[Chapter-delegates] Responses to questions (was Re: Fwd: Proposed agenda for ISOC CEO and ISOC UK England Leadership Team meeting - 20 Feb 2024)

Winthrop Yu w.yu at gmx.net
Thu Mar 7 07:10:42 PST 2024


Thank you Joly, good one!

WYn

On 7 Mar 2024 5:44 PM, Joly MacFie via Chapter-delegates wrote:
> On the occasion of ISOC's 20th anniversary in 2012, Vint, Bob Kahn and Lynn St 
> Amour made a short video that talked about its origins
>
> https://youtu.be/-BPiusFlrgc
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 1:20 AM 32888 via Chapter-delegates 
> <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>     Yes, Vint is saying the truth, as a first ISOC chair that was set up as
>     organization-society  in 1992 during the annual  Internet conference.
>
>     History facts should be respected.
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Borka, ISOC Slovenia
>
>
>     On Wed, 6 Mar 2024, vinton cerf via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>
>     > Andrew, ISOC support for IETF and IAB was the reason for forming ISOC, not
>     > an accident! Long after ISOC was created, the IETF chose to create its own
>     > foundation.
>     > Vint
>     >
>     > On Wed, Mar 6, 2024, 08:34 Andrew Sullivan via Chapter-delegates
>     > <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>     >       Dear colleagues,
>     >
>     >       Please see attached the responses I sent to the UK England
>     >       chapter leaders after our meeting in London.
>     >
>     >       Best regards,
>     >
>     >       A
>     >
>     >       --
>     >       Andrew Sullivan, President & CEO, Internet Society
>     > e:sullivan at isoc.org <mailto:e%3Asullivan at isoc.org> m:+1 416 731 1261
>     >       Help protect the Internet for everyone:
>     > https://www.internetsociety.org/donate/
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     >       ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>     >       From: Andrew Sullivan <sullivan at isoc.org>
>     >       To: "Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond" <ocl at gih.com>
>     >       Cc: ISOC England <contact at isoc-e.org>
>     >       Bcc:
>     >       Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2024 15:27:19 -0500
>     >       Subject: Re: Proposed agenda for ISOC CEO and ISOC UK England
>     >       Leadership Team meeting - 20 Feb 2024
>     >       Hi,
>     >
>     >       Thanks again for our meeting in London.  I've tried to reply
>     >       inline below.  Assuming you have no additional follow up
>     >       questions, I'd like to provide these answers to the
>     >       chapter-delegates list as well (as requested).
>     >
>     >       Apologies; I didn't have time to write a short email, so I wrote
>     >       a long one instead.
>     >
>     >       On Fri, Feb 09, 2024 at 03:20:15PM +0100, Olivier MJ
>     >       Crépin-Leblond wrote:
>     >
>     >       >Topic 1: CEO renewal
>     >
>     >       As discussed before, this topic appears really to be one best
>     >       addressed by the board, so I'm setting it aside.
>     >
>     >       >Topic 2: Internet Society Foundation
>     >       >
>     >       >ISOC's intentions on formation of the Foundation was to
>     >       establish a
>     >       >separate Board and governance for the Foundation. It was
>     >       proposed that
>     >       >the current arrangement of ISOC trustees also all being
>     >       Foundation
>     >       >Trustees as only viable as a stop gap. The evolution of the
>     >       governance
>     >       >of the Foundation appears to have stalled since the attempted
>     >       sale of
>     >       >PIR.
>     >       >
>     >       >Given that the current arrangement causes a serious conflict of
>     >       >interest between the organisations:
>     >
>     >       As I said before and emphasized in our meeting, I'm not in a
>     >       position to discuss the governance of the Foundation.  I can't
>     >       even comment on the plans that were in place at the Foundation's
>     >       start, since I didn't work for the Internet Society then and was
>     >       not privy to the discussion.
