[Chapter-delegates] Performance Standards, ISOC LoA

[President of ISOC Cambodia]

Re:Performance Standards, ISOC LoADear Ted,

thanks for your response of 20 September 2012, as well as for the LoA 
draft URL (which I knew). I appreciate it also to see that you 
immediately enter into procedural references, which makes it clear that 
a number of fundamental questions which had been raised for some of our 
Chapter colleagues are not well reflected in your response.

The fact that one correspondent even said "I believed the whole 
conversation about the LoA is already dead" shows that the discussion so 
far was not marked by much mutual understanding.

This may not be surprising, as it had been reported more than once that 
the Internet Society European Coordinating Council had made a 
substantive input into the LoA process, but later stated: "more than a 
year's silence from the staff is not acceptable."

Another Chapter colleagues does not find a related question considered, 
which had also been raised before: Why 25 ISOC members, who accept the 
ISOC spirit, need to sign an additional confirmation.

But some questions asked before, and not responded to, are of such a 
fundamental nature that I cannot understand well how to enter into 
considering a Bylaws draft without some broader understanding about the 
direction towards which we are going, in terms of the basic question 
what ISOC is. Recently I read an old speech of an ISOC Board Member 
saying simply that ISOC is a membership organization. And a Chapter 
colleague asked here: How can we preach democratic spirit to the outside 
and do not have an internal structure where we practice this.

Another recent voice on our list still has he impression: "An 
association is usually association of members and they have the major 
role in the organization life. All other bodies are set up for the 
members to channel their views, projects and work. This must be 
reflected in the Bylaws. So far it seems that all other parts of the 
organization are more important than the membership."

But I leave this here -- I think we do not yet have the kind of basic 
consensus which is necessary in a fellowship to agree on workable and 
accepted structures and procedures. I will try to explain my reluctance 
by going along you mail; quotes from your mail are in *bold face.*

= = =

*Norbert,*

*I apologize for my delayed resonse to your many emails.*

*I recall that there were two provisions that we said Chapters have 
every right to expect and which will appear in the next version of the 
Letter of Affiliation...*

I think most of us will recall this -- but many will also recall that it 
was not so clear where this leads -- see the remarks above.

*In addition, you will also read that "...ISOC will provide a (30) day 
written notice of termination, during which time the Chapter may appeal 
the decision to terminate" (p.3)." ... Our communication has been clear 
and continued to take Chapter feedback into consideration.*

Good -- I did not yet see in the writings so far that this process of 
seeing that things went wrong is a mutual one. I will come back to this 
further down.

*I want to assure you and all chapter leaders that these provisions you 
have requested will be in the next revision of the Letter of 
Affiliation, which will only be undertaken once the revision of the 
By-laws is complete. You will recall, I'm sure, that the Letter of 
Affiliation was developed over 18 months with direct and concerted 
effort on the part of five chapter leaders and three staff.*

Of course I recall this -- but I recall also the voices which 
fundamentally questioned the result. I consider also that the way in 
which the LoA in its present form envisions relationships is also an 
indicator about the direction of the Bylaws development -- though, as 
you say, the LoA will be finally considered only after the Bylaws are 
finalized. - I will refer further down to some points in the LoA draft.

*Regarding the by-laws, my understanding of an organization's by-laws is 
that they comprise a governance, not an operational structure. As such, 
the by-laws should form a framework in which the operational details may 
be designed, reviewed, agreed, implemented and, when appropriate, 
changed to adopt efficiently to changing circumstances or new 
information...*

Is there disagreement on that? The only -- important -- point in our 
discussions on the nature of the Bylaws is that a number of us did not 
understand why -- even in such a "framework" - there would not be, at 
the beginning of the Bylaw's text, also a statement about the basic 
values governing the operations under this framework.

The introduction to the present draft LoA says it is "to promote the 
open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of 
people throughout the world." I was surprised about the opinion that we 
do not need this -- but I cannot imagine why anybody would oppose it. 
Especially also as a number of Chapter colleagues spoke in favor of it.

*With respect to other areas of performance that you suggest, you are in 
a vast and dynamic area of the world where we are interviewing many 
candidates for the Chapter Support position to add to the local resources.*

Thanks for this recognition of the Asian region. So I would like to ask: 
In which way does the ISOC staff make use of the knowledge of persons 
and needs in this dynamic region available in the Chapters -- in a 
systematic and participatory way, while looking for candidates and 
selecting them? Of course also considering the knowledge of the other 
regions of the world.

