[Chapter-delegates] New board members and why the challenge to IP is freaking serious

[Andrew Sullivan]

Dear colleagues,

Just a small point:

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 05:46:52PM -0400, Dave Burstein via Chapter-delegates wrote:
> 
> ISOC is an ITU member and the Secretary-General a while back
> reminded us we could involve as many as we like.

ISOC is a _sector_ member.  It's important to rememnber that nobody
who is not a national government is a member of the ITU in the sense
of having a vote.  Going to the meeting is of course important --
assuming it happens, given the pandemic challenges.  But far more
important of course is that we build support in governments in favour
of the real Internet and against efforts to undermine the Internet
Protocol and its advantages.  That is not something that happens at
the meeting; it's something that happens in advance.  And it's a
really critical part of why the chapter system in the Internet Society
is important: the staff cannot possibly cover every world government
or know everyone.  We collectively need to ensure that governments
understand the false promise of what I've started to call
PretenderNets: things that are being offered as "alternative
internets" but are not the Internet at all.  

> Andrew, Olaf We have at least a dozen members in the chapters who have
> strong experience in standards. How can we put together a rapid-acting,
> multi-stakeholder group inside ISOC.

The staff are already co-ordinating carefully with many people in
preparation for these events, of course.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
President & CEO, Internet Society
sullivan at isoc.org
+1 416 731 1261