<div dir="ltr"><div>Thanks, Vlada, for this detailed and very informative account of what transpired at the HLP meeting in London.<br></div>Mawaki<br><div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';border-spacing:0px;font-size:medium"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial;font-size:small"><div>
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 5:36 PM, Vladimir Radunovic <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vladar@diplomacy.edu" target="_blank">vladar@diplomacy.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear colleagues,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">here are few lines on my impressions of what happened at the
High Level Panel meeting in London on Friday. I hope it will help us better understand
the intentions and potentials of this (dynamically evolving and self-reshaping)
initiative.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was there in status of an observer, representing Diplo who
was invited among others by ICANN to provide its expertise and assist the
drafting of report by the HL panel. The Panel event was under Chatham House
rule, so I will try to bring as many details as possible while still respecting
this rule. The views below are my personal, as I saw the discussions and the
process. Besides the impressions below, I (and several others) have been
extensively tweeting with #InternetPanel (read <a href="https://twitter.com/search?had_popular=true&q=InternetPanel" title="https://twitter.com/search?had_popular=true&q=InternetPanel" target="_blank">here</a>)
so you can get a pretty good snapshot of key points in discussion through that.
Formal Press Release has been published and is available <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/high-level-panel-on-global-internet-cooperation-and-governance-mechanisms-convenes-in-london-235789861.html" title="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/high-level-panel-on-global-internet-cooperation-and-governance-mechanisms-convenes-in-london-235789861.html" target="_blank">here</a>
– it brings more or less all the basic info on topics and participants of the
meeting as well as the future timeline.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>HL Group and experts</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Panel includes 21 members listed in the Press Release;
additionally, a final one (Anriette from APC) has been accepted during the
meeting in London to reflect loud civil society requests. Panel is dominated by
tech and corporate sector, with few yet high level representatives of
governments; only now there is a panel member from civil society organisation. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was my impression that initially the entire HL Panel was
composed based on “names” rather than on representation of stakeholders; yet it
appears that it was acknowledged at the end that the absence of civil society
organisations can hurt the process. On the other hand, civil society experts
dominate the expert group who is supposed to assist with drafting the final
report – as the agenda in press release shows. As an observer (replacing Jovan
who was invited as expert but was not able to join in London), I did not have
chance to formally raise civil society concerns expressed on this list and
elsewhere, but other experts were involved in formal discussion. I hope
Anriette’s formal presence in future will extend this direct opportunity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At London meeting there were most of Panel members, the experts,
dozen of observers assisting Panel members or as guests, and some ICANN staff –
total about 50 people, invited by ICANN. These are likely the people that will
gather also in the next phases of the work. I suppose there will be no further
changes in composition of the panel. I also got the impression the following
two meetings will not be opened for observers rather than those invited
directly or related to panel members, nor there will be greater transparency
during the meetings; instead, it seems public consultations (primarily on 1Net)
will be the public inputs into the work of the panel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Task</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Panel has decided to be titled “Panel on global Internet
cooperation and governance mechanisms”. Their goal is to prepare a blueprint
document – a report – as described in press release. The focus of London discussions
was on mapping the ecosystem and needs, discussing the “desirable properties”
of future system, and agreeing on next steps. While there were interesting
discussions, my impression was that there were very few new aspects on the
table yet. It is my hope that the panel (and especially the experts who do have
extensive knowledge of already-discussed issues in and various fora in previous
years) will reflect to valuable outputs of previous IGF and other meetings
rather than reinventing the wheel. It was confirmed that the summary of
discussion points will be posted to 1Net.org soon asking for community
reflections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The final draft of the report should be ready during second
HL meeting in US end February; then it should be formally submitted as
contribution to Sao Paolo meeting and Freedom Online conference in Tallinn in
April, and offered for public consultations towards the next draft (not sure if
only through 1Net, but probably will not be limited to that). It is supposed
the draft report will find its place in the Sao Paolo meeting as well. The
outputs of this and public discussions will be fed into the final report to be
wrapped up during the third meeting in Dubai in early May. It should then be
fed into various processes incl. ICANN meeting in London in June, IGF in
September, etc. It is important to mention that the relevance and legitimacy of
IGF was mentioned several times in discussions, and I had a feeling that the
panel and experts are aware that this process should contribute to (and
possibly strengthen) the IGF rather than undermine it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Other components</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My impression was that there was distancing by ICANN and the
HL panel from the Sao Paolo meeting. Brazil meeting was mentioned only once at
the end as a place where the report may be discussed – and was mentioned as
only one such opportunity. There was no feeling that Sao Paolo conference is
part of this initiative. At the same time the news was spread that Brazilian
president Rousseff met French President Holland and that France might support Sao
Paolo meeting (I found no direct confirmation for this in news yet however –
pointers welcomed if anyone has).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand 1Net was mentioned several times as the
place in which public contributions on the draft report should be provided. It
was of course only the reference to 1Net with regards to the HL Panel work, but
it is possible that 1Net was envisaged with a broader goal; there was no
further info however on how 1Net will proceed, nor on its Steering Committees
or further steps.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Timeline</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The timeline of meetings was presented in the press release
as well. Yet let me combine it here with the updated info on other relevant 2014
events mentioned and not mentioned in London:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">22-25 January, Davos: Side-meeting of the HL Panel during
WEF annual meeting</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">27-28 February, US: 2nd HL meeting</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">31 March, Dubai (rather than Sharm): ITU WTDC</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">23-24 April, Sao Paolo: Brazil conference</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">28-29 April, Tallinn: Freedom Online Conference</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">3-4 May, Dubai: 3rd (final) HL meeting</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hope this shed bit more light on what this whole new
initiative will be about. It is slightly clearer to me now, though I still have
lots of questions about 1Net. It is my belief that we should try to, whatever
the initial idea behind 1Net was (and also the HL Panel), explore its
potentials to strengthen the IGF and improve communications among professional
(and stakeholder) silos.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>Vlada</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">PS Sorry for a rather long email.. I decided to be detailed in this case, and mention as much as possible.<br></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div>