*As you know, the Chapter Support position requires not just knowledge 
and energy, but a steady, even disposition and the ability to balance 
many different and often opposing interests dispassionately, while 
maintaining the respect of all parties... *

Partly agreeing, and also passionately disagreeing. When a system 
operator in our region was arrested, and the case was followed in many 
sectors of the civil society in Asia, I had raised the question how ISOC 
is going to react -- saying that we might have to face some similar 
situations. There was silence -- dispassionately respecting both 
parties? I will come back to such situations further down.

*Every chapter has special needs, Norbert. I agree with you that no one 
size fits all. It isn't possible to customize our tools and programs to 
each chapter individually, but we do make a considerable effort to 
understand and accommodate local circumstances.*

Anybody disagreeing that every Chapter has special needs? Probably not. 
Everybody agreeing that it is NOT possible for ISOC to customize its 
activities so that they meet the needs of Chapters? If this is the case, 
why should ISOC then continue to use the motto "The Internet is for 
everyone" - maybe the Internet, yes, but not ISOC?

*Nevertheless I do hope that in 2013 you will see more tools that can be 
more easily adapted and configured for local needs. This is especially 
true for membership. Is there a social media application that Cambodians 
access regularly? *

The latest survey says that there are about 650,600 Facebook users in 
the Cambodia, 61% male and 39% female. In spite of the fact that the 
number of Internet users more than doubled in the country last year, 
these numbers relate still to an Internet penetration of only 3.1% of 
the population. In Southeast Asia, only East Timor and Myanmar have a 
lower rate than Cambodia. I will also refer to these two countries 
further down.

*Is it possible to reach these people not as members but as followers 
and rather than focus on increasing membership, focus on engaging 
followers in issues and projects? *

Of course this happens in different ways, with our members being 
involved in a variety of ways. As an example, over the last weekend, 
22/23 September 2012, the 5th BarCamp was held in Phnom Penh, with about 
1,400 participants.

*If not social media, other like-minded organizations with which to 
partner? *

What does "like-minded" mean, and what does it mean "to partner"? Many 
of our members are involved in different ways -- I do not know what kind 
of assumptions are behind your questions. For example, the main 
organizer of this years BarCamp is a long time member of our Chapter, 
and he was elected as our Chapter Secretary on 15 September 2015.

It was not a "partnering" betweenthe Department for Media and 
Communications of the Royal University of Phnom Penh andISOC that they 
invited me to teach regularly at their last 
"Five-MonthsIntensiveCourseinPublicRelationsandCommunication" - on 
Public Relations and Public Opinion, and then on Aspects of the Media 
and Ethics, Nationally and Internationally -- always with reference to 
the Internet. But it was clear that they approached me because of my 
role in the Cambodia Chapter of ISOC, and I could, of course, make use 
of the programmatic positions ISOC has taken.

(By the way, when ISOC was looking for a six-month interim successor for 
Anne Lord "immediately," I had offered my services, and told the 
university that I would not be available for the next term -- though I 
knew well that the ISOC decision was open, but I wanted to keep myself 
available. When, after some weeks, there was no informationat all about 
whatdecisionstheISOC staff had taken in response to their own call for 
somebody tobe available "immediately" -- it was a bit of a surprise to 
learn: No, we decided otherwise from what we had announced, and we are 
nowfocusingon something else.)

Was it "partnering" that we helped Meta House, a local cultural center, 
to organize a public event on 26 July 2012 on "The Intelligent Use of 
Social Media" - with two special rounds on "/Social Media and Human 
Rights"/and "/Social Media and Innovation/" - helping to organize the 
wholeprogram and providingall but one of the panelists (all, except this 
one person, are members of our Chapter).

And at the BarCamp meeting last Sunday I made a presentation about our 
Chapter, mainly relating to a new inter-ministerial decree on the use of 
the Internet and the telephone in public places, making it mandatory to 
have the Internet users recorded on video cameras, keeping the records 
for half a year, and taking down the names of all users of public 
telephone services -- all under the threatof punishment in the case 
ofnon-compliance. - I had been asked to raise these things in public, 
because some people think that the Internet Society is the proper 
organization to deal with the social implications of the information 
society, while others deal with other aspects, the hacker space-group 
deals with hardware, the bloggers -- having a common network since a 
Blogger Summit - helping people to share with others (when I was 
interviewed at the first Blogger Summit it went around the globe -- 
including to the International Herald Tribune, USA Today, and a dozen of 
others).

We do not have to duplicate what others do -- but we have to see what 
our special role in this context is.

