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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Parminder</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I thank you warmly for having expressed the
very concerns (and even the fear) of most of the grass-root CS organisations
that are implied in the WSIS follow-up process. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Personnally and on behalf of CSDPTT I am
pleased to share with you the prevalence of public interest and the permanent
worry about real development : these should be the major drivers in all our
activities and commitments, and -in this case- in Internet governance
issues which will have an important -either positive or negative- impact in
developing countries.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Friendy yours</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jean-Louis Fullsack</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=parminder@itforchange.net
href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net">Parminder</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=governance@lists.cpsr.org
href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</A> ; <A
title=mueller@syr.edu href="mailto:mueller@syr.edu">Milton L Mueller</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, April 01, 2009 6:48
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [governance] Proposed text
for a sign-on or IGC statement re:</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Robin and
Milton,<BR><BR>IT for Change will sign on the text put up by Milton, and I as
a member of IGC also support that IGC signs it. <BR><BR>I must however
mention a couple of issues, on behalf of my organization, which do not impact
the above endorsement. I apologize for this longish text, but we have
reservations about the ICANN's governance model and we need to mention them
while supporting an endorsement of a relatively minor structural change in
it. It is also relevant to mention these issues in some detail because
of the surprise, and perhaps exasperation (I dont say that it is not
justified), shown by some members on this list as to why do some members
active in IGC/ IGF not engage sufficiently with ICANN where some 'real work'
may be getting done. <BR><BR>This is how we see this space, and decide on our
engagements, thinly resourced that we are.<BR><BR>Either ICANN, and its GNSO,
is merely doing 'relatively' mundane, though often important, administrative
tasks in managing some critical Internet resources, meaning tasks that do not
have much political implication, or ICANN indeed does tasks with significant
political implications. In case its is the former, we are not really that
interested in its work. Perhaps that may appear a little rude. Better to say
we do not have the time vis a vis our primary inclinations as an organization.
We primarily do development work, with a keen understanding of the political
nature of development. In this context, we consider it our task to
specifically represent the the interests of the currently disadvantaged and
marginalized sections.Technical governance is not our core mandate; only to
the extent it has strong political implications vis a vis 'development
constituencies' do we get involved. <BR><BR>However, in case ICANN/ GNSO does
work with important political implications we simply do not agree with much of
its constitutive logic - for instance, of equality/</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">balance</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> between demand and supply side of the
'domain name' marketplace, or even between other commercial and non-commercial
parties. We also do not agree to its basic criterion for legitimate interest/
representation that requires one to at least be a domain registrant. We do not
think that is the point - for instance even in the KTCN campaign of NCUC on
the FoE issue. <BR><BR>Such 'user' based and stakeholder based global
governance systems disproportionately favoring organized private sector
(US-ians may read, business sector) - to counter whose power is a central
governance issue at the global level - are exactly the wrong models of global
governance to promote. Such models are poised to </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">overall </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">do much greater damage than good to the
global public interest. They are especially dangerous when they seek political
sovereignty, which we are afraid much of these minor structural adjustments
are aimed at consolidating. </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">To the extent that </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">there is a certain complicity in the
ICANN arena i</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">n this
regard</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> - including of some
of the involved civil society actors - we</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> must strongly disassociate ourselves
from supporting any such implications of the present, or any other, proposal
for structural changes in the ICANN.<BR><BR>On the other hand, we can
understand and accept user/ stakeholder models for relatively low-level
technical policy tasks, which are politically accountable to globally
legitimate entities (sorry, but US government is not). We also agree that a
simple inter-governmental system is not enough to constitute such an
'legitimate entity' as representing global public interest, especially in the
new global circumstances created by the Internet. New, and perhaps innovative,
ways to construct the needed legitimacies must therefore be tried out. Such
efforts should however remain rooted in key percepts of what is public
interest, and what can constitute its legitimate representation. The
separation between private interest and public interest needs to be
maintained, indeed honored. There should be sufficient proactive effort
towards disproportionately higher representation of those currently
marginalized, and not the opposite as these new models of governance do, in
the name of some kind of neat efficiency and the like. All such
governance innovations - out-of-the-box, subversive, whatever - that look like
they are especially pushing forward marginalized interests attract our strong
interest. All 'innovations' that further entrench dominant interests -whether
economic, political, geo-political, class - are correspondingly received
with strong political opposition. <BR><BR>Warding off illegitimate statist
interests has been a chief, at one stage even the central, struggle in the IG
arena. Many actors who have shown exemplary dedication as well as foresight in
fighting these interests, with a good degree of success, must forever remain
our heroes. However, some of the same actors, and/or their second generation
flag-bearers, are much less cognizant of another struggle in the IG arena
which is at least as important. The struggle to make sure that the Internet
does not become an instrument of a new global order that it even further
dominated by the already powerful; where political power is allocated on
the basis on the economic power one already posses, instead of moderating it,
and where new governance systems provide political cover and legitimacy to
economic exploitation. It is no longer acceptable for any civil society
constituency claiming any degree of global legitimacy to not represent both
these struggles equally. We not only find the global governance models implied
in the ICANN system quite </FONT><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">ominous for the future
of global governance, we would also like the global civil society engaged with
its forums to better represent the political interests of the currently
excluded/ marginalized sections.</SPAN><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><BR>However, we do recognize that the
battle has to be fought on many fronts, and many in the NCUC have done great
work in developing more spaces for public interest constituencies, and taking
up some important public interest issues. <BR><BR>We will like to see the NCSG
6.0 charter developed by the NCUC adopted by the ICANN instead of the
alternative one, and especially agree that its direct instead of constituency
based election of council members is a much better process. It is better
because it has a higher chance of representing global public interest, each
candidate having to muster a much wider support.
<BR><BR>Parminder</FONT><BR><BR>Milton L Mueller wrote:
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The organizations and
individuals listed below are members of and participants in the civil
society Internet Governance Caucus. We wish to express our support for
version 6.0 of the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) charter developed
by the Noncommercial Users Constituency. While there may still be room for
minor improvements, we believe that the basic principles on which the
charter is founded provide the fairest and most effective basis for civil
society representation in ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization.
<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We specifically support the
proposal because:<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> * It was developed
transparently and with many opportunities for input by relevant ICANN
participants;<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> * It makes it easy to form
constituencies or affinity groups, but avoids fragmentation of noncommercial
stakeholders into independent constituencies with separate mailing lists,
administrative structures and representatives; <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> * It permits individual
membership in the NCSG and does not require individuals to fit themselves
into arbitrarily-defined categories that may not correspond to their
interests and needs;<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> * It fosters
representation of minority viewpoints in consensus-based Working Groups, but
does not rigidly assign votes to small factions, instead offering them a
chance to build consensus<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We also note that the
alternative charter proposal seems designed to give a specific faction
guaranteed Council seats and does not foster global, geographically diverse
representation. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We appreciate ICANN’s effort to
make its GNSO more representative and urge you to ratify and accept the NCSG
charter.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Signed,<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">--<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">--<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Etc.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
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