<div>Greetings,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I trust the following note will be found' in sync' with those proceeding, at least I so intend it to be and in collegial mettle.</div>
<div>.</div>
<div>I've been at some U.N. / ICT related events lately, and I really <em>think</em> and <em>feel</em> that to a large extent the burden is ours to explain ICT, computing, information systems.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Like anything else (for all of the exciting aura of things new) If it is not something people have been and/or are very familiar with, much seems mysterious. To expect consensus on things mysterious, well, I have seen this is court-laid-down case law over the decades.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Law that is going to take some time to reverse or correct, given the persuasiveness of <em>stare decisis</em>, things decided. Because the time came and decisions had to be made. (It was believed).</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As mentioned at IGF-I Athens when civil society met with Renata moderating, I do believe we have a burden of education, and this in turn will bring inclusion and a more recognized voice.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Optimistically yours and Respectfully Interfacing, LDMF.</div>
<div>Dr. Linda D. Misek-Falkoff.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 12/8/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Milton Mueller</b> <<a href="mailto:mueller@syr.edu">mueller@syr.edu</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><br>This whole debate about government is getting silly.<br><br>IGP publications have proposed that ICANN be formally accountable to
<br>the rule of law (law being governmental, last time I looked); and that<br>the world's governments negotiate a framework convention to codify in a<br>binding fashion certain principles regarding the Internet (principles
<br>which, we hope, will preserve and protect its freedoms rather than<br>undermine them).<br><br>So rather than getting caught in an Orwellian chant that governments<br>are two-legged and therefore intrinsically bad, to be answered by
<br>equally uninteresting bleating that they are four-legged and therefore<br>intrinsically good, it might be better to talk about what you want the<br>governments to do, what you don't want them to do, what institutional
<br>mechanisms might be deployed, and what checks and balances might exist<br>to counter the obvious tendency of states to wield power in ways that<br>benefit themselves or certain clients at the expense of the public<br>
(especially in international arenas where there is no electorate, no<br>real rule of law, very little enforcability and very weak<br>accountability)<br><br>>>> <a href="mailto:db@dannybutt.net">db@dannybutt.net</a>
12/7/2006 1:36:29 AM >>><br>Hi Jeanette/all<br><br>I find it interesting that internet culture is so hostile to the idea<br><br>of government that even mild recognition quickly becomes<br>"glorification" :7. I have no great love for intergovernmental
<br>systems, but they do some things relatively well, or at least better<br>than existing alternatives. Geographical diversity and due process<br>would be high on my list.<br><br>While I think that "transparency" in the development sector is highly
<br><br>overrated (and often a tool to enable ICT-rich organisations to get<br>contracts where "publishing on the internet" is equated with<br>transparency), I agree it is an important component of<br>accountability. However, it's far from the only component, or even
<br>the most important.<br><br>My point is that what constitutes "performance" will be assessed<br>differently by different people, and there is a rather large<br>geopolitical/socio-cultural imbalance in positive evaluations of
<br>existing Internet Governance entities. Civil Society's stand on that<br>imbalance will, in my opinion, be critical to its long-term voice in<br>IG arrangements.<br><br>Or to put it more simply, if CS buys the line that everything is fine
<br><br>as long as it gets seats at the table, then it may soon find itself<br>in an expensive, empty restaurant with bad food and worse company,<br>while the masses eat elsewhere.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Danny<br><br><br>
On 07/12/2006, at 7:53 AM, Jeanette Hofmann wrote:<br><br>> On further reflection, we should not glorify intergovernmental<br>> processes and institutions. Even if the ITU is more inclusive as<br>> far as participation of governments is concerned, we don't know
<br>> much about balances of powers between governments. And even if<br>> there are formal mechanisms of accountability, we don't know<br>> whether they are effective.<br>><br>> ICANN is much more transparent than any intergovernmental
<br>> organization. This is why we can observe its shortcomings on a<br>> regular basis. I wouldn't be able to say if closed<br>> intergovernmental organizations such as the ITU violate or stretch<br>> their own rules more or less than ICANN. What seems safe to say is
<br>> trust in an organization requires better performance.<br><br>____________________________________________________________<br>You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">
governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br> <a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org</a><br><br>For all list information and functions, see:
<br> <a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br>____________________________________________________________<br>You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
<br> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br> <a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org
</a><br><br>For all list information and functions, see:<br> <a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>InterNetizen, ARPANet-Internet forward.
<br>