The involvement in the BarCamps in Phnom Penh led to some further 
cooperative outreach relations. In 2009, there was a small group of 
participants from Myanmar in Phnom Penh. They hoped to get the 
permission to organize a BarCamp in Yangon - "maybe we get 500 
participants." At the beginning of January 2010 I got a plea to come and 
share some international perspectives. As I had been involved in ICANN 
since 1999, I offered to provide information. Travel support from ICANN: 
No involvement, no support! - On the day of my departure, 1,000 people 
had already registered, and by the opening onSaturday morning the 
participation came up to 2,700, 40% women. And ever since I have a 
stream of Facebook Friends from Myanmar. - As I was invited to come 
again in 2011, I made a presentation about ISOC -- but I had been told 
ISOC travel support is available only between chapters. For the 
2012BarCamp I had already been asked to be available also after the 
BarCamp weekend, when a group of 24 people gathered to get more detailed 
information about ISOC and how to form a chapter. This year's Barcamp 
had about 4,000 participants -- it was opened by /Aung/San /Suu Kyi. //- 
While several of our Chapter Members maintain relations with people in 
Myanmar and related social developments, another smaller group //of 
Members//has working relations since some years with East Timor, more 
oriented //towards the//localization of software -- all this maintained 
with difficulties, for economic reasons. /

/It was a happy surprise to read that ISOC was //n//ow quite differently 
engaged in organizati//o//nal outreach, when //ISOC staff members flew 
over the Atlantic and participated in the //Campus Party 
Europe//**//meeting//s//in Berlin //in //August //2012. The BarCamp 
movement in Asia would certainly also merit a similar institutional 
attention -- including travel support to foster existing links./


*Your message indicates frustration with ISOC's 'global' approach, *

Did I ever say so? I had expressed my high appreciation for the 
appointment of Markus Kummer as Vice President For Public Policy, about 
which we were regularly informed: UN Human Rights Commission, Regional 
IGFs... And I appreciate the regular reports and helpful leads by Sally 
Wentworth on the way towards the ITU events. We get regular information. 
- I mention only these two fields, among others.

But I indicated, when the Chief Operating Officer of ISOC stated that 
the Regional Bureaus are at the heart of ISOC, at the time when a Senior 
Director of Global Services had been appointed, that wedo not know what 
their functions and contributions to the Internet Society are -- how 
they related to those members one level lover than the Regional Offices.

And I had added the information that we had received not ONE mail from 
the Asia Pacific Regional Office to the challenges we face in a 
tightening environment for the freedom of communication during two 
years. So our members and our Board ask some questions -- is this not 
understandable after two years?

When we finally were to receive a staff visit from the Asia Pacific 
Office, with a "Meet and greet" meeting planned, we were told, at the 
end of a lengthy correspondence, that only a ISOC activities 
presentation would be made - "and no other." - I had to send, on 23 
August 2012,the following message in the name of our Advisory Board, 
five well known personsin our society--Mr. Pen Samitthy, Editor-in-chief 
of the biggest local daily and President of the Club of Cambodian 
Journalists; Mr. Sao Sopheap, at the Council of Ministers, Ms. Sarun 
MunSeila, Student Representative, Ms. Sok Channda, CEO of a major 
broadband ISP, and Mr. Sok Tha, Head of the Office of ICT in Education, 
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

    *After having received your mail, rejecting our request to serious
    discuss the crisis for our Chapter, created as a result of the
    general situation and legal requirements in Cambodia in the meeting,
    and the refusal of ISOC staff to positively pay attention to our
    situation, we do not think it would be appropriate to cooperate, as
    a Chapter, with organizing a meeting for your 1 - 2.5 hours event,
    for which you would like to invite the Members of the Cambodia
    Chapter and other non-Chapter members. To discuss fundamental
    problems within ISOC, affecting the whole membership, only among
    officers, as you suggest (which has been tried in vain by email so
    far) would not be in line with our history to promote and practice
    open communication -- high values regularly lifted up among the
    goals of the Internet Society world wide and in its slogan: the
    Internet is for everyone.The situation and this response has been
    shared and discussed with the Members of the Advisory Board of our
    Chapter and is unanimously supported.*

    That is not a frustration with ISOC's 'global' approach, but an
    indication that there are major problems not only of communication,
    but also in the understanding of roles.

*...but I didn't read below what specific solutions you would recommend 
-- other than to send money.*

Dear Ted, please pause and reflect what you tell us this sentence. I am 
surprised. If you did not know what you did, there are severe 
communication problems related to the flow of information within ISOC. - 
You say at the end just: OK -- you just want money?

So I have to explain the whole situation again.

The Bylaws of the Internet Society - Cambodia Chapter, drafted under the 
guidance of ISOC, Chapter Formation, say in Article I,2 : "The Chapter 
shall be established as a non-profit organization under the laws of 
Cambodia."

