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Bill Drake, <br>
<a href="http://www.isoc.bg/index_en.html">Internet Society -
Bulgaria</a> signs. <br><br>
veni<br>
<a href="http://www.isoc.bg/ig" eudora="autourl">www.isoc.bg/ig</a> - the
Internet Governance Resource Portal<br><br>
At 16:06 30-01-06 +0100, William Drake wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Hi,<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">So far I have as signatories,<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">William
Drake
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/<br>
Graduate Institute for International Studies <br>
Wolfgang Kleinwächter
University of Aarhus<br>
McTim
Internet Infrastructure Consultant<br>
Lee
McKnight
Syracuse University/Internet Governance Project<br>
Parminder Jeet
Singh
IT for Change<br>
Jeanette
Hofmann
Social Science Research Center, Berlin<br>
Avri
Doria
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/Consultant<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Questions:<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">1. Parminder thinks we should
have some sort of WSIS-related identification. I'm not much on a
lead like 'we the people of WSIS-CS' or whatever since it implies a level
of consultation and consensus that isn't there, but I suppose I could
label it, Statement by Members of the WSIS-Civil Society Internet
Governance Caucus. Any problems with that? Of course, I'd
rather it was simply a statement of the caucus, full stop, can't imagine
that many caucus members are opposed to asking for inclusion, and we've
made caucus statements in the past with fewer ayes (an issue in itself, I
suppose), but maybe that's pushing it a bit...Anyone have
guidance/feelings about this either way?<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">2. Avri suggested I frame this
in terms of "civil society organizations and academics."
I view academia as part of CS by definition, but can do this for
emphasis, in which case perhaps I should stick Dr. in front of the
relevant names. With ITU, where claims of 'expertise' are highly
relevant to a claim to participation, this might be desirable.
Guidance/feelings...?<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">I guess I can send this later in the
evening to give more time in case others want to sign on, I'll just email
it directly to relevant staff to make sure it gets seen before the
meeting.<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Best,<br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Bill<br>
</font> <br>
<br>
<br>
<font face="Tahoma" size=2>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b>From:</b> Parminder
[<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" eudora="autourl">
mailto:parminder@itforchange.net</a>]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, January 30, 2006 3:25 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'William Drake'; 'Governance'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [governance] statement for ITU website<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2 color="#000080">Hi Bill<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>Pl add IT for Change’s endorsement to it. Thanks. <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>I still find it astonishing that ITU can get away with not
incorporating open access principle which is clearly stated in POA, and
more clearly so for the kind of work ITU does – technical IS related
info…. <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>I am in the middle of something urgent, and not able to draft a
separate ‘open access’ statement’ – so well, some other time. Though I
also see that there could be some lack of complete consensus on this
issue in the CS – it is certainly is a complex issue……<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>For me making such representations is important not only from a
content point of view – which is of course more important – but as much
from process point of view. We need to take opportunity at these times
when the WSIS-CS mandate, structure and future is uncertain to asset
ourselves as the ‘WSIS CS’ or something. We have gathered some political
strength in our collective form, however rudimentary. It needs to be
preserved – and it can only be preserved by pushing ‘content’ or
substantive actions like this one……<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>That was the reason I had used the rather artificial sounding opening
for the statement I drafted – ‘We, the CS that associated with the WSIS’.
See if some acceptable version of such assertion can be used…… It will be
politically significant….. though we need to figure out how much active
the WSIS CS is at present…. More on that later….<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>Thanks for the effort…<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>Best regards<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>Parminder <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Arial Narrow, Helvetica" size=2 color="#808080">
________________________________________________<br>
<dd>Parminder Jeet Singh<br>
<dd>IT for Change<br>
<dd>Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities</i>
<br>
<dd>91-80-26654134<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2 color="#000080">
<a href="http://www.itforchange.net/">www.ITforChange.net</a></i> <br>
<hr>
<div align="center"></font></div>
<dd><font face="Tahoma" size=2>From:</b>
governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org
[<a href="mailto:governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org" eudora="autourl">
mailto:governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org</a>] On Behalf Of </b>William
Drake<br>
<dd>Sent:</b> Monday, January 30, 2006 3:05 PM<br>
<dd>To:</b> Governance<br>
<dd>Subject:</b> [governance] statement for ITU website<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Good morning,<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Since there was no consensus on
making a joint caucus or other CS statement on the website for the ITU's
Wednesday reform meeting, I decided I might as well type up something
short to submit on a personal basis. If anyone would like to sign
on you're more than welcome; either way, I will submit this by close of
business today, Geneva time. I don't know that we'd have time to do
any text tweaking, but if that might make this more attractive to
potential signatories, let's communicate. I see that Parminder made
a nice submission on the cost of ITU documentation and its nonconformity
with the access to knowledge and information principle enunciated in the
WSIS Plan of Action. The below text is on a different point and is
complementary.<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">-------<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">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, the barriers to becoming a sector member or even
an associate are simply too high. 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 amply demonstrated by the WSIS process, in which civil
society strongly opposed the ITU playing an expanded, leading role in
Internet governance. <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>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 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 ITU 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>
<dd> <br>
<dd>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
in the course of the WSIS process and afterwards. 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 rather
different. <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">---------<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Best,<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">Bill<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">
*******************************************************<br>
<dd>William J. Drake
<a href="mailto:drake@hei.unige.ch">drake@hei.unige.ch</a><br>
<dd>Director, Project on the Information<br>
<dd> Revolution and Global Governance<br>
<dd> Graduate Institute for International Studies<br>
<dd> Geneva, Switzerland </font><br>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">President, Computer Professionals
for <br>
<dd> Social Responsibility</font><br>
<dd><font face="Book Antiqua, Bookman">
<a href="http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake">
http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake</a> <br>
<dd>*******************************************************<br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><br>
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