>     >
>     >       I tried to lay out the way in which it was not possible for the
>     >       Foundation and the Internet Society to be in a real conflict,
>     >       because the Foundation is a supporting organization of the
>     >       Internet Society and therefore a kind of instrument that can be
>     >       used to pursue the mission of the Internet Society itself.
>     >
>     >       The Foundation includes the philanthropy staff, and they are
>     >       professionals who are expert in grant-making and in designing
>     >       and administering grant programs.  This is all now done though
>     >       our Fluxx platform, which gives a consistent interface for grant
>     >       application and also provides the staff and board with long-term
>     >       data that can be used as part of the evaluation and potential
>     >       refinement of funding programs.
>     >
>     >       The Foundation may not itself be the source of all money; who
>     >       administers the grants is not necessarily who pays for them.  In
>     >       the case of chapters, in particular, there are some difficulties
>     >       in having the Foundation send money because not every chapter
>     >       can qualify as a 501(c)(3).  The Foundation is only allowed to
>     >       fund 501(c)(3) organizations (and their equivalents) under US
>     >       tax law, because it is organized to support a charity (the
>     >       Internet Society).  The Internet Society uses mechanisms like
>     >       this supporting organization approach in order to enable
>     >       operational advantages under US nonprofit tax law.
>     >
>     >       Some chapters have benefitted from the Beyond the Net grant
>     >       program and developed stronger grant administration skills, and
>     >       then become able to apply for other grant programs offered both
>     >       by the Internet Society and Foundation, and by other funders.  I
>     >       didn't have this number when we met, but the unaudited value of
>     >       all the grants and support sent to chapters in 2023 was nearly $
>     >       1.5 million.
>     >
>     >       >Topic 3: ISOC's future
>     >       >
>     >       >It is notable that in relation to other Internet organisations
>     >       >referred to as I* including IETF, ICANN, IAB, Regional Internet
>     >       >Registries. ISOC alone today has no operational
>     >       responsibilities for
>     >       >Internet resources, networks, or governance communities. This
>     >       has
>     >       >frequently led to comments by operators in those communities to
>     >       ask
>     >       >"What is the point of ISOC"?
>     >       >
>     >       >3.1 What is the Point of ISOC today and into the next five
>     >       years in
>     >       >the CEO's view?
>     >
>     >       Unlike every other so-called I* organization, the Internet
>     >       Society has never had a direct role in operational
>     >       responsbilities.  It is true that for many years, the Internet
>     >       Society formally had the responsibilities of the IETF and the
>     >       IAB, but this was really just an accident of the organizational
>     >       arrangements.  With the creation of the IETF Administration LLC,
>     >       the contractual arrangements are a little different (though it
>     >       is worth noting that the IETF Administration LLC remains a part
>     >       of the Internet Society, that the IAB remains an advisory
>     >       committee to the Internet Society Board of Trustees, and that
>     >       1/3 of the board is still appointed by the IETF through the
>     >       IAB).
>     >
>     >       So, what is the point of the Internet Society? Well, look
>     >       around at the world.  When most of us first got access to the
>     >       Internet, everyone who knew about it thought it was a good
>     >       idea.  Now there are a lot of people who doubt that.  The
>     >       Internet needs a voice, and the Internet Society strives to be
>     >       it.  Internet shutdowns have increased (hence our investment in
>     >       tools like Pulse). Attacks on the Internet are rising (hence our
>     >       work in 2024 on a framework for regulatory actions on
>     >       intermediary liability as well as specific attention to the UN
>     >       in the run-up to WSIS+20).  We have created frameworks for
>     >       thinking about this, which is why we created the Internet Impact
>     >       Assessment toolkit, and why we keep investing in training and
>     >       education for policy makers as well as the next generation of
>     >       Internet leaders.  If you look through our activities, at least
>     >       half of them (and I'd argue all of them) are efforts to be
>     >       advocates for the Internet and its way of connecting us all -- a
>     >       way that has turned out to be cheaper, more resilient, and more
>     >       flexible than other traditional network designs!
