[governance] Speakers for IGF

[Karl Auerbach]

yehudakatz at mailinator.com wrote:

> In respect to the individuals I extended an nomination, Karl & Geoff.

Do you mean this Karl (the one whose fingers are typing this)?

If so, thank you for the compliment.

I am *very* interested.  I am signed up for the meeting.  But I need to 
get clearance from my doctor that it's OK for me to sit, effectively 
immobilized for those endless hours on an airplane.  I should know by 
the middle of this week.

As one might expect, my first concern and interest is the question: 
Where do individual people fit into the grand schemes of internet 
governance?  (The flip side of that is the question why do we so quickly 
slide into the belief that th internet should be governed by privileged 
classes that we euphemistically call "stakeholders"?)

My second concern is that IGF focus on a few, concrete real issues that 
can be resolved in a reasonable period of time.  This is so that the 
bodies that evolve out of our discussions have a chance to succeed and 
gain that all-important first grain of acceptance and legitimacy.  I 
don't think that the harder questions (which are often the more 
emotionally loaded and culturally inflected questions) will be resolved 
any more slowly if they are put on the back-burner while we take some 
time learn how to build institutions.  For this reason I tend to suggest 
that we begin with a focus on those matters that are closely associated 
to internet technology and defer matters such as "free speech"; issues 
such as access might become non issues if we can oversee and gently 
govern a few aspects internet technology (such as end-to-end 
connectivity and service levels) so that it becomes ubiquitous and 
inexpensive.  There are matters that do not fit well into my simple 
(naive?) taxonomy - is access to the net by the elderly, non-educated, 
or those with physical impairments something that is likely of early 
success (my sense is "yes") or something that ought to be deferred until 
we learn the art of institution building?

My third concern is that IGF discussions not look at the internet 
through warped lenses - for example, we should not believe that anybody 
is presently handling or responsible for assuring that the side of DNS 
seen and used by internet users remains operationally stable, accurate, 
available, and unbiased.

My forth concern, and perhaps my main intellectual interest, is how all 
of this fits into a historical context and how the institutions that 
develop will obtain legitimacy and authority.  Just outside of my house 
are a group of small redwood seedling - some are only dozen cm tall. 
With luck, sunlight, fog, and rain they will grow to be among the 
tallest trees on earth (the tallest are over 120meters tall.)  But that 
will take hundreds, even thousands of years.  None of us expect instant 
redwoods.  Similarly, none of us should expect instant acceptance or 
legitimacy of the institutions that are developed to govern aspects of 
the net - in the supranational context of the internet legitimacy can 
not be gifted from above; legitimacy will have to be earned by doing a 
good job over an extended period of time.

Those of you who know me know that I'm not very diplomatic or 
politically subtle (or astute).  I prefer the spicy language of the 
streets to the subtle nuances of governmental communiques.  One person 
who knows me once said that I have an exceptional ability to pour 
gasoline onto a smoldering fire.

> I did so with the presumption that these two and many other individuals
> 'attend' internet events by means of their own
> unsubsidized-out-of-pocket-expense.

Can't speak for Geoff, but I was planning to cover my (and my wife's) 
own expenses.  So much for for the days when ICANN jetted me around the 
world on business and first class tickets. ;-)

		--karl--
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