[bestbits] emails to Adiel

Wed Jan 8 05:08:57 EST 2014

Behind mis-communication and confusion, there might be some good reasons for the mess (not always but...). 

A good story is beginning to take shape, and as far as we can understand it now, its title might be:
ICANN invites ICANN to BRAZIL to debate IG

So now just trying to get things rights (and calling for editing my information to the listings)

When visiting the new website (online since Jan7, 2014) set for the purpose of the meeting (brmeeting.br), only minor informations are available. Quite a surprise for such an ambitious conference and serious issue. In the section 'About' we find a map for the location of the venue, and its address. In the 'Announcements' section, there is one 1 release dated Nov 26, 2013, and a link to ICANN announcement dated Oct 7, 2013. In the section 'Committees' we find 4 committees described with 3 phrases. The last section 'Accommodations' presents the 3 hotels and their contact info. In the 'Contact' section, you click to pop up an email.

This is rather minimalist, to say the least, for a new website. Is Brazil lacking some funds and means to get this website to the appropriate level of concern?

From diverse emails, I end up with the following information.

Who are the Organizers?
Officially, we have BRAZIL and ICANN with the support of the other I* (see Montevideo Statement mention) meaning ISOC, IETF, RIRs...

Who is chairing the Brazilian Multistakeholder Conference on Internet Conference?
One delegate from the Brazilian Government, one from ICANN and 2 additional persons chosen by BRAZIL and ICANN**. Names??

Who are the Representatives of the Organizers?
Officially the one entity which role is to organize the meeting is a "Brazilian Internet Steering Committee". This committee is not per say Brazilian as it embeds ICANN representatives and Brazilian representatives. It should be a US-BRAZILIAN Internet Steering Committee, or an ICANN and BRAZIL Internet Steering Committee. 

For Brazil the head representative is Virgilio F. Almeda. Officially he is the coordinator. The name of the ICANN delegate is not available on the meeting's website. Almeda is also the coordinator of a secretariat. It seems like this secretariat will handle the organization of the meeting AND the 'coordination/management/inter-communication within the committees (see below). We have no specific information about the "shared secretariat".

Who are the Representatives for all IG participants/specialists/priesthood/stakeholders (remember the multistakeholder story)?
After its first meeting the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee BI SC (unclear who took the decision within the BI SC) has expressed desire for a "filter" with the many stakeholders part of the IG debate (Too much work, too little time).  Something quite unexpected for two reasons. Setting a multistakeholder conference with a single filter sounds odd, specially when this filter has no existence, no constituencies, no mandate, no membership, no board, no proper information flow. What we know about this filter (1net) is that it was set by ICANN, and the other I* (mostly constituents of the current status quo and its asymmetric US role over the Internet). And it was presented, if not endorsed (no reason for ICANN to ask the IGF to endorse a private initiative) during the last IGF Bali meeting.
Everyone familiar with the IG debate would have bet that an IGF delegation would have been the best "filter" to prepare the multistakeholder conference. Or a direct and open system of call for participation.

*let's be positive, as a remote participation will be allowed, organizers will be able to share a feeling of participation. 

Who are the other governments participating?
No idea so far, but Brazilian ambition on this seems to be at a low 12-government guest cards. I would bet that the US will not participate as most of the US delegation present at WCIT 2012 will be there anyway through the I*.

Who are the members of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (BI SC)?
- Virgilio Almeda for the Brazilian government. 
- Hartmut Richard Glaser for LOG, CGI.br 
- Adiel Akplogan on behalf of the I* (himself at AFRINIC ) under the umbrella of the 1net UFO (© ICANN). 
- 3 civil society stakeholders : Carolina Rossini (New America Foundation), Joana Varon Ferraz (Fundação Getulio Vargas)  and Laura (Joana and Laura are also part of the 1net steering committee or 1net steercom)
- ICANN representatives?
- Others?
...
(sorry but I do not have the full list of the participants of the first BI SC, and no official information is available online on the brmeeting website)

Who are the potential known other members of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (BI SC)
- Adiel Akplogan for 1net has asked for members of the 1net steering committee to be included in the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. Btw, Carolina Rossini asked for the names of the  1net steercom reps to Adiel but we haven't seen his answer yet.
- The IG listings (bestbits IG) have suggested 5 names to participate in the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (Rafik Dammak; Anriette Esterhuysen; Anja Kovacs; Vladimir Radunovik; Joana Varon (she is already in through 1net). With a 'back-up': Marilia Maciel. So far no formal feedback from them after the first BI SC meeting (maybe I have missed something here)
- 4 liaisons to the BI SC are requested on behalf of another civil society network (see Parminder et al letter sent in 2013)
* I am not sure of what is the difference between a liaison and a member at the BI SC.

Who are the members of the 4 stakeholder committees supposed to prepare the event under the BI SC overview?
This should be announced by mi January. Who is appointing them? Not quite clear but it seems to be that the BISC will finalize the names in agreement with the organizers (BRAZIL and ICANN). 
The IG listings have been collecting names and an ad hoc selection committee is now reviewing the final selection. The final names selected will be sent to the BI SC for approval. 
For other nominations, the BICS in agreement with the organizers (BRAZIL and ICANN) should decide and announce the names.
We don not know about other names.