>     >
>     >       One particular topic of discussion we had was around the direct
>     >       discussion of "multi-stakeholder" and its cognates.  Part of the
>     >       reason you don't hear us beating that drum so much is because
>     >       the term has become so elastic as to carry, in my opinion,
>     >       little meaning.  When authoritarian governments and the largest
>     >       corporations in the history of corporations can both claim the
>     >       mantle of "multi-stakeholderism," we have an abstraction that is
>     >       no longer fit for purpose.  We need to concentrate on what we
>     >       want.  What we want is an Internet that is for everyone, and not
>     >       some set of special privileged interests.  That is, all the
>     >       time, our focus.
>     >
>     >       >3.1.1 Is there a 5 year strategic plan in place?
>     >
>     >       Yes.  We're coming to the end of one, and starting a new one
>     >       over the next 12 months; that new one is one that I know the
>     >       board undertook extensive consultations with the community
>     >       about.  The staff are working now to put in place the necessary
>     >       documents to share with the community about how we intend to
>     >       implement the board's direction, and the new materials will be
>     >       announced as soon as the board has accepted them and they're
>     >       ready for posting.
>     >
>     >       >
>     >       >3.2 2024 Action Plan
>     > >https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024-Action-Pla
>     >       n-EN.pdf
>     >       >
>     >       >Focussing on two topics:
>     >       >3.2.1 countering Internet threats
>     >       >3.2.1.1 What kind of threats are in the cross-wires of this
>     >       action
>     >       >item? Threats from UN? Globally? Individual Governments (at
>     >       national
>     >       >level)? Regionally (for example European Commission)? Private
>     >       Sector
>     >       >(for example Network Neutrality or consolidation of Internet
>     >       resources
>     >       >and monopolies)? There number of threats to the Internet are
>     >       numerous.
>     >
>     >       Yes, all of these things.  It's tough for such a small
>     >       organization!  This is why you see us trying to raise more
>     >       funds, so that we're in a position to counter as much as
>     >       possible.  The people who don't like the Internet are nation
>     >       states who can literally print money, and some of the
>     >       best-capitalized and best-funded corporations and political
>     >       organizations in the history of capital.  Our army of staff and
>     >       volunteers is mighty, for sure, but still too few and too small
>     >       to win in this battle.
>     >
>     >       >3.2.1.2 At what "layer" are these threats mostly going to be?
>     >
>     >       I am extremely sceptical of the "layer" model. It is intuitive
>     >       and simple, but it's wrong, since every layer can be
>     >       encapsulated in any other layer.  It was a tempting
>     >       simplification and it was early on useful to engage
>     >       policymakers.  But I think we're living with a hangover from
>     >       this idea, because the policymakers decided that there had to be
>     >       a layer where they could insert themselves.  There isn't.  The
>     >       threats happen at every layer, which is why we see everything
>     >       from literal shutdowns (basically, the elimination of the
>     >       physical layer), through interference with Transport Layer
>     >       Security, all the way up to attacks on protocols in the
>     >       application layer.  All of these can endanger the ability of the
>     >       Internet to be for everyone.
>     >
>     >       >3.2.1.3 How are these threats going to be decided? Which threat
>     >       is
>     >       >"more important"? Which threat has priority?
>     >
>     >       It's hard to answer this in the abstract.  "The one that can do
>     >       the most damage," is hardly a satisfying answer, but it is
>     >       mostly the one I think is right.  We usually have to take these
>     >       things case by case.  Part of our advantage is that the same bad
>     >       ideas come up over and over again, so we are often able to
>     >       re-use tactics that worked in one place and take them to
>     >       another.
>     >
>     >       >3.2.2 defending the Internet in the UN.
>     >       >This outward facing element of ISOC's advocacy has been missing
>     >       in the
>     >       >past and it would be good to understand what this will
>     >       comprise,
>     >       >particularly w/r/t IG.
>     >       >Could you please elaborate on what processes will be followed?
>     >       IGF?
>     >       >WSIS? UNGA (with the UN Digital Cooperation Forum)? ECOSOC?
>     >       UNESCO?