When we took the necessary steps with the Ministry of Interior to apply 
for recognition, we were told that we need to have a physical office, 
which the authorities will come to inspect, and then they will take a 
photo of the president of the organization, standing outside of the 
building in front of the sign-board on the roadside, indicating that 
this is the office of the Internet Society - Cambodia Chapter. Then the 
authorities will inspect our bylaws and make sure that we have a 
reputable leadership and clear procedures to act (we have translated our 
Bylaws into the Khmer language) -- and then we may get legal 
recognition. As long as this is not achieved, we cannot open a bank 
account, and we also cannot register our website under the Cambodian 
country code, to show our local roots.

The advice received from ISOC? Do fundraising! (For activities, we 
mostly had received locations free of charge from business or from NGOs.)

What does this imply in our situation?

a) We cannot have a bank account, we are legally a no entity, 
substantial fundraising is not possible. So we will not have an office.

b) About half of the ISPs block certain websites, in spite of the fact 
that both the Minister of Post and the Minister of Information publicly 
said that there is no legal basis for such censorship, operatedby some 
ISP staff (if anybody wants documented proof -- let me know).

A Cambodian staffer of a UN agency copied eight pages from a website 
which waspublicly available and printed themout for six friends. On of 
them was obviously not a friend, so the person sharing this 
politicalinformation was arrested on a Saturday, and convicted on the 
Sunday (while courts normally do not work on weekends) for 6 monthsin jail.

If you want to have some more /information/ about the /information 
context/ where we work? Have a look here, please reallytake the time to 
read it:

'Blood Wood' Killings in Cambodia Deserve U.S. Rebuke, 22 September 2012 
by Olesia Plokhii <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olesia-plokhii>, a 
Canadian journalist.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olesia-plokhii/cambodia-deforestation_b_1876136.html

(On 20 February 2012 she had also published a ¾ page article in /The 
Cambodia Daily/: "Cambodia's 'Father of the Internet' Brings Nation Up 
To Speed" - I do not claim this name, but as I had started the first 
publicly available connection to the Internet in 1994, some people give 
me that name. I mention this here only as there seems to be the opinion 
that we arenot visible).

/The Cambodia Daily/carried today a front page article "UN Concerned By 
Authorities' Use of Violence" saying among others that there are 
"worrying trends in how the country's Penal Code was being implemented, 
citing the common use of 'incitement' charges by the courts to stifle 
citizen's freedoms."

Is that the context where we should start fundraising -- to be dependent 
on some of the media that do not have an impressive profile, compared to 
the ISOC'score values, and to mark others, who might support us, as 
being on the side of those creating "incitements" - as wetry to secure 
and promote some of theseISOC core values?


*ISOC staff are not your adversaries, Norbert, so please do not make us 
out to be. *

This is really surprising. First, it is not about me, but about the 
Cambodia Chapter of the Internet Society which you paint as if we might 
make "you to be our adversaries."

Dear Ted, please explain this. What does this mean for our Chapter and 
its leadership? I have to share this with them.


We just felt that the understanding and some support we hoped for did 
not happen. - Before the ISOC 20th Anniversary celebrations in April, we 
were happy that one of our Members, with the support of out Board, was 
accepted for a travel fellowship. But it was hardly possible to explain 
and get an understanding that the invitation was dependent on us finding 
and paying for travel health insurance. Our effort to explain that we 
had at the beginning difficulties to find such insurance in Cambodia, 
and that the amount of $36 was not "just a small amount" in a country 
where the monthly salary of a teacher is about $50. - It was, at the 
end, not the amount of money, but the absence of any signs of solidarity 
between a 30 million dollar organization and our Fellowship recipient, 
which was hard to explain and to understand. Not adversaries -- but we 
would have hoped to see some more warm solidarity.

*We would like nothing more than for the Cambodian Chapter, and of 
course all chapters to have all the resources needed to focus on our 
mission. Other Chapters with just as few resources accomplish many 
things through creative actions despite their difficult context, as you 
indicate yourself.*

OK -- I have described the dilemma in our legal and political context. 
What do you suggest? And not only you. What is the attitude of ISOC as a 
world wide fellowship?**

We need a physicaloffice to start to become legal, and then to be even a 
bit more assured of our existence. This is not only a problem for us, 
where you admonish us to consider that others are more creative despite 
of their difficult contexts. David Solomonoff had written on 28 March 
2012 about the situation of the New York Chapter:

Even the New York Chapter is hampered by this. We have received some
grant money but our all-volunteer group has difficulty finding the time
to both do the projects and produce all the documentation - and we have
Joly, a professional videographer, as one of our most active members.

