[governance] Muti-stakeholder Group structure (some ideas)

[Parminder]

Avri 

> btw, in this case, i believe we are talking about what is at best a
> personal foible, bad tactics, and an emotional email on one
> participant's part.

I am not sure if you read the offending email, and reflected on its context
and implications. The first sentence on the email is

"A number of advisory group members met tonight to discuss today's meeting
and I am sending this to you and the list to express our concerns." 

And throughout afterwards a collective "we" and "our" is used. So the email
is hardly a personal foible, it represents the consider view of a
like-minded group within the MAG, and everything about the mail suggests
that Chris was authorized to write this email on the behalf of the group, in
an almost formal manner, to the IGF secretariat.

So it is really not one of those poorly-considered remarks in a closed
meeting for which you (and Jeanette) think one should be protected. It looks
like quite a formal letter, though within the proceedings of MAG, taking up
the concern of a group of members, which have been formulated though some
amount of deliberation. Will you give same considerations as you give this
letter to public interest disclosures from your governments working. Say, a
group of parliamentarians, writing a collective letter in the proceedings of
a parliament committee, many of which work under chatham house rules in the
matter of informal discussions. Pick up the newspaper, it is full of such
scoops from government's working.  So, I will like you to explain to me why
MAG's working should not be treated differently than that of any other
public body.
'
Both you and Jeanette have used some arguments (for examples your on marital
fidelity) from the realm of private lives. Now, we need to make this
distinction clear - MAG is a public body, and its members are public office
holders, even if some informal rules on disclosure of information apply to
some of its proceedings. Chatham house rules, as explained by Meryem, are
built to serve public interest imperatives, and are there to facilitate
sharing of information from activities of public bodies, rather than
necessarily blocking it.  

Government officials will be glad to get the protections which we are
affording the so-called new age experiment in a new, CS driven, open, etc
etc form of global governance. But in most countries they have lost it
decades ago, and have learnt to live with it. 

> so yes, whoever leaked the confidential email is at fault.  but
> perhaps those who passed it on and tried to make a case out of it
> also bear responsibility.

Well :), not sure you really mean it. But if you do, then I will like to say
that, you can have your private opinions, but this is what constitutes
public activism. Welcome to the world of democracy, transparency,
accountability, people's right to public information and civil society
activism. 

Parminder  

________________________________________________
Parminder Jeet Singh
IT for Change, Bangalore
Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 
Tel: (+91-80) 2665 4134, 2653 6890
Fax: (+91-80) 4146 1055
www.ITforChange.net 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Avri Doria [mailto:avri at psg.com]
> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 6:10 PM
> To: Jeremy Malcolm
> Cc: Governance Governance Caucus
> Subject: Re: [governance] Muti-stakeholder Group structure (some ideas)
> 
> -- somewhat an aside -
> 
> On 9 jun 2007, at 13.28, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
> 
> > If the Advisory Group has adopted the Chatham House rule, this can
> > hardly apply to Guru who is not a member of the Advisory Group.
> > Take whomever leaked the emails in the first place to task, if anyone.
> 
> 
> this is one of those age old questions that has bugged me for a long
> time in a variety of venues - are we responsible for the promises
> others make?  are we responsible for helping others keep those
> promises and are we also guilty when we assist in breaking those
> promises.
> 
> the normal place it comes up is in married life and affairs.  is the
> 3rd party, the lover outside marriage, responsible for their
> activities vis a vis the marriage oath?  true only one of them took
> the vow, but it take someone to help them break that vow.
> 
> likewise, if someone knows that a communication has been leaked from
> a confidential source do they have a responsibility for  maintaining
> that confidence?  it is not as if the person who leaked these
> emails,  thought they were so important they were willing to take the
> chance a spread the news themselves.  and for all we know, it was
> never meant to be leaked to the world, only shared with one intimate
> confidant, who shared it with another confidant, who then shared it
> with the world.
> 
> so yes, whoever leaked the confidential email is at fault.  but
> perhaps those who passed it on and tried to make a case out of it
> also bear responsibility.
> 
> btw, in this case, i believe we are talking about what is at best a
> personal foible, bad tactics, and an emotional email on one
> participant's part. i do not believe we are talking about some crime
> that brings us into the realm of whistle blowing.  true many of us,
> myself included, would prefer that all lists be open, but there are
> reasons that people close lists and if one is closed, it probably
> should be respected - except in the case of a crime or an impending
> crime - which is most definitely not the case in this case.
> 
> i think the most important ipoints that came out is that the IGF was
> an unfunded mandate, and that it is struggling for a financial
> footing.  and if in that struggle someone feels they can take try to
> take tactical advantage of it, it is good that the person responsible
> for the secretariat is able to tell them where to get off.
> 
> a.
> 
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