[bestbits] Looking for your input - NetMundial Initiative

Fri Aug 22 20:24:46 EDT 2014

Dear all,

As some of you might have heard and also seen the leaked documents, the
World Economic Forum, supported by ICANN, will host the workshop
"NetMundial Initiative" on 28th of August, in Geneva.

Besides leaked documents, an "official" site is now up (as of yesterday) at
http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-internet-governance, with list of
participants, agenda, a short briefing and a FAQ. It worth reading it - the
FAQ is a very "interesting" piece. See it here -
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_2NETmundialInitiativeFAQ.pdf.

*Background regarding invitations and communication with NMI organizers: *None
of the CS members invited to the workshop know exactly how the selection
process happened. In my personal case, I heard I was being invited from
colleagues in Brazil, but you can refer to Brett's previous email (I paste
it below) regarding to some of our earlier concerns regarding the lack of
transparency related to the invitation process.

Yesterday, a group of CS members had a call with Fadi and folks from the WEF
- the first of its kind. The call was arranged in response to a request from
CS invited for the Geneva meeting.  Below are some key concerns that were
drafted ahead of the call. A primary theme on the call was lack of
transparency and failure to adequately engage CS as part of the planning
process for this workshop and its follow-up processes.  We also conveyed
how problematic that it was about the lack of southern CS
representation. Besides
the issues below, and in regard to participation, we asked ICANN and WEF to
let CS chose its own representatives and that the representation should
rotate, so it is inclusive. We also asked for remote participation and that
the WEF sets a platform for remote commentary, which should happen in
advance, during and after the meeting. The initiative was presented to us
as an experiment that will initially last for roughly 6 months.  Nobody
from CS who is attending the workshop has decided to publicly support or
not the initiative. At the workshop, we will observe, understand what is
still up in the air and what may have been decided in advance by the
conveners, and then decide.  But for that to happen, it would be very
helpful to hear more in the main IG lists.

*So, the primary purpose of this email is to** reach out to you with a very
practical ask**:* The agenda presents a series of questions this
"Initiative" wants to address. Those on the call thought it would be a good
idea to ask in a series of CS lists involved in IG for *your views and**
comments regardin**g** those questions*. Refer to the agenda here:
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_3NETmundialInitiativeLaunchAgenda.pdf

It would be extremely helpful to those attending to get your input on the
questions and issues presented in the agenda by Tuesday Aug 26, so we can
incorporate your thoughts and comments into our interventions at the
workshop. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

 Cheers,

 C

   - Welcome the interest and desire of ICANN and the WEF to leverage and
   further build on the NETmundial outcomes

   - Recognize that there have been some challenges in bringing this group
   together and many concerns as to the processes by which this occurred

   - Convey broader civil society concerns that the convening process was
   inconsistent with the NETmundial principles - greater openness and
   transparency is required in order to achieve any legitimacy

   - Insist that the process going forward be true to principles of
   openness, transparency and inclusivity and that there be mechanisms to
   ensure that fullest participation is facilitated

   - Insist that the NMI support, underpin and strengthen the IGF and its
   work

   - Insist that the NMI not duplicate or subsume work of existing entities
   to promote NETmundial outcomes but rather support and encourage such work
   and find new avenues

   - Seek clarification and work to identify the medium to long term goals
   of NMI - what is the NMI's added value, specific purpose and what are (at
   most) the three clearly identifiable and achievable goals that it is going
   to set for itself

   - Work to ensure that NMI is not operating in a vacuum and that it is
   appropriately linked to 1NET, the IGF, the various business and civil
   society platforms, etc., and to ensure that it is appropriately taking into
   account other processes such as the WSIS+10 review

   - Suggest that a meeting in January around the fringes of Davos may not
   be suitably accessible to the majority of interested parties given the
   costs, etc., of that particular event

   - Seek to put "more meat on the bones" of the proposed actions, noting
   where such actions are already taking place (and their progress), and
   suggest that it may be wise to start with one action rather than multiple
   [encouraging the implementation of NETmundial outcomes - particularly
   governance principles and processes - at the national and regional levels,
   for example]

   - Suggest an open brainstorming session at Aug meeting and an online
   process to solicit ideas for taking the NETmundial outcomes forward.
   (Perhaps the Initiative should be open to suggestions as to possible
   actions on an ongoing basis.)