We have had offers of assistance (including financial) from local ESPs
we haven't been able to follow up on. Event space is a constant problem.
After the controversy about Paul Brigner's appointment I invited him to
visit us and he agreed - but I had to really hustle to get a space on
short notice.

Despite the fact that it's possible to do so much online I think that
the Internet Society's credibility is hurt by not having a physical
space in a city like New York. I was recently talking to a NYC city
council staffer about the .nyc TLD - trying to find put what was
happening with the application process. I explained who we were and our
mission - then he asked me where we were located. When I told him we
didn't have an office his tone immediately changed.

Interesting similarities in spite of all the differences.

*= = =*

But I would like also to comment on some elements of the draft LoA -- 
whatever its present status and future.

*The Introduction says "Internet chapters work together with the 
Internet Society..."* - are these TWO different entities cooperating? - 
Some voices so far have clearly expressed a different understanding: A 
society is made up from its members.

*Responsibilities of the Parties*

Different parties ordifferent parts of one body? *"The Standards of 
Performance... were developed by a joint task force of representatives 
of the chapter community and the Internet Society..."*Did they want to 
say "a joint task force of representatives of the chapter community and 
ISOC staff"?

"*As to the Chapter, it will:...d) Follow practice that maintain ISOC's 
overall reputation and legal standing as an /independent voice/ for the 
Internet community."*- We had assumed that the ISOC fellowship would 
assist us to be an /independent voice/-- not sold to the combination of 
forces as I tried to describe above. But so far we were told by ISOC 
staff: "No support for the chapter as such!" - You are welcome to 
explain this to our Membership and Board why there is not atiny part of 
the total ISOC budget made available for critical situations like ours.

*Standards of Performance -- the Internet Society agrees to support the 
Chapters formation, development, growth... by making available:... *

*- Tools, materials*...[following is a nice list -- financial resources 
for the Chapters is not in it, only for projects etc. - see again what 
the New York Chapter said.]

*- Advice, guidance, and assistance by the associated Internet Society 
Regional Bureaus...*

[And what if we have been waiting for two years without even ONE such 
supporting mail, and at the first opportunity we were told that our 
concerns are NOT on the agenda, and Human Rights is still new and 
therefore not in the ISOC Asia Pacificpanorama presented].

Is our Chapter considered to be "adversaries" for raising thesequestions?

*- Develop, maintain, and adhere to all legal and/or governing mandates 
and/or documents required by the jurisdiction in which the Chapter 
operates.*- That is what we try -- and we thought we are part of a 
fellowship with rich resources that will behappy to help.


*What Happens If Either Party Does Not Meet the Defined Objectives to 
the Satisfaction of the Other?*

Well, we will see if this "two parties" system will be maintained. It 
has been said so often: "There are NOT two parties. There is one: the 
Internet Society."

But in spite of the wording up here, as if "both" parties would have to 
abide mutually by standards of satisfaction -- the following text makes 
it clear:

If a chapter does not behave, it will be admonished, and if this will 
not bear fruits, it will be out.

I cannot find the corresponding section: If one or some chapters feel 
that "ISOC" is heading in a wrong direction by not abiding by its core 
values and disregarding communication, they may still say something, like:

/...//t//he ///European///Chapters Coordinating Council/ 
<http://www.isoc-ecc.org/?tag=ga>///raise//d////a//problem //and does 
not have a response from staff for one year/ -- and others say:

/The silence is deafening. Please respond positively to this debate./

The Chapters have no instrument similar to "ISOC" which has the power to 
dismiss.


*I would like us to come up with creative solutions to the issues, *

Thank you very much. We are looking forward to your suggestions.

*..which we can do so long as there is a willingness to understand our 
individual and joint limitations and a commitment to honest, 
constructive communications.*

Surely we appreciate this. Some have more, some have less limitations. 
We have always been looking forward and are committed to honest and 
constructive communication.**


*Sincerely,*

*Ted*

*Ted Mooney*

*Sr. Director, Membership & Services*

*The Internet Society*





Sincerely,

Norbert Klein

Member of the Executive Committee

Internet Society - Cambodia Chapter

Our site http://www.isoc-kh.org <http://www.isoc-kh.org/> has recently 
been hacked: some things are still not in order, but not so obvious; but 
the ISOC logo and "The Internet is for everyone" were removed -- we will 
put them up again soon.

=

This mail has also been sent to:

Ted Mooney <mooney at isoc.org>
Bylaws2011 at elists.isoc.org
Be Chantra <secretary at isoc-kh.org>,
Ong Pisey <treasurer at isoc-kh.org>

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