>     >
>     >       These are all places we've been engaged with for the entire time
>     >       I've been CEO, but given the number of things going on at the UN
>     >       these days we've tried to highlight it in the 2024 agenda.  One
>     >       thing that people don't always realize is that not everything
>     >       the staff do is something we do in the wide open. There are
>     >       plenty of cases where the best strategy is to advocate quietly
>     >       behind the scenes, and not make a fuss.  It feels good sometimes
>     >       to be lobbing insults or worse from outside, but if one can be
>     >       polite and get into the room sometimes one gets a better
>     >       outcome.  I do think staff don't get enough public credit for
>     >       this part of their work, but there's effectively no way to make
>     >       a public deal about this without disclosing the very thing we
>     >       were successful in not disclosing before!
>     >
>     >       >3.2.3 Is ISOC planning to reinvigorate the I* and working with
>     >       the
>     >       >Internet technical community as a whole to mitigate these
>     >       challenges?
>     >
>     >       As I said in our meeting, I don't understand the idea that we
>     >       have some sort of problem there.  We have very good, regular
>     >       contact among our staff and the staff of all of these other
>     >       organizations.  What is true is that we have had way fewer "I*
>     >       CEO" meetings.  That's because there isn't some simple, clear,
>     >       joint challenge that we are all facing at the moment that needs
>     >       a CEO-level discussion.  The last one of those was the IANA
>     >       transition.  Many of the challenges that we (the Internet
>     >       Society) see for the Internet, for instance, may not have any
>     >       implications for (say) an RIR or ICANN.  Domain names and IP
>     >       addresses are likely to be needed for a long time even if the
>     >       Internet ends up fragmented in various policy-driven ways across
>     >       geographies, or gets completely controlled by a tiny oligarchy
>     >       of interests.
>     >
>     >       >3.3 ISOC Financials
>     > >https://www.internetsociety.org/about-internet-society/organization-report
>     >       s/#financial-reports
>     >       >2022 Financial Statements show the Internet Society making a
>     >       loss for
>     >       >that year.
>     >
>     >       Yes, due overwhelmingly to financial losses in the markets.  Our
>     >       (as yet unaudited) 2023 statements will show essentially all of
>     >       it returning.  You may recall that 2022 was devastating in most
>     >       public markets.
>     >
>     >       >3.3.1 Is there oversight and reporting that is specific to
>     >       keeping
>     >       >track of the proportion of .org revenues being spent on
>     >       internal
>     >       >administration and staff compared to funding community works?
>     >       >The annual financial statements do not show this.
>     >
>     >       [we did not have time to discuss this matter in the meeting]
>     >
>     >       No, because .org revenues do not get sent only to the Internet
>     >       Society.  We do track over all revenue and "Internet Society
>     >       generated" revenue in order to give a good picture of just how
>     >       dominant one part of our income is.  We are working hard to
>     >       diversify our revenue streams.
>     >
>     >       >3.3.2 With other I* organisations providing detailed
>     >       information about
>     >       >the management of their projects as well as per department
>     >       >cross-referencing, is ISOC prepared to rise up to the levels of
>     >       >transparency that are now expected in public benefit entities
>     >       and to
>     >       >produce an annual financial report that provides more
>     >       information than
>     >       >its minimal published financial statement?
>     >
>     >       [we did not have time to discuss this matter in the meeting]
>     >
>     >       It isn't clear to me exactly what is being requested here, but
>     >       unless I'm very much mistaken I think you're asking for a board
>     >       policy change about what is to be disclosed. Ultimately, such a
>     >       policy change would have to be adopted by the board, so I
>     >       suggest you need to take that question up with them.
>     >
>     >       I will note that our reporting is getting better in part because
>     >       we have more infrastructure to do it.  I expect that will get
>     >       still better over time.  But we do still have some deficiencies
>     >       in our reporting infrastructure.  I would rather invest in
>     >       making that infrastructure better than pay someone to produce
>     >       such reports by hand, given our resource limitations.