   - Better understand the role of the WEF and how the "host" is going to
   rotate and how the meetings will be structured so that they can encourage
   the greatest possible engagement and participation

   - Ensure that the steering committee going forward is put together
   through appropriately transparent and inclusive processes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brett Solomon <brett at accessnow.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 2:41 PM
Subject: [bestbits] NetMundial Initiative
To: "&lt,bestbits at lists.bestbits.net&gt," <bestbits at lists.bestbits.net>

Hey there,
>
> As many of you know there is a post-Sao Paolo process emerging, proposed
> by Fadi Chehadi at ICANN, called the Net Mundial Initiative. Various
> versions of the documents laying out this concept have been floating around
> and are now leaked <https://twitter.com/IGtransparency>.
>
>
> A number of individuals including myself were alerted to this process
> before the documents were 'leaked' and have since communicated it more
> broadly amongst civil society. Clearly there are a number of procedural
> and substantive questions about what the Net Mundial Initiative will seek
> to accomplish, who will be involved, and what the processes for inclusion
> and decision-making will be moving forward.
>
>
> As the documents indicate, the next step of the Net Mundial Initiative
> will be a meeting in Geneva on August 28th. A number of members of civil
> society who have been invited to join the Net Mundial Initiative will
> attend this event, including Carolina Rossini (Public Knowledge), Eileen
> Donahoe (HRW), and Bill Drake (though perhaps more there as a
> representative of the academic community).
>
> I have not communicated this yet to the organizers, but I’m  planning on
> going to the event to learn more, but Access has not decided yet whether we
> will accept the invitation to join the Steering Committee. Regardless, I
> personally will consult our global membership and other civil society
> partners to garner an array of perspectives before attending.
>
> From what I have been told, the process will be hosted by the World
> Economic Forum for a temporary period from August to February 2015. In
> addition to those listed above, a number of concerns have been raised about
> the Initiative including:
>
>
>
>    -
>
>    Participation: selection process, attendance, and representation from
>    the global south
>    -
>
>    WEF as host: corporate nature of the host, perceptions of corporate
>    capture, approach to development and elitism
>    -
>
>    Objectives: what is the NMI trying to achieve, and how does it relate
>    to other key elements of the IG landscape, in particular the IGF.
>
>
> All of the people that Fadi and WEF reached out to that I’ve talked to
> have expressed pretty deep concerns back to the organizers, including
> pushing hard to make sure civil society is represented and for this process
> in general to be more open, transparent, and inclusive of those from the
> global south. It would be good if we could have as open lines of
> communication as possible, including at the event, so if people have any
> thoughts or concerns they can then share them on or off list. Those who are
> attending should be a conduit for communication.
>
>
> Additionally, we have requested a meeting between civil society
> representatives and Fadi and Klaus (of WEF), so there will be a further
> opportunity to voice concerns there, which those going to Geneva will
> report back on.
>
>
> Best wishes
>
> Brett
>
> PS I am on Access team offsite so might be slow to respond.
>
> Brett Solomon
> Executive Director
> Access | accessnow.org
>
> +1 917 969 6077
> @solomonbrett
> Key ID: 0x4EDC17EB
> Fingerprint: C02C A886 B0FC 3A25 FF9F ECE8 FCDF BA23 4EDC 17EB
>
>
>
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-- 
-- 
*Carolina Rossini *
*Vice President, International Policy*
*Public Knowledge*
*http://www.publicknowledge.org/ <http://www.publicknowledge.org/>*
+ 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
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