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<DIV>Hi CPU,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>No I don’t think there was a conspiracy here. I think there was a desire to
move a slow moving process along more quickly, and particularly to get in place
some sort of leadership structure so that the Secretariat of NMI had some
guidance and direction in moving forward. So I think there was a general
consensus that it would be a good idea to get a chair structure in place
quickly, but the result was a rushed process that was, as I described, fairly
messy. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However the end result I think is quite workable, and definitely better
than the previous position.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ian Peter </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=udochukwu.njoku@unn.edu.ng
href="mailto:udochukwu.njoku@unn.edu.ng">Chris Prince Udochukwu Njoku</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, July 03, 2015 9:22 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=ian.peter@ianpeter.com
href="mailto:ian.peter@ianpeter.com">Ian Peter</A> ; <A
title=governance@lists.igcaucus.org
href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [governance] update on NMI</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<P dir=ltr>This report is impressive. If Chinese interpretations of
English terms used here to communicate China's positions are actually what the
terms mean in English, I think the meeting is pointing to a fruitful direction.
</P>
<P dir=ltr>When we read the communiqué document, we'll get to know the "lot of
internal obsessive detail". I agree we can discuss them here.</P>
<P dir=ltr>Ian, why was there the "fairly messy process hastily arranged"? Are
we to suspect that the installation of the co-chairs was a mastermind toward any
biased pursuits?</P>
<P dir=ltr>CPU<BR>______________________________________<BR>Chris Prince
Udochukwu Njoku (PhD)<BR>University of Nigeria</P>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Jul 3, 2015 12:30 AM, "Ian Peter" <<A
href="mailto:ian.peter@ianpeter.com">ian.peter@ianpeter.com</A>> wrote:<BR
type="attribution">
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">This is an update and some personal reflections
<SPAN> </SPAN>on the NetMundial Initiative, which held its first full
Coordination Council meeting<SPAN> </SPAN>on June 30 in Sao Paulo. As
posted recently by Marilia, the communique document can be found at <A><FONT
color=#0000ff>https://www.netmundial.org/blog/secretariat/s%C3%A3o-paulo-communiqu%C3%A9-inaugural-council-meeting</FONT></A>
and summarises most of the discussions. So below are some more personal
comments.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Please feel free to copy to other lists.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The meeting was held in the same room as the original
NetMundial conference which many of us attended (but partitioned to create a
smaller room). In addition to the Council members, seats were available for
observers as well as remote participation. The meeting was hosted and very
well organised by CGI.br</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">One feature of the meeting was the speeches by 2 high
profile Chinese delegates attending for the first time (Lu Wei, Chinese
Minister for Cyberspace, and Jack Ma, head of Alibaba). I would imagine
transcripts as well as other documents will be available soon at
www.netmundial .org, but some memories are</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Lu Wei definitely mentioned support for
multistakeholderism, but China watchers might also want to check the
transcript or recording for nuances of meaning here – he also mentioned
sovereignty of course. This seems to a change of some sort for China to
mention support for multistakeholderism, but I would imagine their
interpretation of what this means might be somewhere within the wide range of
interpretations <SPAN> </SPAN>already existing. But what I do read into
this is an acknowledgement by China that it will work with the rest of the
world in addressing internet issues. As always, the devil will be in the
detail.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><SPAN><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </FONT></SPAN><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Lu
Wei ( and Jack Ma if my memory serves me correctly) used the phrase of the
internet being “for the development of humankind” This particular phrase had a
history dating back to the early 1980s and the Macbride Report of UNESCO (Many
Voices One World) referring to pre-Internet new media – out of which the NWICO
debates emerged.<SPAN> </SPAN>I was personally pleased to hear the
phrase used in this context.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">There was an interesting discussion on human rights
and internet governance between Lu Wei and Eileen Donahoe and Anriette
Esterhuysen.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Jack Ma gave a very interesting speech as well,
referring to development and engagement of youth in particular.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">It appears that both China and Jack Ma on behalf of
Alibaba have indicated strong support at this stage for the
initiative.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Fadi Chehade in his opening remarks produced some
interesting diagrammatic interpretations of the state of internet governance –
these are also available from <A><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.netmundial.org</FONT></A>. He also mentioned the role of
Edward Snowden as a catalyst for the original NMI conference in Sao Paulo –
remarks which I later took on board a little more extensively to thank Edward
Snowden for his contribution and to note that, although there have since been
a few small measures here and there to improve the pervasive nature of mass
surveillance, there was still a lot of improvement needed in this area.
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The meeting adopted a few procedural documents –
including strong support for consensus decision making. It also, through a
fairly messy process hastily arranged, put in place 5 co-chairs – Jack Ma,
Fadi Chehade, Virgilio Almeida, Eileen Donahoe, and Marilia Maciel.
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">There was a lot of internal obsessive detail which we
could discuss if people want to, but basically the intiative is still pretty
new and raw and learning from its mistakes. Much of the meeting was devoted to
internal process. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">There were also some pretty interesting side
discussions – I (and others as well) deliberately<SPAN> </SPAN>raised
the <A href="http://internet.org" target=_blank>internet.org</A> issue,
particularly to feel out policy makers from industry and governments. While
there were divided opinions, there were certainly a lot of people who hadn’t
thought about it yet who need to, and some surprisingly strong opposition to
the initiative from some industry players. I think the discussions were
valuable, with some people having very scant knowledge of the issues which are
being raised and likely to look into them further.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Otherwise – my general impression is that NMI is
getting some structure, and maybe some extra avenues of financial support as
well . The terms of the inaugural council will run out in June 2016, and it is
hard to know what will happen after that, if anything. The loss of product
champion Fadi Chehade is likely to be a factor as well.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">That’s my initial reactions. I realise that many
within civil society have strong (and in many cases appropriate) reservations
about this initiative. But at the same time, I am glad that as these
discussions continue civil society does have some presence in the discussions
and the capacity to influence events via those who are
participating.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt">Ian
Peter</P></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>____________________________________________________________<BR>You
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