>     >
>     >       >3.3.3 Is ISOC ready to publish its financials on multi-year
>     >       projects
>     >       >including its forecasts going forward? Scrutiny of Form 990
>     >       appears to
>     >       >show random continuity year on year and there is no way to find
>     >       out
>     >       >what is happening?
>     >
>     >       I think this is also a question that needs to be directed to the
>     >       board (or maybe more exactly, the finance committee; but the
>     >       board is the right place to start).
>     >
>     >       >3.4 MANRS
>     >       >ISOC made a total divestment of its MANRS project to a US
>     >       >not-for-profit, The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) which has
>     >       foundational
>     >       >links to the City Police in UK and other similar agencies.
>     >
>     >       "Divestment" (and cognates in what follows) is an inaccurate
>     >       description of what has happened.  The Internet Society has not
>     >       been (historically) terribly good at running long-term
>     >       operations, but it is quite good at incubating efforts and
>     >       making them successful.  That's what we did in this case, and we
>     >       are providing more than $5 million over 5 years to ensure that
>     >       MANRS continues to be successful as it turns into a long-term
>     >       operation.
>     >
>     >       GCA did have the City Police participating in its founding, but
>     >       the City Police are no longer involved.
>     >
>     >       >3.4.1 Why was this divestiture effected given that this was a
>     >       >successful project which comforted the ISOC brand as being
>     >       pertinent?
>     >
>     >       See above.
>     >
>     >       >3.4.2 Was a risk assessment done prior to moving MANRS
>     >       elsewhere to an
>     >       >organisation so close to law enforcement as to ensuring that
>     >       the
>     >       >Internet Society goals and principles in this important area
>     >       remain at
>     >       >the top of the routing security agenda?
>     >
>     >       We do not believe GCA is especially close to law enforcement.
>     >
>     >       >3.4.3 By what criteria was the GCA chosen as an suitable
>     >       organisation
>     >       >to run the MANRS project? Were there conditions imposed on
>     >       Goals?
>     >       […]
>     >       >3.4.4 Are there Performance Agreements (SLAs) in place for the
>     >       ongoing
>     >       >conditional funding of the GCA?
>     >       […]
>     >       >3.4.4.1 If yes, are there clauses to cancel the GCA Secretarial
>     >       and
>     >       >Operational duties, should it fail in its SLAs?
>     >
>     >       It is a participant in this work, and it is designed to do the
>     >       kind of long-term operational work that we are not able to do.
>     >       Of course, our grant to GCA, just as any grant we make, contains
>     >       performance and reporting requirements that mean the grant will
>     >       be rescinded if the performance and reporting do not happen.
>     >
>     >       >3.5 Concept of the Internet Society holding network related
>     >       patents
>     >       >
>     >       >In a recent conversation on the Internet History Mailing List,
>     >       Karl
>     >       >Auerbach proposed that ISOC or the IETF established an arm that
>     >       could
>     >       >accept and hold network related patents and issue licenses (for
>     >       >reasonable low fees and non-discriminatory terms). Vint Cerf
>     >       replied
>     >       >that he liked the idea and that the concept of ISOC being
>     >       compensated
>     >       >for doing so could ease its challenge demonstrating the level
>     >       of
>     >       >public support it has (the so-called IRS Public Support Test)
>     >       that
>     >       >requires it to show that at least 1/3 of its income comes from
>     >       a broad
>     >       >range of public sources.
>     >       >Would you consider this as a potential responsibility to evolve
>     >       ISOC?
>     >
>     >       This would present an enormous litigation risk to the Internet
>     >       Society.  Patent pools are a great lawsuit target for "patent
>     >       trolls".  (I didn't mention this in our meeting, but it also
>     >       isn't clear to me how this would be compatible with our IRS
>     >       charitable purpose, so we'd have to investigate that if it
>     >       seemed at all a plausible way forward.)
>     >
>     >       >Topic 4: Operational Issues
>     >
>     >       [we were unable to get to most of this topic in person, so I'm
>     >       going to respond to the best of my ability here.]
