[Chapter-delegates] On my way to IGF 2014...

Fri Aug 29 22:44:39 PDT 2014

Dear Alejandro

I fully agree with your comments below.

Thanks and best
Richard

Sent from Samsung Mobile

<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty at gmail.com> </div><div>Date:29/08/2014  23:08  (GMT+01:00) </div><div>To: Richard Hill <rhill at hill-a.ch> </div><div>Cc: Kathy Brown <brown at isoc.org>,ISOC Chapter Delegates <Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> </div><div>Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] On my way to IGF 2014... </div><div>
</div>Richard,

there is unmistakable difference between Jeremy Malcolm's expression of concern under the EFF letterhead and Kathy's "food for thought" analysis and discussion starter for ISOC. 

ISOC's concern has to be whether a new room and a new table are needed, not about seats at the table. And, if new mechanisms are going to start functioning, how to articulate them in such a way that central, overarching points of control are not created, esp. with built-in power imbalances that are hard to revert. 

We should also analyze whether the mobilization started at the WEF is mostly a mobilization of the for-profit sector; that would mean that organizations like the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have been deemed insufficient to represent this sector (for whatever reason.) 

Another important angle in the announcements made and discussions held at the WEF is the possible protagonic role of some countries. The educated observer would be watching their behaviour going into the ITU Plenipotentiary before judging the truth of their "multistakeholder" colors. 

In all of this, I think ISOC's concern has to be in stewardship - not control - of the broadly decentralized, rather spontaneous emergence of issue-based Internet governance, vis-a-vis the creation of a structure that will be happy to receive others in pre-affixed pigeonholes.

Yours,

Alejandro Pisanty

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 3:53 PM, Richard Hill <rhill at hill-a.ch> wrote:
Dear Kathy,

Thank you very much for this.  The Electronic Freedom Foundation has also expressed some reservations regarding the WEF activities, see:

  https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/08/internet-governance-and-netmundial-initiative-flawed-attempt-turning-words-action 

And I've heard similar things privately.

Thanks again and best,
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: Chapter-delegates [mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org]On Behalf Of Kathy Brown
Sent: vendredi, 29. août 2014 20:01
To: Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
Subject: [Chapter-delegates] On my    way to IGF 2014...

To my ISOC Colleagues,

I am writing as I fly to Istanbul with much anticipation for a week of important work. I understand that more than 3000 people have registered for the IGF. This past year, as a diverse Internet community, we have given much thought and energy on how to best "govern" ourselves. In Istanbul, we will have an opportunity, with our colleagues from around the world, to, once again, demonstrate the power of collective collaboration and action. As we know, collaboration is essential to ensure the future of the Internet.  If decisions related to the Internet and its future are not in the hands of the many, they will only be in the hands of the few.  I will post some further thoughts this weekend on IGF before the panels, workshops, lunches and dinners begin.

I wanted, however, to take a few moments before we land to report back on my observations of the WEF event yesterday.

I applaud the leadership of the World Economic Forum for highlighting and recognizing the enormity of the effect of the Internet on the global economy and the benefits and challenges inherent in its adoption in much of the world. It is, of course, entirely legitimate that it seeks to understand and participate in the debate on internet governance. When given the opportunity to comment during the morning session, I urged that its thinking about governance include as its central tenet the continuing investment, innovation and access to the Internet to and for everyone, particularly for those who do not yet have access and for the "unborn innovator".

Many of us in and around the Internet Society--on Staff, on the Board, in our organizational members and Chapters, in the IETF and the IAB have been deeply committed and involved in working with our extended communities to address the threats to the Internet as well    as to develop, manage and deploy the ever-evolving technology of the Internet throughout the world. We revel in inventing the future. Together, we have adopted a bottom up culture and method of decision making around numerous, local and global, technical, social and legal issues that arise in the decentralized, distributed ecosystem which is the Internet.

We were delighted with the cooperative spirit in Brazil at Net Mundial as well as our collective ability to reach rough consensus on the principles that should govern our governing. Olaf Kolkman, ISOC's new CITO, enthusiastically said, lets tack these principles on the door and, for all who are ready to embrace them, come on in.

Many of us are busy implementing features of the NetMundial roadmap. ISOC has developed toolkits for spam and IXPs; our regional offices hold INETs throughout the world to demonstrate and teach technical skills; our Leadership program creates and administers online courses and sponsors leadership seminars, ambassadorships and internships; we take active leadership in policy development for governance issues; and our staff has worked tirelessly to introduce best practices workshops to the IGF, while our Chapters have actively supported Regional and National IGFs around the Globe. The Internet Society is a party to the NTIA Transition Coordinating Committee. Our representatives and Chapters are intimately involved in the ICANN accountability dialogue. We believe that we are well along the Internet Governance journey.

We welcome any and all people and groups of good will to work with us and the broader Internet Community in a multi-stakeholder effort to deepen and broaden this effort.  We certainly invite WEF to get acquainted with our collective work that is serious and ongoing. I heard some intention to do that.

I was disturbed, however, as others have expressed, with the opaque way the meeting came about; about what seemed to be established agendas; talk of some new single entity and top down models that purport to represent organic community processes that could be hobbled by definitions and artificial role expectations.

I frankly do not know enough to know whether my concerns are justified. I look forward to hearing more from WEF, and perhaps, from the ICANN leadership, this week, about the initiative. I hope, too, that the folks at WEF who are coming to the IGF soak up the energy, creativity, work and sweat of the community that will gather this week. A constructive dialogue and the collaborative spirit of NetMundial may just cause us to join forces for the good of the Internet and the good of the world.

So, on to Istanbul. We have work to do.

Kathy

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