[bestbits] Coordination during WCIT -- who's attending, who's reporting

Wed Nov 28 16:09:51 EST 2012

Dear Ellery et al,

For those of you I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet, I'm Lea Kaspar, working with Global Partners in London.

We are facilitating participation of several groups – I can post/send the info as soon as I have the final details. Should this be done to Matthew directly or are we using the etherpad? I will also be attending the conference as an unaffiliated rep from Dec 4 to 10.

Unfortunately, I'll be on a plane at the time of the call, but would like to be kept in the loop about what other folk are doing/planning. Are you planning to share the list here?

Someone asked about accommodation – I got a very affordable deal at the hotel IBIS WTC, which seems to be practically adjacent to the conference venue.

Best,
Lea

From: Rashmi Rangnath <rrangnath at publicknowledge.org<mailto:rrangnath at publicknowledge.org>>
Date: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 19:39
To: Tim Hwang <tim at mozillafoundation.org<mailto:tim at mozillafoundation.org>>
Cc: William Drake <william.drake at uzh.ch<mailto:william.drake at uzh.ch>>, Deborah Brown <deborah at accessnow.org<mailto:deborah at accessnow.org>>, Ellery Biddle <ellery at cdt.org<mailto:ellery at cdt.org>>, "wcit12 at cdt.org<mailto:wcit12 at cdt.org>" <wcit12 at cdt.org<mailto:wcit12 at cdt.org>>, "bestbits at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:bestbits at lists.igcaucus.org>" <bestbits at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:bestbits at lists.igcaucus.org>>, Harold Feld <hfeld at publicknowledge.org<mailto:hfeld at publicknowledge.org>>
Subject: Re: [bestbits] Coordination during WCIT -- who's attending, who's reporting

Al:

I and my colleague Harold Feld will be on the US delegation.

I will be in Dubai from December 9th to the14th.

Harold will be there from December 4th to the 12th.

Rashmi

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 2:19 PM, Tim Hwang <tim at mozillafoundation.org<mailto:tim at mozillafoundation.org>> wrote:
To facilitate the on-the-ground list - I've thrown up a quick Etherpad page here that people can fill in with information, if it's helpful: https://foundation.etherpad.mozilla.org/itudubai

Password is: ITU.

-Tim

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 9:31 AM, William Drake <william.drake at uzh.ch<mailto:william.drake at uzh.ch>> wrote:
Hi

FWIW I'm on a US del call right now and we just finished a long briefing on security, thought I'd pass along a few points of local interest while thinking it:

 *   expect to be constantly electronically surveilled, including in hotels
 *   expect all electronic communications to be insecure, particularly wireless
 *   keep any confidential info on you rather than in hotel
 *   USG has received no info on how the government might react to any on-site activism of an unapproved nature, and if relevant urges US citizens to let State or the consulate know they'll be in town.

Make of these what you will….

Cheers,

Bill

On Nov 28, 2012, at 5:12 PM, Deborah Brown wrote:

Hi all,
Thanks for coordinating this Ellery/Matthew. Picking up on Bill's last point, it might be helpful to include people's dates in Dubai in the list to facilitate coordination on the ground. I'm happy to lend a hand in coordination as well.

Best,
Deborah

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 4:06 AM, William Drake <william.drake at uzh.ch<mailto:william.drake at uzh.ch>> wrote:
Hi

Despite all the debate and mobilization, and ITU staff's refrain that the meeting's fully multistakeholder since people can simply join their national delegations, a cursory scan of the Announced List of Participants as of 27 November shows 1764 participants, only a dozen or so that seem obviously to be civil society—half on the US del, the others scattered.  Caveats apply: a) It may be that I just don't recognize some individual and organizational names so this guesstimate's a little low.  b) In the UN context (WSIS/IGF/CSTD etc) and OECD the technical community and CS are separated, so that's how I count.  I see more TC than CS names on the list, and while most of the former work in the private sector or for administrative bodies like the RIRs, there are some people who are by various standards in both.  c)  The list is being periodically updated, so there may be some late registrations.  All that said, the number seems unlikely to be terribly high.  There may be more CS just coming and hanging around in hopes of getting into any open to the public sessions (TBD Monday), or otherwise populating the hallways, than there are on the delegations.

It would be good to have a list with contact details and to establish a communication channel e.g. Skype/mail (although delegation members will have some constraints) if Matthew wants to coordinate.

Best,

Bill

PS: The call time below may not be optimal for people on dels if meetings run late (I'll be on a plane).

On Nov 28, 2012, at 12:50 AM, Ellery Biddle wrote:

Hi everyone,

We have been talking here at CDT about various strategies for communications and coordination during the WCIT. Lots to think about here. Two items on this:

First: Who is going to Dubai? We really want to develop a list of civil society people who will be in Dubai for the conference. We think it would be helpful for those attending WCIT to know what other CS people will be there, and to develop a rough plan for coordinating once they are in Dubai. Matthew Shears, ISOC's former policy director who has been working on ITU issues with CDT, will be in Dubai on CDT's behalf. He will not be affiliated with any delegation. If you or someone from your organization is going to be in Dubai (with or without delegate status), and you'd like to be in touch with other civil society folks there, please send Matthew an email letting him know. Matthew's email: mshears at cdt.org<mailto:mshears at cdt.org>

Second: How can we coordinate on public communication about the WCIT? We know that many CSOs will be blogging, tweeting, and responding to press inquiries about the WCIT as it's happening. Given the relatively closed nature of the event, we know that it may be difficult to get the information we need in order to do this well, and that some coordination between groups may help fill this gap. We also anticipate that rumors and misinformation may become an issue, as different delegates may hear different things, etc. In anticipation of this, we want to propose a group call for next week. This will be open to any civil society groups planning to report on WCIT, either from Dubai or from outside the UAE. Given the size of these lists, I am setting an arbitrary (though early, which generally seems best) time and date for the call. Hope that plenty of folks can join -- we'll take and circulate good notes for those who can't make it.

The call will take place on Tuesday, December 4 at 16:00 UTC / 11:00 EST. A list of international toll-free call-in numbers is attached. I will circulate this again, along with a reminder, on Monday.

As always, please feel encouraged to reply to the list with additional ideas, questions, etc.

Thanks all!

Ellery

Ellery Roberts Biddle
Center for Democracy and Technology<http://cdt.org/>
(415) 814-1711<tel:%28415%29%20814-1711>

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Deborah Brown
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E. deborah at accessnow.org<mailto:deborah at accessnow.org>
S. deborah.l.brown
T. deblebrown
PGP 0x5EB4727D

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Rashmi Rangnath
Director, Global Knowledge Initiative and Staff Attorney
Public Knowledge
1818 N Street NW
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202 861 0020
rrangnath at publicknowledge.org<mailto:rrangnath at publicknowledge.org>
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