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<div>Bill,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You have good text - you don't need any changes now. So,
for your thoughts later: WSIS accreditation will do fine now.
Down the road, new NGOs will - inevitably - accrete. One day we
will have to face the (bad) bear of accreditation, once again.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>My org is not the sort who poll easily, and there would be a
range of views. Sorry we can't be useful as a signatory.
Will try to be useful, in conversation with relevant folks on the
subject.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>David</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 8:47 PM +0100 1/30/06, William Drake wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Book Antiqua">Hi,</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Book Antiqua">Having shifted
from an individual to group statement, I can't help thinking this
would be more effective if there was more of a group associated with
it. Twelve names is ok, but more would be merrier. I
will submit it when I wake up tomorrow morning, if anyone else wants
to join please let me know privately before then.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Book Antiqua">Thanks</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Book Antiqua">Bill</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><b>Statement by members of
the WSIS-civil society Internet Governance Caucus</b><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center">Submitted for the WG-WSIS
ITU Reform Meeting<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center">1 February 2006<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>The WSIS Principles state that Internet
governance should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with
the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society
and international organizations. The ITU clearly does not meet
the last criteria. For the overwhelming majority of civil
society organizations and individual academics, the barriers to
becoming a sector member or even an associate are simply too high to
overcome. In parallel, there are no options for participating on
a more flexible, ad hoc basis in special workshops and seminars, or in
the assemblies and conferences. In consequence, and unlike other
UN agencies, true NGOs (as opposed to hybrid business/user/technical
organizations) are almost entirely absent and alienated from the
ITU. That this is not in the ITU’s own interest was
demonstrated by the WSIS process, in which civil society opposed the
ITU playing an expanded, leading role in Internet governance.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>With WSIS follow-up and implementation
efforts forthcoming, now would be a particularly appropriate time to
make opening up to civil society a central element of ITU reform.
Doing so would not in any way disrupt the work of the Union, and the
administrative cost would be negligible (we can print our own
documents, etc). The ITU would not face a stampede of hundreds
of organizations seeking to participate in ongoing study group work on
frequency propagation, signaling requirements and protocols, and other
technical matters. A much more likely scenario would be that a
manageable number of NGOs and academics would seek to participate in
some of the above-mentioned workshops, seminars, assemblies and
conferences. Civil society experts contributed significantly to
the success of the February 2004 workshop on Internet governance, and
there is every reason to believe that same constructive engagement
would ensue in other forums. Allowing civil society
participation in events like the March 2006 meeting on NGN policies
would be a good first step, and would not require changes to the
Constitution and Convention. WSIS and/or ECOSOC accreditation
would seem sufficient for this purpose.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>It is unfortunate that the ITU’s
February 1 reform meeting is closed to civil society participation.
Our exclusion from this and similar events has been debated
extensively on civil society Internet listservs. There was
little enthusiasm for the website’s cheery invitation to “be part
of it” by submitting statements in this “open forum” for a
meeting from which we are barred. If however the ITU were to
initiate a genuine, open and inclusive dialogue on the matter, the
response would be much more supportive.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. William
Drake <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility/<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Graduate Institute for International
Studies, Geneva<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Wolfgang
Kleinwächter <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>University of Aarhus<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
>McTim <span
></span
> <span
></span
> <span
></span> </blockquote
>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Internet Infrastructure Consultant<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Lee
McKnight <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Syracuse University/Internet Governance
Project<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Parminder Jeet
Singh <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>IT for Change<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Jeanette
Hofmann <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Social Science Research Center,
Berlin<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Avri
Doria <span
></span
> <span
></span
> <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility/ <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Nomadic Women's ICT Network<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Robert
Guerra <span
></span
> <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility/<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Privaterra<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Ralf
Bendrath <span
></span> <br
>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://www.worldsummit2005.org/">www.worldsummit2005.org</a><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Max
Senges <span
></span
> <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Committee for a Democratic United
Nations<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Veni
Markovski <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Internet Society, Bulgaria<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Karen
Banks <span
></span
> <span
></span> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Association for Progressive
Communications<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
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https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance</blockquote>
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