[governance] FYI: Letter from Bulgarian Internet community
jefsey
jefsey at jefsey.com
Sun May 31 04:56:24 EDT 2009
Je présente mes excuses au lecteurs francophones à qui ce mail est
copié. Il m'est apparu que l'importance des documents présentés et le
sujet considéré le méritaient.
jfc
--------
Nikola, Milton,
The letter of Nikola and the answer of Milton are serious points
worth to careful consideration. Thank you, in particular at a time
the French Government wants to introduce a similar legislation to the
Bulgarian one (they all more or less copy and adapt Patriot Act).
I do not think ISOC makes any mystery about this. ISOC consider they
are the owner of the IETF which has "strong participation from the
computing, networking, and telecommunications industries, from
companies large and small"
<http://www.isoc.org/isoc/membership/orgwhyjoin/membership2.pdf>http://www.isoc.org/isoc/membership/orgwhyjoin/membership2.pdf,
where ISOC "Platinum Sponsorship Program allows companies to
specifically designate areas or projects to be supported in the
fields of Standards".
I currently oppose at key IETF/WG-IDNABIS that reading of the IETF by
some IETF/ISOC preeminent persons. However, I think the best way to
oppose is to build aside and make the two resulting stakeholders to
cooperate. This is why I first introduced the Internet Users
Contributing Group (http://iucg.org and its main iucg at ietf.org
mailing list) to permit users to contribute to the technology they
use. I also have introduced the http://isoc-ipv6.org open proposition
of a "usage oriented IPv6" ISOC Chapter : at this stage ISOC
Secretariat said they did not wish to support it because there
already is an effort by them to support the "technical IPv6" (IMHO
the lack of IPv6 development comes from this misunderstanding between
a technical need and a user lack of information and documented need).
My idea is that the more the users (the Chapter should represent) can
be active or even leading at ISOC the best it is and the more ISOC
can really represent everyone.
jfc
At 19:41 30/05/2009, Milton L Mueller wrote:
>Content-Language: en-US
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>
>boundary="_000_75822E125BCB994F8446858C4B19F0D77B2209E2SUEX07MBX04adsy_"
>
>Nikola:
>It is good to know that there is an independent group of Bulgarian
>Internet users.
>
>ISOC has a rather checkered history when it comes to defending
>rights of individuals on the Internet. While there are many strong
>supporters of Internet freedom in its ranks, as well as dedicated
>technical veterans of the highest caliber, its international
>organizational staff and business connections often lead it in
>strange directions. And as they become more interconnected with
>authoritative Internet governance institutions, ISOC often pursues
>agendas that are....puzzling, to put it mildly. It is useful to
>recall in this context ISOC's role in promoting the discredited
>gTLD-MoU, which would have put WIPO and the ITU in a key governance
>role, and would have allowed WIPO and INTA to have almost
>untrammeled authority over resolving domain name trademark disputes.
>ICANN's UDRP, with all its flaws, was quite liberal compared to what
>ISOC, WIPO, INTA and ITU cooked up for us a dozen years ago.
>
>Milton Mueller
>Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
>XS4All Professor, Delft University of Technology
>------------------------------
>Internet Governance Project:
><http://internetgovernance.org/>http://internetgovernance.org
>
At 18:41 30/05/2009, Nikola Geshev wrote:
>Hello,
>Yesterday a letter from people of the Bulgarian Internet community
>was sent to ISOC.
>You may be intereted to read it.
>Kind regards,
>Nikola Geshev
>Bulgarian Internet Users Group
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Ms. Lynn St Amour
>President/CEO of ISOC
>Dear Ms. Amour,
>We would like to bring to your attention the issue that in a public
>press-conference on May, 24th, Mr. Veni Markovski, head of the
>Bulgarian chapter of Internet Society (ISOC) for more than 12 years
>and also an ICANN employee, announced that ISOC Bulgaria supports
>the candidates of "Coalition for Bulgaria" (leading party is
>Bulgarian Socialist Party) for the upcoming elections for European
>parliament in Bulgaria. (We attach many newspaper reports and web
>links in section III of the appendix. In Section V of the appendix
>you may find some reactions of the members of ISOC Bulgaria.)
>
>We are taken aback by the support of ISOC Bulgaria for a political
>party. Shouldn't all ISOC chapters be politically neutral? We do not
>deny the right of Mr. Veni Markovski to support personally any
>candidate for the upcoming elections, only his right to cast an ISOC
>branch as a supporter for one.
