== Sent from my phone, so any spelling mistakes are caused by the 
touchscreen keyboard. That's a nice excuse, isn't it;-)

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