[Chapter-delegates] Fwd: Is the Civil Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet Governance Policy positions?

[sivasubramanian muthusamy]

Dear Alejandro,

On Mon, Apr 15, 2019, 2:56 AM Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty at gmail.com> wrote:

To make this ISOC-specific,
>

No. That is not the idea.

is civil society doing enough to stay technically informed, to help other
> stakeholders technically informed, and on vigilance that policy,
> regulations, legislation, and decisions are made on a technically sound
> basis compatible with the Internet and its effects on the conduct of people
> and organizations?
>

Good questions. But the proposal is submitted with a Civil Society hat, for
the good of Civil Society, which at the moment happens to be dispersed
between various email lists discussing Internet Governance. The question
"Is the Civil Society doing enough" is addressed to the Civil Society,
somewhat accusatively with a purpose, with a view to prompt discussions of
its essential role around the multi-stakeholder table.


> Also, what "balance" exactly is the cause of concern, if not the above,
> for the Internet Society?
>

The imbalances implied are a cause of concern for everyone in a deeper
sense, but to Civil Society in particular, at this moment.

An undisadvataged Civil Society as a stakeholder group would actually be of
complementary value to the pursuits of the Internet (Technical) Community.

Proposed primarily in the Internet Governance Caucus list, simultaneously
shared with the Best Bits list, and with APC, thereafter shared with ISOC
as a topic of possible interest to some of the Internet Society Chapters
and members.




> Alejandro Pisanty
>
> El dom., 14 de abr. de 2019 14:33, sivasubramanian muthusamy <
> 6.internet at gmail.com> escribió:
>
>> Shared in the Chapter Delegates list, as a workshop proposal (in
>> progress) that may be of interest to Chapter members with an interest in
>> Civil Society positions.  I wish to request suggestions for participation
>> in the panel of this workshop being proposed.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>> With a few hours remaining for submission of the 2019 workshops, I intend
>> to propose a workshop.  Looking for support, some quick suggestions to
>> improve the text, and more importantly, for suggestions of speakers who
>> have a good understanding of the history of Civil Society in IG.
>>
>> Kindly respond ASAP.
>>
>> title
>> "Is the Civil Society doing enough?"
>> policy question
>> "Is the Civil Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet
>> Governance Policy positions?"
>> relevance to the theme:
>> Though proposed under "Digital Inclusion", it is a workshop across the
>> three themes, and of relevance to the overall design of the
>> multi-stakeholder model of Internet Governance.
>> relevance to Internet Governance:
>> When broadly classified, Civil Society is one of the three stakeholders
>> in Internet Governance. Since WSIS 2005, Civil Society has played a
>> constructive role to bring about a balance in Internet Governance debates.
>> However, a certain degree of imbalance persists as the other stakeholder
>> groups tend to steer policy a little more than proportionately towards
>> their own respective positions. Governments around the world draft
>> legislative directives some of which the Civil Society find undesirable. In
>> some instances, Civil Society positions remarkably differed from that of
>> Government, the proposed Acts such as SOPA or PIPA or Directives were
>> withdrawn, only to be reintroduced and confirmed by some other title or
>> form. Business responds to Civil Society positions, for instance, on
>> Privacy issues, but many of the concerns of Civil Society are not
>> adequately addressed. It could be stated that the other stakeholder groups
>> prevail more than proportionately over Civil Society, in matters related to
>> Internet Governance. This prompts the question, "Is the Civil Society
>> participating enough? Is the Civil Society doing enough?"  If not enough,
>> what needs to be done? In Internet Governance, the formal title as "Civil
>> Society" is shared by a somewhat loose collaboration between Internet
>> Governance participants who took up the Civil Society role since WSIS 2005,
>> other early CS participants in the IGF, organizations that pursue issues in
>> public interest including Privacy organizations, Freedom foundations etc,
>> and also organizations such as some Internet Society Chapters, ICANN
>> AtLarge, ICANN Non Commercial Stakeholder Group etc, who partake in Civil
>> Society positions in their own way. If the Civil society is not doing
>> enough, is it because it requires greater interaction among those who
>> pursue Civil Society positions in the IGF? How would Civil Society
>> strengthen itself? Would it also look for Civil Society participation from
>> beyond the IGF arena to bring in newer Civil Society participants to the
>> IGF?
>>
>> These are some, and not all, questions that follow the questions in the
>> title.
>>
>> Workshop session description:
>> The session would revolve around the Title Questions, "Is the Civil
>> Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet Governance Policy
>> positions?" to bring up supplementary questions, and in the process
>> identify its strengths and weaknesses to identify solutions towards
>> strengthening itself for a balance.
>>
>>
>> Sivasubramanian M <https://www.facebook.com/sivasubramanian.muthusamy>
>> twitter.com/shivaindia
>> _______________________________________________
>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
>> Chapter Portal (AMS):
>> https://admin.internetsociety.org/62261
>> <https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/private/chapter-delegates/attachments/20190415/5525e527/attachment.htm>