[bestbits] [governance] Update on NMI

Jeremy Malcolm jmalcolm at eff.org
Wed Apr 1 14:55:00 EDT 2015


Thanks Ian for this very useful summary.  I'm copying the Best Bits list
too (it needn't be copied on follow-ups though).

On 1/04/2015 10:48 am, Ian Peter wrote:
>
> This is just a quick update on the NetMundial Initiative (NMI). Please
> feel free to copy to other lists.
>
>  
>
> As many of you will already know, NMI Coordination Council (CC) has
> just held its first working meeting at Stanford University in Palo
> Alto on March 31. A list of those who attended can be found at the end
> of the draft Communique at
> https://www.netmundial.org/blog/secretariat/netmundial-initiative-stanford-communiqu%C3%A9.
>
>
> In addition to those attending,  Bill Drake and Anriette Esterhuysen
> (CC members) were able to participate remotely for at least part of
> the day-long meeting, on sometimes shaky remote connections. Many
> other people took advantage of the opportunity to listen in on
> deliberations.
>
> The main formal output of the meeting is a Draft Terms of Reference,
> which is now open for public comments at
> http://comments.netmundial.org/. The platform used for comments is
> that used for the original NetMundial event last year in Brazil.
>
> I would encourage people to comment on the document and help make it
> better.
>
> A few personal observations; I am pleased that we were able to
> maintain in the opening paragraph references to human rights and to
> managing the internet in the public interest, despite some suggestions
> that these references might be removed. However; I was personally
> disappointed that in the process of arriving at mutually agreeable
> text in a short period of time references to cybersecurity and mass
> surveillance were taken out of the text; I expected some opposition to
> the latter, but I think the cybersecurity references are vitally
> important and I am sure some well crafted words can make their way
> into the final text. There are many ways in which the text (and more
> importantly the initiative itself) can be strengthened, and I would
> particularly draw your attention also to the section on Scope, where
> further clarity and suggestions could assist substantial improvements.
>
> The current plan is for the document to be finally adopted at a first
> meeting of the full Council (the meeting above was described as a
> “working meeting”). Current planning suggests this might be in Costa
> Rica in June. But that might change given availability of some of the
> governmental and corporate people involved.
>
> The meeting also got to talk about some operational issues. Since the
> formation of the Coordination Council progress has been fairly slow,
> perhaps largely because of the lack of structure and leadership, as
> well as a lack of trust. Some small working groups were set up and
> most likely some other operational structural issues will be addressed
> as a result of this.
>
> I should also mention that to date the progress has been very
> co-operative across all sectors involved, and indeed on most
> discussions you would not have unanimity of opinion within any
> stakeholder group; but rather a variety of opinions. I expect the same
> to be the case during the public consultations, but I also expect that
> the process of hearing many voices and gaining wider input will
> substantially clarify and improve the document. Many people are
> undecided about NMI at this stage, which is to be expected; and
> whatever it might be should appropriately derive from public inputs.
> So I urge you to follow the link above and help to shape this
> initiative to take an appropriate role moving forward.
>
> One more thing I should add is the role that Marilia Maciel has played
> to date, chairing the series of online meetings which developed the
> Draft Terms of Reference. Marilia had to manage a diverse and overly
> large group, many differing opinions as to what NMI is or should be,
> poor connections and dropouts on all calls, language issues,
> geopolitical game playing, and unruly participants. She did a great job!
>
>  
>
> Ian Peter
>
>  
>
>  
>
>
>
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-- 
Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Global Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://eff.org
jmalcolm at eff.org

Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161

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