[governance] RE: the rights workshop

Fri Jun 27 02:15:35 EDT 2008

This is regarding the workshop proposed by the IGC on ‘A Rights Agenda for Internet Governance’. The IGC working group on this workshop has an f-t-f meeting at Seoul last week, and also intensive online interactions with some other rights groups that are co-sponsoring this workshop. (I will refer to this group as Bill of Rights or BoR group subsequently.) Karen who heads the IGC WG is unable to devote time this week, and it is for that reason I am reporting on the WG’s work. She will be back to lead the group next week. 

The WG is of the view that the IGC workshop takes from the overall theme of IGF, Hyderabad, ‘Internet for All’, and do a workshop focused on interrogating the ‘access’ issue from a rights perspective, and name the workshop as ‘Internet for All – Exploring A Rights-based Approach’. Unlike the earlier proposal we will not be examining issues regarding other rights like FoE, privacy etc in this workshop… the BoR group has another workshop which is about mainstreaming the rights agenda in IGF/ DCs, and the full gamut of rights will be examined etc in this workshop. Some of us from the IGC are working with the BoR group on this. I would also like to see IGC as a group supports that workshop. More on that workshop can be expected soon from Lisa…..

The IGC workshop proposal, with the new proposed name ‘Internet for All – Exploring a Rights-based Approach’ will have to be re-written to suit this new approach. This will be done over the weekend. We need to submit the revised proposal by the 30ththis. However if more time is needed for discussion within IGC on this issue we may try to seek an extra week. 

Meanwhile inputs and comments are welcome.

Parminder  

  _____  

From: Parminder [mailto:parminder at itforchange.net] 
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:09 AM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: [governance] IGF agenda - rights and openness issues

Hi All

Two issues regarding IGF agenda.

One, we had planned a letter to the IGF secretariat/ MAG expressing concern that rights and openness issues were disappearing from IGF’s agenda, inter alia pointing to the fact that these terms do not appear in the main agenda list which is (to quote the latest draft of the program doc at http://www.intgovforum.org/hyderabad_prog/ProgrammePaper.05.06.2008.pdf )

 Reaching“The MAG proposed the following agenda:    Managing Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust the Next Billion   Emerging Taking Stock and the Way Forward Critical Internet Resources  Issues”

We also wish to specifically propose that the main workshop now titled “Fostering security, privacy and openness” be just ‘fostering privacy and openness” especially since there is already another planned main workshop titled “Are we losing the battle against cyber-crime” which is expected to cover all the security issue quite well. 

Adam had developed this proposal and to quote him last email on the subject 

“For the first, I suggest we write to the secretariat saying something along the lines of...  we are concerned that the theme "openness" 

is in danger of being lost in the session currently titled "Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust". Based the February consultation, summary document, and synthesis paper for the May meeting we expected a stronger emphasis on rights would be maintained in this session. We suggest the second part of the session, currently "Fostering security, privacy and openness" focus more on "fostering privacy and openness" than on security, which will be the prime subject of the first part of the session.  Of course security will be an important element of the second workshop, just as concerns for privacy, openness and preservation of fundamental rights will be an important element of the first workshop.  What we are suggesting is a balance between these issues across the two workshops, and therefore into the debate the follows in the afternoon.”

There has been no opposition to this proposal and I take it that we agree to write a letter on these lines to the Secretariat/ MAG. Can someone please volunteer to draft the letter and share with us? 

I continue to be bothered that we are not able to agree to write to also write that ‘ensuring/ achieving universal access’ be the main theme one instead of ‘reaching the next billion’ even after all the discussion which happened on this topic on this list. But for the present this subject is being separated from that discussed above. 

I will take up the second of the two issues I planned to discus in the following email. 

Parminder 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20080627/34e431cb/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance