[Chapter-delegates] An important message from ISOC Bulgaria - your input is needed

Fri Jan 21 15:26:31 PST 2022

Hi, everyone.
*Please, do not share with other lists; this is an issue of relevance 
for the chapters only! *

At ISOC Bulgaria we have been following the discussion at the ITU 
Council Working Group on International Internet-related Public Policy 
Issues (CWG-Internet 
<https://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/default.aspx>), which 
this week was discussing the topic for the next open public consultations.
I wanted to give you some feedback and ask you to step up your contacts 
with your national telecom administrations (usually this would be the 
Ministry for Communications or some other Ministry or governmental 
agency. A list of all the members, including which governmental 
agency/ies represent them at the ITU is here: 
https://www.itu.int/hub/membership/our-members/directory/?myitu-members-states=true&request=countries

You may have read* in the last year about the the attempts by the 
Russian Federation to drive the ITU in discussion of issues, related to 
the Internet; within the European Chapters (in CC:) we spent some time 
last September talking about what's going on. Perhaps we could organize 
ourselves and have an all-chapter Zoom call among all chapters? See more 
on that further below.

This past week the Russian federation proposed two topics for 
discussions, they are both publicly accessible here 
<https://www.itu.int/md/S22-RCLINTPOL17-C/en>, but I am attaching them 
for your convenience. You will see details in these documents; the 
summary is that Russia proposes member states to discuss among 
themselves the following issues:
·risks for reliability and stability of existing model of the 
operational activities organization/operators of critical Internet 
infrastructure;
·Member States’ inputs and proposals on possible ways to overcome 
existing challenges and neutralize risks for operational activity 
organizations/operators of critical Internet infrastructure;
·what international structures and procedures can overcome the existing 
challenges and risks.

And for the public consultations they proposed the topic:

"Reliability and stability of the operational activity 
organizations/operators of critical Internet infrastructure: key and 
challenges of their operating activities, in particular the risks of 
being in national jurisdictions."

See their arguments and details in the attached documents.

This is not the first time they are proposing a topic, related to 
"critical Internet infrastructure", as described in the articles* below.

At ISOC Bulgaria, where we have participated for the last 23 years 
<http://isoc.bg/kpd/index2-eng.html> in helping the Bulgarian government 
making sure the telecommunications laws are Internet-friendly and to 
ensure that the Internet develops open, unregulated and without 
restrictions <https://isocbg.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/bg-itu/>, we 
raised awareness to the newly elected Bulgarian government (December 
last year) about the latest Russian proposals, as they touch on the more 
than two decades Internet-friendly environment in the country - result 
of policies, which have been discussed between governments and the 
non-governmental sector for years.

Of course, there's always more that could be done, and this is where 
*all chapters* cold not only join forces, but also try to make a 
difference. That is, of course, if you care about keeping the Internet 
open, interoperable, stable and developed, as the WSIS Tunis Agenda 
<https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html> (art. 35 and 
others) says, with participation by all stakeholders, in their respected 
roles.

I personally think we should /*not* /be asking ISOC.org to help us in 
setting the call, but if they say they would, /that would be great/. If 
not - ISOC Bulgaria will be happy to provide a Zoom link. To include as 
many chapters as possible, we suggest to have it at 6 am California, 9 
am New York, 3 pm Brussels, 7:30 pm in Delhi, 10 pm  in Singapore. We 
understand that some chapters might not be able to join, and others 
(Australia, New Zealand) perhaps definitely won't be able to join 
(midnight in Brisbane), but nevertheless, we should try to include as 
many as possible.

ISOC Bulgaria urges you for a quick and focused discussion on here 
first, and then we meet next Sunday, January 29th in order to make sure 
people can join. I understand that for some working day might be easier, 
while a Sunday impossible, but there always will be some percentage of 
people, who won't be able to join, so we have to choose one day anyway.

Hope that this is helpful, and enjoy reading the articles and documents.

_______
* - See the articles below. Disclaimer: ISOC Bulgaria does not 
necessarily reach to the same conclusions or share the same ideas as the 
author.

February 1, 2021: Russia is trying to set the rules for the Internet. 
The U.N. saw through the ruse.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/01/russia-internet-rules-united-nations/

March 30, 2021: How Russia and China are attempting to rewrite 
cyberworld order
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-russia-and-china-are-attempting-to-rewrite-cyberworld-order/2021/03/30/16030226-9190-11eb-a74e-1f4cf89fd948_story.html

May 4, 2021: Russia’s plot to control the Internet is no longer a secret
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/04/russias-plot-control-internet-is-no-longer-secret/

July 20, 2021: Russia and China’s hypocritical attempt to control 
cyberspace
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/20/russia-china-are-trying-control-internet-even-they-censor-it/

-- 

Best regards,
Veni
Chairman of the Board
Internet Society - Bulgaria
https://www.isoc.bg  
pgp:5BA1366Eveni at veni.com
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