>
>In addition, the current ruling coalition in Bulgaria, lead by the
>Bulgarian Socialist Party, took some actions that were highly
>unpopular among the Bulgarian Internet users:
> * In 2008, The State Agency for Information technologies (whose
> advisor is Mr. Markovski) and the Ministry of Interior affairs
> tried to introduce a Decree that would enforce all Internet
> providers in Bulgaria to collect and store for a long period
> practically complete, and personally identifiable information about
> anything done by all Internet users (eg. the sites they visited,
> the e-mails they wrote etc.) According to the Decree, the police
> would be able to access all of this information at any time,
> without the need for a court order or an explanation why they might
> need it, without leaving any trace that it was accessed, and
> without informing the Internet users that they are, or have been tracked.
> * The proposed decree met the strong opposition of the Bulgarian
> Internet community. The minister of Interior affairs, Mr. Mihail
> Mikov wanted to make this a reality and added the texts in a law
> for the amendment of "Law for electronic messages". When the
> Bulgarian parliament overthrew the proposed law, Mr. Mikov insisted
> for an re-vote. The law was put by the ruling coalition, headed by
> BSP, for re-vote four times (which is also against the Bulgarian
> constitution). See part IV. of the attached appendix for more information.
> * Strangely enough, Mr. Mikov is a member of the Internet
> Society in Bulgaria, as well as other government oficials who are
> members of BSP.
> * More information about the mentioned cases is available from
> the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee:
> <http://www.bghelsinki.org/index.php?module=news&lg=en&id=1099>http://www.bghelsinki.org/index.php?module=news&lg=en&id=1099
> or from an online newspaper here:
> <http://tinyurl.com/qrjpq9>http://tinyurl.com/qrjpq9 ,
> http://tinyurl.com/ot5duv ,
> <http://tinyurl.com/oqo6xk>http://tinyurl.com/oqo6xk ,
> http://tinyurl.com/qdjv74 and
> <http://tinyurl.com/p88ba6>http://tinyurl.com/p88ba6
> * Several pan-European watchdogs have reported in recent years
> that the current Bulgarian Government is the most corrupt in the
> European Union (See Section II from the attached Appendix). The
> National Security agency, which is subservient to the Bulgarian
> prime minister closed an Internet website that was spreading
> information about corruption. You can find more information from
> "Reporters without Borders" here:
> <http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543
>
>We would like to know whether ISOC supports the position of Mr.
>Markovski, and seconds his support for parties that strive to
>implement this type of legislation.
>In case that ISOC doesn't support such positions, we would also like
>to know whether their dissent will be only verbal, or will be backed
>by actions.
>
>Bulgarian Internet Users Group
>Attachments:
>
>I. Articles from "Reporters Without Borders"
>
>1. Bulgaria - World Report 2009
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31015>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31015
>
>
>2. Bulgaria - Annual Report 2008
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25469>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25469
>
>
>3. Former interior minister says "spineless" journalist should be "hit"
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29263>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29263
>
>
>4. Threats against Frognews stepped up. Censored website
>Opasnite.net reappears on Opasnite.eu
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28755>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28755
>
>
>5. Vicious assault on editor of Frog News
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28692>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28692
>
>
>6. Security agency closes corruption whistle-blower website
>
><http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543>http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543
>
>
>II. Bulgaria is the most corrupt country in the European Union,
>according to the Transparency International
>
><http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/report-unveils-eu-corrupt-countries/article-175668>http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/report-unveils-eu-corrupt-countries/article-175668
>
>
>III. Newspaper articles that mention the ISOC Bulgaria support for
>"Coalition for Bulgaria"
> * "Duma" newspaper
> * Original:
> <http://www.duma.bg/2009/0509/250509/bulgaria/bul-5.html>http://www.duma.bg/2009/0509/250509/bulgaria/bul-5.html
>
> * Archive:
> <http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112957>http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112957
>
> * Partial translation:
> * Internet Society supports "Coalition for Bulgaria"
> * "We support the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for the
> European elections, because they are the politicians who work to
> protect the interests of Internet users." It was said by the
> chairman of the organization "Internet Society in Bulgaria - Veni
> Markovski. ... "It is important to support politicians who share
> our values and defend the idea of using the Cyrillic alphabet in
> the virtual space", also stressed Markovski and thanked the Prime
> Minister Sergey Stanishev, who is a member for years of the Internet Society.
> * "Monitor" newspaper
> * Archive:
> <http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112935>http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112935
>
> * Partial translation:
> * The support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria for
> "Coalition for Bulgaria" for the European parliament elections was
> presented personally by the President of the Governing Board of the
> organization, Veni Markovski. According to him, it is important to
> support politicians who share the values of the organization to use
> the Internet without restrictions and to protect the rights of
> consumers. Markovski added that Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and
> President of the State Agency for Information Technologies and
> Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy the support of the
> Internet Society in Bulgaria.