>     >
>     >       >4.1 New Chapter Membership Administration System
>     >       >
>     >       >After more than one month in existence it is clear that the new
>     >       >Chapter Membership Administration System is failing to achieve
>     >       the
>     >       >functions it was meant to achieve:
>     >       >a. emailing members
>     >       >b. hosting fora for community discussions like the Chapter
>     >       Advisory
>     >       >Council discussions and other fora
>     >
>     >       There clearly have been some ways in which the system has not
>     >       been ideal, but I think we have seen some responses on the
>     >       chapter-delegates mailing list of how things can be working.
>     >       Please do continue to open tickets in the dedicated
>     >       implementation queue, "AMSHelp at isoc.org". Thanks.
>     >
>     >       It is important, also, that chapters use the functionality that
>     >       exists.  Each chapter can appoint up to two communication
>     >       officers who manage the one-way communication via email.  This
>     >       assignment isn't automated, so it's something you have to do.
>     >
>     >       The fora you're thinking of have been converted into Chatter
>     >       groups.  You can post via email, and it is also possible to
>     >       received each message as it is posted rather like a traditional
>     >       email listserv.  There are still some ways this functionality
>     >       does not work quite the way people used to mailing lists expect,
>     >       I will note.  But we also have heard many complaints over time
>     >       about our reliance on mailing lists: for lots of people, email
>     >       is a legacy system they don't like to use.
>     >
>     >       >To-date the failure of the emailing system is such that even
>     >       ISOC
>     >       >Staff have been unable to use it for any campaign whatsoever.
>     >
>     >       I don't believe this is actually correct.  The Internet Society
>     >       staff have been communicating with the community since the
>     >       launch in December through this platform.
>     >
>     >       I understand that there may have been some deficiencies in how
>     >       SPF or DKIM or both were configured.
>     >
>     >       >The discussion fora are completely empty.
>     >
>     >       I also don't believe this is correct, though it is possible that
>     >       the ones you attend to are in fact empty.  There is definitely a
>     >       difference in the functionality of the Chatter groups and the
>     >       old fora.  We are attempting to refine that experience.
>     >
>     >       > The porting of old
>     >       >discussions has lost all formatting, attached documents etc.
>     >
>     >       It is definitely the case that some old formatting was lost: the
>     >       Connect platform allowed HTML-tagged formatting and the new one
>     >       doesn't.  In consultation with the chapters who participated in
>     >       the focus groups around this transition, we decided to accept
>     >       this limitation.  Also, it was only the former Connect data that
>     >       was migrated to the new system: anything that was outside that
>     >       necessarily stayed out.  I am unaware of any content that was
>     >       lost, and this was one of the major focal points of
>     >       post-migration testing, so if you can point to a specific case
>     >       of data loss it would be very important to hear about it
>     >       urgently, please.
>     >
>     >       > Functions
>     >       >like the emailing of the fora discussions are non existent.
>     >
>     >       I think this is overstating the case, but there have been
>     >       problems with the ways email interacts with all of this.  One
>     >       issue is that the default was to send batches rather than each
>     >       message.  We are diligently working to find new problematic
>     >       cases.
>     >
>     >       >The system appears to require lots of pre-established templates
>     >       none
>     >       >of which are available.
>     >
>     >       You do need to template messages in advance.  There are
>     >       different templates, but it's wise for each chapter to maintain
>     >       their control over the templates they use.  If there is a gap
>     >       that you need help with urgently, please open a ticket with
>     > AMSHelp at isoc.org. Thanks.
>     >
>     >       >The list of problems is too long to list here but the result is
>     >       a loss
>     >       >of community history as well as a complete hindrance on
>     >       membership
>     >       >management at Chapter level. ISOC is without a communications
>     >       tool - a
>     >       >tool that should have been at the centre of its operations and
>     >       that
>     >       >has failed to deliver.
>     >       >
>     >       >4.1.1 What is ISOC planning to do to fix this serious problem?
