[governance] Markus Kummer Spreading Falsehood

[Ronald Deibert]

Hi Governance list.

Below is typical of what I'm receiving from reporters.    It is hard  
to keep up now with the IGF spin being put on the event.  So I think  
I'll just back off now and resign to whatever happens.  Hope the truth  
wins out, but it looks as though Markus Kummer is intent on spreading  
falsehoods.

It is contrary to what I've said from the beginning, contrary to what  
I've posted on my blog and contrary to what I posted on this very list  
this morning, as well as posting on the comment section of Boing Boing  
(for what that is worth).

I really wish Markus Kummer would stop spreading falsehoods about what  
I have or have not said -- and what did or did not happen at the  
event.  He was not even there.  Many on this list were though and are  
now re-telling what they witnessed themselves.  (My facts are re- 
pasted again after the reporter's query).



Hi,

i have reported on the "incident" at he IGF for heise online in one of  
my
IGF stories. Now I get a completely different stories from Markus  
Kummer and
want to follow up with you asking:

1. Kummer says it is a rule that no posters would be placed outside of
meeting rooms, this was the rule. You said UN officials pointed to   
request
from China. So what do you say to Kummers reaction?
2. Kummer said that UN oficials did not take the poster down, and by  
saying
so you created a false impression, that could even be said to be
manipulative. How would you react?

best,

Monika


Monika Ermert			eLance Journalist
monika at ermert.info		Skype: m.ermert
+49 (0) 173 6617763		+49 (0) 89 63850014
Croissant-Rust-Str. 15		81243 München

1. We were told that the banner had to be removed because of the  
reference to China. This was repeated on several occasions, in front  
of about two dozen witnesses and officials, including the UN Special  
Rapporteur For Human Rights, who asked that I send in a formal letter  
of complaint.

2. Earlier, the same officials asked us to stop circulating a small  
invite to the event because it contained a mention of Tibet. They even  
underlined it in showing it to me. Because the event was just about to  
start, we said that we would not be distributing any more of these  
invitations so it was a moot point.

3. We asked repeatedly to see any rules or regulations governing this  
act. They did not give us any, only referring to the "objections of a  
member state."

4. There were in fact many posters and banners in many of the rooms  
that I attended, including others in our own. The video itself shows  
us, at one point, taking one of the other posters we have and offering  
to cover up the original one. They objected to that and told us this  
banner must be removed.

On another matter of clarification:

The UN officials did not throw the banner on the ground. They asked us  
to remove it and one of our staff placed it on the ground for us to  
consider what to do. That's where we had the discussion. When we  
refused to remove it, their security guards bundled it up and took it  
away.

Ronald J. Deibert
Director, The Citizen Lab
Munk Centre for International Studies
University of Toronto
r.deibert at utoronto.ca
http://deibert.citizenlab.org/
twitter.com/citizenlab



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