> * "Novinar" newspaper
> * Original:
> <http://www.novinar.net/?act=news&act1=det&stat=center&mater=Mjk1Mzs2MQ>http://www.novinar.net/?act=news&act1=det&stat=center&mater=Mjk1Mzs2MQ==
>
> * Archive:
> <http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112952>http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112952
>
> * Partial translation:
> * Yesterday, the Internet Society - Bulgaria issued a
> statement that supports the list of the Coalition for Bulgaria and
> its candidates in elections to the European Parliament.
> * Cause the organization to stand behind the red party
> was that Stanishev shared values of society and the internet worked
> on consumer protection in the virtual space. Close relationship
> between the organization and the prime minister date for quite some
> years. During the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the
> Internet Society - Bulgaria in 2006, Stanishev attended as special guest.
> * "Vsekiden" online edition
> * Original:
> <http://www.vsekiden.com/?p=51400>http://www.vsekiden.com/?p=51400
> * Partial translation:
> * Internet Society - Bulgaria supports the list of
> Coalition for Bulgaria for the elections to the European Parliament
> (EP). This was said at a press conference by Veni Markovski,
> Chairman of the Board of the organization. It is important to
> support politicians who share the values of the Internet Society -
> Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions and protection of
> consumer rights, explained Markovski. He added that the Prime
> Minister and President of BSP Sergey Stanishev and President of the
> State Agency for Information Technologies and Communications Plamen
> Vachkov also enjoy the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria,
> which are members for years.
>
>5. "24 Chasa" newspaper
>
>1. Original:
><http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140197>http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140197
>
>2. Partial translation:
>
>Internet Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for
>Bulgaria for the elections for the European Parliament (EP), in
>which Ivaylo Kalfin and Christian Vigenin are included, BTA reported.
>
>"It is important to support politicians who share the values of the
>Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
>and protection of consumer rights, said President of the
>organization Veni Markovski.
>
>He added that Sergey Stanishev and the President of the State Agency
>for Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also
>enjoy the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are
>members for years. According to Ivaylo Kalfin, Internet is free
>space, where one must respect the laws, but not to impose restrictions.
>
>
>6. "Gradski" online newspaper
>
>1. Original:
><http://www.gradski.bg/show.php?storyid=724067>http://www.gradski.bg/show.php?storyid=724067
>
>2. Partial translation:
>
>Internet Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for
>Bulgaria for the elections to the European Parliament (EP), in which
>Ivaylo Kalfin and Christian Vigenin participate. This was told by
>Veni Markovski, Chairman of the Management Board of the organization.
>
>It is important to support politicians who share the values of the
>Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
>and protection of consumer rights. Prime Minister and President of
>BSP Sergey Stanishev and President of the State Agency for
>Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also
>enjoy the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are
>members for years, explained Markovski.
>
>
>7. "Trud" newspaper
>
>1. Original:
><http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140199>http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140199
>
>2. Partial translation:
>
>Internet Society - Bulgaria stood behind BSP
>
>Internet Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for
>Bulgaria for the elections to the European Parliament (EP), which
>Ivaylo Kalfin and Christian VIGENIN, BTA reported.
>
>"It is important to support politicians who share the values of the
>Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
>and protection of consumer rights, said President of the
>organization veins Markovski.
>
>He added that Sergey Stanishev and President of the State Agency for
>Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also
>enjoy the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are
>members for years. According to Ivaylo Kalfin Internet is free
>space, which must respect the laws, but not to impose restrictions.
>
>
>IV. Articles about actions of the current ruling coalition in Bulgaria:
>
>
>1.<http://dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/04/09/702570_parlamentut_othvurli_promenite_za_bezkontrolnoto/>http://dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/04/09/702570_parlamentut_othvurli_promenite_za_bezkontrolnoto/
>
>1. Translation:
>
>"By 74 votes in favor, 78 against and 3 abstentions, the parliament
>rejected amendments to the Law on electronic communications,
>providing the Ministry of Interior affairs an uncontrolled access to
>data from the Internet and telephone printouts. In the original vote
>on the amendment there were 89 MPs for, 74 against and six
>abstained, so the amendments would have passed on first reading. The
>president of the internal committee, Mincho Spasov (NMS), however
>called and asked for a re-vote to save "the visit of this law in the
>Constitutional Court." In the re-vote, after the cards of the absent
>MPs were gathered, the texts were rejected.
>
>This way the fourth consecutive attempt to provide special services
>to obtain traffic data without the permission of the judge failed.