>     >
>     >       We are doing monthly releases to refine and improve the
>     >       platform.
>     >
>     >       >4.1.2 How long will it take to fix?
>     >
>     >       This depends on what we mean by "fix".  There are some issues
>     >       that require more work than others, but I believe there are some
>     >       fixes that have been publicly requested that are for things not
>     >       actually broken in the system as designed, so it is hard for me
>     >       to answer this fairly.  In particular, there have been some
>     >       calls to revert to a state of affairs in respect of data sharing
>     >       that we simply cannot do under various privacy laws today.
>     >       While I have sympathy with those frustrated by the loss of
>     >       sometimes lower-friction ways of doing things, we cannot leave
>     >       aside our obligtions to conform with privacy and anti-spam laws.
>     >
>     >       There is a “Community Portal Updates” Chatter group.  All
>     >       interested chapter leaders are invited to join that group. This
>     >       will help everyone understand what the monthly releases include.
>     >
>     >       >4.1.3 If the system is "born dead" would ISOC consider finding
>     >       an
>     >       >alternative system and dropping the current system on the basis
>     >       that
>     >       >it is a failure and immediately proposing an alternative?
>     >
>     >       The system is not "born dead", as the success of some users has
>     >       shown.  This system went through an exhaustive selection process
>     >       involving, among others, chapter leaders who could comment on
>     >       the functionality.  This is a large change, however, which is
>     >       always difficult.
>     >
>     >       >4.2 Relationship between Chapters and HQ in matters of national
>     >       importance
>     >       >
>     >       >4.2.1 Does ISOC have a rulebook regarding engagement relating
>     >       to
>     >       >Internet policy and advocacy in countries where there is a
>     >       local
>     >       >Chapter?
>     >
>     >       We try always to engage in development of our positions in
>     >       consultation with those locally on the ground in any country we
>     >       attend to.  That does not always mean direct engagement by the
>     >       person who is visiting: it often means that people come
>     >       well-briefed with the Internet Society position. Of course, it
>     >       has happened on some occasions that the Internet Society and a
>     >       chapter in a country do not agree about something, though it is
>     >       pretty rare.
>     >
>     >       >4.2.2 How does ISOC align itself with the positions taken by a
>     >       local
>     >       >chapter in a specific territory when ISOC in intervening
>     >       directly in
>     >       >that territory? For example, your visit in the UK is triggered
>     >       by your
>     >       >participation at a conference. How will you align your
>     >       narrative with
>     >       >the Chapter's narrative?
>     >
>     >       First, there is no actual requirement that a chapter must agree
>     >       with the wider Internet Society (it has happened, as noted
>     >       above).  But in general we try always to make sure we are well
>     >       aligned.  I came to the UK, for instance, well-briefed ahout the
>     >       topics I was likely to interact with people about. It is not,
>     >       of course, possible for any one person to meet with everyone in
>     >       every chapter.  But in general we try to ensure the whole
>     >       Internet Society, including the chapters, are largely aligned on
>     >       these matters.  That might mean that there are tiny differences
>     >       in the ways we talk about certain things, of course.  But the
>     >       richness of a choir comes from the many voices coming together
>     >       to sing the same musical piece.
>     >
>     >       Best regards,
>     >
>     >       Andrew
>     >
>     >       --
>     >       Andrew Sullivan, President & CEO, Internet Society
>     > e:sullivan at isoc.org <mailto:e%3Asullivan at isoc.org> m:+1 416 731 1261
>     >       Help protect the Internet for everyone:
>     > https://www.internetsociety.org/donate/
>     >       _______________________________________________
>     >       As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically
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>     >       Society Chapter Portal (AMS):
>     > https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login
>     >       View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>     > https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>     >
>     >
>     >_______________________________________________
>     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/622619/User/Login
>     View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>     https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>
>
>
> -- 
> --------------------------------------
> Joly MacFie  +12185659365
> --------------------------------------
> -
>
> _______________________________________________
> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society Chapter Portal (AMS):
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