VS: [governance] Summary Report of IGF MAG available

[Parminder]

Avri

> 
> - i belong to several NGO's and am working on founding one with some
> other people, and thus consider myself CS
> - i have a part time university appointment and thus am AC
> - i participate in the IETF, am an appointee in ICANN, write
> protocols, and do technical research and thus am TC
> - i hire myself out as professional consultant (gotta pay the rent
> somehow) and hence am a small business person - PS
> 
> I don't think I am alone in this multi-hatted nature (though i may
> take it to extremes)

> are you assuming that each participant wears one hat and only one hat?

The problem is not as big as you may be making it out to be. These, IGC,
MAG, IGF, WSIS etc are public policy for a. So what counts is our one chosen
political identity, and not all the roles we may play... So it is the
political-identity hat one puts that matters - and yes, that has to be one.

Being a part of the university and AC. Who ever said that was any problem.
Milton or Jeanette never thought it was a problem for their CS identity.
Half of the most aggressive CS constituency in India are those who teach in
Uuniversities. 

Participating in the IETF - by all means. IETF is basically a tech-expertise
heavy standards body - -and as long as they are not representing a clear
policy position - and you are not tied to it in any way - you can do all the
IETF work. Many CS persons and academicians work on many gov technical
committees, and do not disown their CS identity as the primary political
identity. 

Appointee at ICANN - this issue needs to be debated. How closely associated
with the power/ policy structure. How independently of the ICANN official
policy stances one can speak - not only speak but present viewpoints, commit
oneself to them, campaign for them etc. 

Doing tech work - where is the problem.

Doing consultancy - many CS persons do. But they keep their primary
political identity distinct. And if there is a clear conflict of interest,
just opt out of that particular CS activity etc... (

So, Avri, whether you are CS has to do with what you think is your primary
politics. What do you think is your primary political identity, that you are
completely and exclusively ready to express and commit to in public fora.

Is it that difficult a thing to decide on? If it gets difficult only on some
points, those exceptions can be made, by duly stating them and excusing
oneself (as you did about signing the 'keep the core neutral campaign'). But
these exceptions should only be very few, and one must not at ones heart be
conflicted about ones primary political identity. That’s the main point.

And we speak of need for some degree of clarity of primary political
identity, because we as social actors should be able work more purposefully
if we knew the politics and the primary political identity of those whom we
work with. 

Parminder 




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Avri Doria [mailto:avri at psg.com]
> Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 8:48 PM
> To: Governance Caucus
> Subject: Re: VS: [governance] Summary Report of IGF MAG available
> 
> 
> On 1 Mar 2008, at 14:44, Kleinwächter, Wolfgang wrote:
> 
> > And how you can split the other 20 among PS, CS and technical and
> > academic community? 7 PS, 7 CS and 4 TC and 2 AC?
> 
> are you assuming that each participant wears one hat and only one hat?
> 
> due to my status as a consultant to the secretariat, i am not
> qualified for this game, but i consider myself as having a hat in each
> of these closets:
> 
> - i belong to several NGO's and am working on founding one with some
> other people, and thus consider myself CS
> - i have a part time university appointment and thus am AC
> - i participate in the IETF, am an appointee in ICANN, write
> protocols, and do technical research and thus am TC
> - i hire myself out as professional consultant (gotta pay the rent
> somehow) and hence am a small business person - PS
> 
> I don't think I am alone in this multi-hatted nature (though i may
> take it to extremes)
> 
> note, the gov'ts don't only appoint government people.  some can
> appoint CS, especially in those countries where CS considers itself
> served well by the gov't.  in fact this was part of the argument for
> more people from development countries since they consider that those
> countries are the ones who really support CS.  so _in addition_ to
> trying to place development CS people through the other category, i
> suggest that CS from developing countries get their gov'ts to live up
> to the promise.
> 
> a.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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