[governance] Amendment to charter vote coming up!

[Ian Peter]

Thank you Ginger for managing this process forward, and thank you to the
team of people who went to the effort to get together names to propose this
amendment ­ and there I think Avri Doria and Jeanette Hoffmann deserve
special thanks. It¹s obvious there has been a problem on this list and that
the co-ordinators hands have been somewhat tied ­ this Charter amendment
will go a long way towards assisting future coordinators to handle difficult
situations as they arise.
 
I want to encourage everyone who receives a ballot in this election to make
sure that they respond, whether they want to vote yes or no. A low turnout
here is going to leave us with a long term problem that can¹t be easily
handled. While this amendment doesn¹t solve all our problems, it is
certainly a good step in the right direction and I believe deserves your
support.
 
So please, make sure you vote.  This vote needs a strong response both in
numbers of people responding and in numbers of people responding positively
if the changes are to be made. So please don¹t forget, make a note now to
remind yourself to vote before September 15. Your 90 seconds commitment to
vote in the ballot will help make this list and civil society participation
in IGF more effective.

Ian Peter 



On 28/08/09 6:48 AM, "Ginger Paque" <gpaque at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just a quick reminder--it is important that everyone who is entitled to vote
> on the upcoming charter amendment proposal do so, no matter how they vote, or
> even if they choose to abstain on the ballot.
> 
> The short version:
> The ballot will be a secret ballot. The ballot will be open for two weeks
> (until September 15th). An announcement of the results will be made as soon as
> possible thereafter. You should expect to receive a ballot paper before
> Wednesday next week (September 2nd), possibly earlier. If you believe you are
> entitled to vote and have not received a ballot paper by then please contact
> me directly.
> 
> The ballot email from Derrick will contain clear instructions on how to cast
> your vote.
> 
> The long version below and attached.
> 
> Regards,
> Ginger
> 
> Dear IGC members,
> 
> A proposal has been made for amendment to the IGC charter (please see full
> details below and attached).
> 
> IGC members should currently be discussing the proposed amendment on the list
> in case there are any doubts or opinions they would like to express.
> 
> The Charter states that ³The membership requirements for amending the charter
> are based on the most currently available voters list. In amending the
> charter, everyone who voted in the previous election will be deemed a member
> for amending the charter."  That list is at
> http://www.igcaucus.org/node/12/%253Cbr%2520/%253E.
> 
> Since approval of any amendment requires a two-thirds approval, please be sure
> to vote, whatever your decision may be. This is a good way to keep the IGC on
> track by exercising your right and obligation to vote.
> 
> Each person sent a ballot paper will be asked first to affirm whether they are
> a member of civil society. Only civil society members are entitled to vote.
> You will be given a choice of "yes", "no" or "abstain" to show your agreement
> or non-agreement with the proposed amendment. If you prefer not to vote,
> please use the "abstain" option ­ that allows us to keep you on the updated
> membership list as a current member.
> 
> The ballot will be a secret ballot. The ballot will be open for two weeks
> (until September 15th). An announcement of the results will be made as soon as
> possible thereafter. You should expect to receive a ballot paper before
> Wednesday next week (September 2nd), possibly earlier. If you believe you are
> entitled to vote and have not received a ballot paper by then please contact
> me directly.
> 
> Many thanks to Dr. Derrick Cogburn for once again accepting the task of
> running this electronic ballot procedure for the IGC.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Ginger Paque
> for
> Ginger Paque and Ian Peter
> IGC Co-coordinators
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To the IGC Caucus and IGC Caucus Coordinators:
> 
> According to the IGC Charter, Amendments to the Charter are made
> according to the following process:
> 
> This charter can be amended at any time as proposed by no fewer
> than ten (10) members and as approved by no less than two-thirds (2/3)
> of the members of the IGC. The membership requirements for amending
> the charter are based on the most currently available voters list.
> In amending the charter, everyone who voted in the previous election
> will be
> deemed a member for amending the charter.
> 
> Because of the events on the list over the last month or longer, the
> undersigned have decided to propose Posting Rule amendments to the
> charter (attached to this email) that will make it less problematic to
> deal with disruptive behavior on the IG Caucus list in the future.  Part
> of the problem we are trying to remedy is the fact that the sole
> responsibility rests with the coordinators without them having any clear
> guidelines or
> assistance.
> 
> In proposing these amendments we looked at RFC 3683 "A Practice for
> Revoking Posting Rights to IETF Mailing Lists"
> http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3683.txt
>   RFC 3934 and  " <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3683.txtRFC3934and> Updates to
> RFC 2418 Regarding the Management of IETF
> Mailing Lists" http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3934.txt, as well as the
> rules currently in effect for ICANN's GA List for guidance.
> 
> The proposed amendment contains the following elements:
> 
> - statement of the purpose of the IGC list
> - set of guidelines for decorum on the IGC list and any other IGC
> lists that may be created
> - description of inappropriate postings for IGC list(s)
> 
> We are also proposing that the coordinators can create, if they desire
> to do so, an advisory body to help them in determining when the
> posting rules have been infringed.  The decision and responsibility of
> when to take action is, however, still left with the coordinators.
> 
> If this charter amendment is accepted by a 2/3 vote of the current
> members, action for suspension of removal can be initiated in the
> following manner:
> 
> a. the coordinators decide on their own that action needs to be taken
> b. the advisory group recommends it to coordinators and they agree
> that action needs to be taken
> c. a group of 20 IGC members publicly petitions the coordinators to
> consider action and the coordinators agree actions should be taken
> 
> The appeals mechanism remains the same as it is in the current charter:
> 
>> > ? Any decision for suspension can be appealed.
>> > Any decision to remove someone from the list will
>> > call for an automatic appeal by the appeals team.
> 
> Signed by the following members of the IGC as listed on
> http://www.igcaucus.org/
> 
> 
> Carlos A.Afonso
> Vittorio Bertola
> Wilie Curie
> Avri Doria (co-author)
> Wiliam Drake
> Bret Fausett
> Robin Gross
> Michael Gurstein
> Jeanette Hofmann (co-author)
> Wolfgang Kleinwächter
> Jeremy Malcolm
> Lee W. McKnight
> Jacqueline A. Morris
> Adam Peake
> Parminder Singh
> David Souter
> Christopher Wilkinson
> 
> 
> 
> 
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