[Chapter-delegates] An Open Letter to all ISOC Chapter Members

[Elver Loho]

Hi Bob.

Please indulge me for a moment as I try to reply to portions of your
email while trying to remain civil.

> The Board listens closely to the
> views of Chapters and believe that Chapters bring a tremendous value
> to the Internet Society.

Yes, we fully realize that the hundred or so Chapters around the world
is what gives legitimacy to the Internet Society, its staff, and its
board. However, we would like to get something back for providing this
service.

> We see Chapters as very important to
> implementing ISOC’s mission around the world.

There does not seem to be a substantial mission, other than collecting
lots of members around the world.

> They give the Internet
> Society a voice on the ground in a way that ISOC staff cannot.

I could count the number of times that ISOC staff has asked us to
represent some view "on the ground" on the fingers of one hand, even
if I didn't have any hands.

> The
> feedback all of ISOC gets from Chapters is an important part of
> developing the Internet Society's strategy and policy positions.

When was the last time we had a policy discussion on this mailing
list, which actually became a real public policy document of the
Internet Society? We've had plenty of opportunities this year, what
with the Snowden leaks and all the other goings-on, but I don't really
remember staff asking for our views or anyone putting together a
policy paper based on feedback from this mailing list. I do have
rather bad memory, though.

> We
> are very pleased to see new Chapters being formed and are, of course,
> saddened when a Chapter closes.

I think we kind of expect you to be more than "saddened". Chapters are
not a fungible commodity.

> As you know there are efforts underway to establish Chapter performance
> standards,

Oh, great. More paperwork and mandatory activities for us. Do you mind
if we establish staff and board performance standards in turn?

> finding new ways of providing assistance to Chapters,

Have you considered asking Chapters what sort of assistance they
require the most? Because I'm pretty sure lots of Chapter leaders here
have already expressed their views on what is required, for months.
And I'm told it's been like this for years. My conclusion is that the
"finding" of new ways is not what is most urgent, but actually
listening to Chapters would suffice. If a man cries out for food and
you establish a committe to discuss what sort of books you should
provide to the starving man, then that seems kind of silly to me.

> I think it is helpful to
> summarize the role of Chapters in the Internet Society.

When I specifically asked on this list a couple of months ago for any
staff to provide their views on what the mission of Chapters is, as
they see it, I got quite a few angry private emails from various staff
heads, one of them even saying that he has instructed his underlings
to disregard my email.

How are we supposed to figure out what the role of Chapters is if even
the staff is actively prohibited from providing their views?

> The problems that are being addressed have a long history
> and can't be solved immediately.

The old-timers tell me that this "let's wait" attitude has been going
on for years.

> The Board has given the ISOC President and staff clear and strong
> guidance to insure that there is strong engagement with the Chapters.

Was this guidance given today? Or when did that happen? When were we
supposed to see the results? By what metrics should we measure this
engagement?

I think many of us have the minds of engineers and we want tangible
and measurable promises and results.

> Second, we are all passionate about ISOC, its mission, and the
> Internet.  The Board and I value this passion.  However,  I think it is
> unfortunate that some of the passion expressed on the Chapters email
> list has gone over the line into personal attacks on staff, Chapter
> members, and Board members.

While I do not condone personal attacks on anyone, I sort of have to
ask... When you've been ignoring the Chapters for so long, while
living off the legitimacy they provide to you, what exactly did you
expect was going to happen?

> This behavior is unprofessional and does
> not create the open, respectful, and constructive environment that
> should exist.

Well, it's just an idea, but how about engaging the Chapters in open,
respectful, and constructive policy discussions? I know it seems
radical, but we sort of do have an idea or two to contribute towards
formulating ISOC's policies. I don't know about others, but I didn't
quite expect ISOC to be a fully top-down organization when our Chapter
joined.

> It will cause some people to withdraw from the
> discussion and does not create the collaborative open environment we
> need.

For there to be a collaborative environment, we actually need
something to collaborate on that would actually result in some
tangible results.

> The Board is committed to an ongoing dialog with the Chapters on the
> issues that face the Internet.

There is an ongoing dialog with the Chapters on the issues that face
the Internet? Seriously? Where? Can someone please add me to whatever
mailing list where that is going on? It sounds really awesome and I
want to join!

> We think the Chapters are an essential
> element of the Internet Society and are critical to meeting the
> challenges we are seeing every day on the Internet.

Well, what exactly do you expect us to do day-to-day? And how do you
expect us to fund this activity? And what tangible means does ISOC
provide to Chapters to get this activity going? I asked these same
questions on this same mailing list a couple of months ago, but I got
nothing but hate for it from the staff.

> I am sure we all
> agree that we want the Internet to be the open platform for worldwide
> communication among everyone in the world.  We all need to work
> together toward that goal.

We are making real efforts towards this goal here in Estonia, nearly
every day. I just hung my dress shirts to dry in preparation for an
opportunity to lobby parliament members in a couple of days as they're
going to be bogged down in a filibuster. One of the department heads
of Estonia's biggest daily newspaper just published an editorial
endorsing global internet surveillance, so we're working to counter
her incredibly uninformed arguments with a large social media push.
We've been planning to renew our website for months now, but have
never gotten around to it. We get so many invitations to participate
at conferences, to speak, to give our opinions on new legislation, to
pen opinion pieces, to give interviews, that we can't even manage to
properly reply to them all. And do you know what I'm doing right now
at 3 AM in the morning? I'm writing software for a trading company,
because I've got bills to pay and if I don't get this done soon, I'm
literally facing the prospect of going without food for a couple of
days.

I have no idea what you people are doing or how you believe you're
engaging us in whatever you are doing, but from my vantage point you
seem to be deluding yourselves. If you consider that a personal
attack, then feel free to kick me off the list.


Best,
Elver
.ee