>In November 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) repeal the
>ordinance 40 as unconstitutional, which under the very vast wording
>"for the operational-search activity" Interior Ministry could take
>the information and with so-called passive access to servers through
>a computer terminal, so as not to impose even send a request to the
>mobile and internet operators.
>
>
>In February the parliament even rejected a request of special
>services for a similar law that again would eliminate the
>requirement for the information to be obtained with the
>authorization of a judge and an indication of the grounds for the
>request. Then a check of "Dnevnik" newspaper showed that that the
>text that include the law of the Interior ministry is added in the
>proposal, but is unclear by whom, although the Parliamentary
>commission of Transport did not vote for it at all. After lengthy
>discussions MPs rejected this attempt to smoothly track the data and
>decided to receive only the detection of serious crimes and have a
>sanction of a judge.
>
>
>Already in the next few days interior ministry leadership reacted
>strongly to the changes and announced that it would be prevented
>from working on the hot track of crimes that do not keep serious as
>child pornography for example. They insisted that the work of the
>special services is seriously slowed by the need to obtain court
>authorization. Politicians replied that in emergency, data can be
>collected without the permission of a judge and then 24 hours later
>is necessary to obtain such a sanction.
>
>
>However, only twenty days after the decision of the parliament, the
>Interior Ministry has initiated changes in the law on electronic
>communications and by members of the BSP, MRF and independent submit
>them to parliament. They provide passive access to information
>through the interface and again to cast their need for
>operational-search activity. Changes caused serious disputes in
>parliament on the Committee on Transport include consideration of
>changes in its agenda an extraordinary and although its chairman
>Yordan Mirchev (NMS) and the opposition left, the BSP and the MRF
>supported the text. The Commission's decision was challenged, but
>the leadership allow him to parliament for consideration in plenary.
>
>
>Subsequently, the parliamentary committees of internal ordern and
>European integration rejected the amendments. As they have a
>negative opinion of the parliamentary department responsible for the
>coordination of legislation with the European Union. The Ombudsman
>also objected.
>
>
>National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski (BSP) a few days ago also
>agreed that we must find a right balance between the rights of
>citizens and the need not to hamper the work of the Ministry. He
>told the opponents of the change that will help texts to be edited
>so that no one could track people without control. According to him,
>and according to the opposition and NMS, very suspect sought data
>records for telephone and Internet traffic prints - 330 000 records
>per year for 40 000 persons."
>
>
>V. Articles about ISOC Bulgaria members disagreement with the
>statement by Mr. Markovski
>
>1. "Trud" newspaper
>
>1. Original:
><http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=142971>http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=142971
>
>2. Partial translation:
>
>Members of the Internet Society - Bulgaria expressed outrage and
>perplexity, because of the support for the list of the BSP for the
>European elections, claimed by Veni Markovski - Member of the
>Management Board of the organization. This was published in a press
>report from the Blue coalition.
>
>This position is expressed in an open letter to the Board of
>Internet Society - Bulgaria, signed by Ivan Kostov, Ekaterina
>Mihailova, Dimo Gyaurov and Ivo Tsanev.
>
>The letter states that in the formulation of political support for
>the BSP, ISOC Bulgaria and Veni Markovski did not sought the views
>of members of the organization.
>
>"We consider inadmissible association called upon to protect the
>interests of Internet users to associate itself with the party,
>known for trying to restrict information rights and freedoms in
>Bulgaria," says the letter.
>
>
>2. "Dnevnik" newspaper
>
>1. Original:
><http://www.dnevnik.bg/izbori2009/2009/05/28/726610_predstaviteli_na_siniata_koaliciia_protestirat_sreshtu/>http://www.dnevnik.bg/izbori2009/2009/05/28/726610_predstaviteli_na_siniata_koaliciia_protestirat_sreshtu/
>
>2. Partial translation:
>
>Representatives of the "Blue coalition" protest against the support
>of the Internet Society Bulgaria to the list of BSP
>
>Representatives of the Blue coalition protest against support for
>the BSP list for European elections, claimed by the member of the
>Governing Board of the Internet Society Veni Markovski.
>
>In an open letter to the Board of Internet Society Bulgaria, Ivan
>Kostov, Ekaterina Mihaylova (DSB), and Ivo Dimo Gyaurov Tsanev (UDF)
>expressed "indignation and perplexity" of the actions of Markovski.
>Categorically say that in the formulation of political support for
>the BSP by Mr. Markovski has not sought the views of members of the
>organization. It is inadmissible for an association called upon to
>protect the interests of Internet users to associate itself with the
>party, known for trying to limited information rights and freedoms in Bulgaria.
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