[governance] Caucus process comment

[Milton Mueller]

It seems to me that what the caucus should be discussing now is the
structure, methods and nature of the proposed multistakeholder forum.
There seems to be agreement with the WGIG report on its creation. But do
we have, or can we develop, coherent ideas about how it operates, how it
might be funded? Can we identify "wrong turns" in its design that would
defeat its purpose or undermine its goals, so that we can be prepared to
advocate against them at Prepcom 3? 

>>> "William Drake" <wdrake at cpsr.org> 08/04/05 12:19 PM >>>
Hi,

I strongly agree with Ralf.  I cannot imagine how we would pull off
something this grandiose given the time and available bandwidth, and
it
would indeed require a lot of close cooperation with the human rights
community or you'd be opening a real Pandora's Box.  Reaching agreement
on
contested issues within one caucus is not hard enough, we should try
two?
Nor is it obvious that this is would be particularly strategic move,
given
that the debate is focused on entirely different and pressing issues. 
Even if we could miraculously come up with a "bill of rights" between
now
and mid-September, how would we input that into the process in any
meaningful way when all other stakeholders are busy preparing
positions
and burning up the phone lines on other items, which will inter alia
eat
up the entire PrepCom and probably spill over into a pre-Summit crisis
negotiation in Tunis?  And basing it on Barlow's weed-soaked
fantasies...dear governments, we declare our virtual selves immune to
your
sovereignty...I'm sure they'd be very impressed.  Self-immolation is
always very impressive.

I think Adam spelled out a good approach, and agree that we should try
to
say something useful about what is actually on the agenda and to be
decided.

Best,

Bill



>> Vittorio wrote:
>>> a sort of "bill of rights" of Internet users, ie the Internet
version
>>> of the UDHR,
>
> I strongly suggest to not do anything in this direction without
close
> coordination with the Human Rights Caucus. I know that Rikke Frank
> Joergensen is currently finishing an edited volume (in Bill's MIT
series)
> on Human Rights in the Information Society. There is a lot of stuff
out
> there already.
> Another thing is the debate around communication rights that might
start
> again then. Not sure if this would mess things up or bring in some
> perspectives...
>
> Wolfgang replies:
>> This could be good idea and initiative. We have Barlows Declaration
of
>> Cyberindependence, which needs some streamlining after eight years.
>
> The Barlow declaration is a historical document from the heights of
cyber
> self-regulation. I don't think it can simply be updated under
current
> circumstances.
>
> Pragmatically speaking, I would recommend to start from the documents
this
> caucus has already produced and polish those so everyone more or
less
> agrees.
>
> Everything further is a bit too much work for now and as I said needs
more
> coordination with other caucuses. We could / should keep that project
in
> mind for PrepCom3 and the summit, as we will probably need an
independent
> CS document for the summit again.
>
> Ralf
> _______________________________________________
> governance mailing list
> governance at lists.cpsr.org 
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>


*******************************************************
William J. Drake  wdrake at ictsd.ch 
President, Computer Professionals for
   Social Responsibility www.cpsr.org 
Senior Associate, International Centre for Trade
   and Sustainable Development www.ictsd.org 
   Geneva, Switzerland
http://mitpress.mit.edu/IRGP-series 
http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake 
Morality is the best of all devices for leading
mankind by the nose.---Nietzsche
*******************************************************



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