Who are the members of the informal meetings such as the Jan 10 meeting?
LOG (Hartmut et al) and a 1net representative designated by 1net steering committee. Brazilian government representative(s). No other governments representatives are expected.
The agenda of the meeting is not published. We have been told that the meeting will discuss logistic, including the remote participation issue for the event.
Joana (member of the 1net SC, and BI SC) asked Hartmut (BI SC) to include other members of the 1net SC (Jan 7) in this meeting
Carolina  (member of the BI SC) asked Hartmut (BI SC) to include the 3 civil society stakeholders members of the BI SC be invited to the Jan 7 meeting (Joana, Laura and Carolina)

Of course, all of that should come with the usual criteria of goodwill
** Participants are requested to be able to work together and in all circumstances be able to represent the diversity of views
** Participants should talk on an equal footing with other participants
* As schedule is tight, participants should be happy with all the mismatches, odd decisions, and possible troubleshooting. And therefore not too demanding.

The original criteria listing for selecting participants to the 4 committees is here (source Ian Peter - Dec 22, 2013)
1.      Able to represent civil society as a whole, not just your individual civil society organisation(s)
2.      Able to work collegiately with other stakeholder groups in a multistakeholder setting
3.      Able to consult widely with civil society groups and to report back as the process progresses
4.      Ability to represent civil society at a senior level in these discussions
5.      Broad knowledge of internet governance issues and the range of civil society perspectives on these issues
6.      Capacity to participate assertively and creatively

I would really appreciate that all errors, mistakes, complement of information, or new information be pushed forward. I hope this contribute to establish clarity about the process and help overall understanding.

Too bad Hartmut didn't answer my previous questions. Thanks for your time on this.

Thanks in advance
JC

__________________________

Jean-Christophe Nothias 
Editor in Chief
jc.nothias at theglobaljournal.net
@jc_nothias

Le 8 janv. 2014 à 07:54, Adam Peake a écrit :

> 
> On Jan 8, 2014, at 2:46 PM, parminder wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Tuesday 07 January 2014 10:26 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
>>> Dear folks,
>>> 
>>> Adiel will be the person in the meeting in Brazil on January 10th. Folks in Brazil want this "1Net" fictional entity to filter ALL conversations with CGI.
>> 
>> Carolina
>> 
>> Your description of 1Net and its role as seen by LOG is interesting. The point is; does civil society agree to this arrangement - of 1Net filtering all conversations with CGI... or have we simply become a pushover (willing?) for the powerful to make deals among themselves. That would be such a shame, and I have begun to get this feeling that we are fast getting there if not already there.
>> 
> 
> Seems like a lot of mis-communication all round.
> 
> Adiel will not be at the meeting on Jan 10th.  Email from the 1Net discuss list:
> 
> 
>> 
>> On Jan 8, 2014, at 3:17 AM, Adiel Akplogan wrote:
>> 
>>> I won't be in Brazil. I have already asked if the /1net steercom reps can attend the meeting at least as observer, awaiting for answer from the LOC.
>>> 
>>> - a.
> 
> 
> 
> Let's wait and see how the local organizers respond to his request to have steering committee members attend. I am beginning to loose track of committee/nominations, etc., but believe we have selected five steering committee members:
> 
> Rafik Dammak
> Anriette Esterhuysen
> Anja Kovacs 
> Vladimir Radunovik
> Joana Varon
> 
> Marilia Maciel as back-up. 
> 
> Can't imagine there's anyway to have all five attend in person :-)  But there are ways to have input. Hopefully the committee at least has a list.  And if some of the other Brazil CS liaisons are available at such short notice, suggest we ask they + Marilia be invited to attend as proxies.  Perhaps one of the 5 steering committee members could make this request?
> 
> We now have about 11 weeks until the end of March when meeting needs to be in near final shape.  Time will always mess up our hopes for good process, let's work with what we have... and thanks to those volunteering to help.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
> 
>> Do we want to write to LOG/ CGI that this arrangement is not acceptable to us? I request that list members give their response to this. 
>> 
>> That reminds me: at Bali, this issue was much discussed and four prominent civil society groups (IGC, BB, APC and IRP) together agreed that, no this arrangement is not acceptable to us (Please let me know if this is *not* what people thing got agreed) and decided to send a letter to Brazilians to the effect, and also putting forward 4 CS Liaisons, who were requested to be invited to all meetings related to organising the Brazil meeting. (Quite inexplicably though the drafting and sending of the letter got highly delayed even after this decision.)
>> 
>> Caroline, you, and Joana and Laura were 3 liaisons . Why did you not keep us posted about what was happening in Brazil... Did you insist that you be invited to all meetings? If so, what was their response? Why did you not share their response with all of us? Why when, while such is in any case the duty of any CS rep, the letter clearly said that the Liaisons will keep CS groups posted about developments. However, whereas much has happened since that time, I dont remember a single report by the liaisons to us. Carlos used to report but then he had to drop out since he was made a member of LOG. But what     about the three of you?
>> 
>> When after the last LOG meeting, we got the bombshell that it has been officially decided that 1Net will as you say 'filter ALL conversations with CGI' I wrote repeatedly to this list requesting CS Liaisons to bring us to speed about what is happening. In fact, even Ian (and I think Jeremy) asked for some information about what was happening. But NONE of you responded to any of our requests....
>> 
>> I think. sorry for my words, but this is about  a public duty, and seeking accountability about it,  this is a clear abdication of the role that you all were given as CS reps... I am sure there must be an explanation of this somewhere, in which case please do share it. 
>> 
>> Thanks, parminder 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> So, it is better to write to Adiel, not just to CGI. Here is Adiel email if you prefer to do so: Adiel Akplogan <adiel at afrinic.net>
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Carol (in my personal capacity) 
>>> 
>> 
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