[governance] Final composition of the CSTD Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation

[Jeremy Malcolm]

On 31/03/2013, at 17:35 PM, Nick Ashton-Hart <nashton at consensus.pro> wrote:

> +1
> 
> On 29 Mar 2013 13:57, "McTim" <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 11:43 PM, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:
> 
> > Because the technical community keeps acting against the broader public
> > interest
> 
> Public interest as you see it, but it seems they have of course been
> responsible for ALL of the evolution of the highly inclusive IG
> systems over many decades.  These systems have created the most
> successful, open and inclusive communications platform in history.

The network at my office was put together by a local firm called Abadi IT.  They did a great job, I really can't fault them on it.  It was more than just plugging cables together, they did some custom development for us too (using free open source software, which I insist on).  We rely on them heavily to manage the technical aspects of our connection.  And they're nice people.  Their head engineer, Firdaus, invited me to his wedding last year.

But we have cause to be worried about the governance of this network.  In the lead-up to the general election (Parliament was dissolved today in fact), here have been veiled threats against NGOs, especially on their use of online communications.  Threats have been made to invoke laws against those who "spread false information" through blogs.  Just last week, a new independent online radio station, Free Malaysia Radio, was subject to a DDOS attack.  Pro-opposition websites have also been targetted.  Bugs have been planted, and websites hacked.  Earlier this year Malaysia's most respected human rights NGO, Suaram, was targetted in a series of government attacks on both their physical and online infrastructure.

Firdaus insists that he can manage such threats to our network through his "highly inclusive systems", which appear to be an online bulletin board and a monthly meeting of the local technical community that takes place in the back room of a restaurant ("in which anyone can participate", he assures us).

Nonetheless, we take to thinking that the time has come for us to look beyond Firdaus and his colleagues.  The issues and forces involved are now much bigger than they can handle.  Maybe we need to get together with some other NGOs to create a broader public interest platform through which we can challenge the government to uphold our rights online.  We might involve human rights NGOs like Suaram, maybe the Centre for Independent Journalism, invite the police and other government ministries to join us in dialogue, along with representatives of the opposition parties.  We would invite representatives of Internet providers too.  And of course, we would invite Firdaus due to his technical expertise.

But Firdaus might get a little jealous of this sudden demotion, from the person who built our network from scratch, to somebody who now is just one stakeholder involved in its ongoing management.  He might feel such umbrage at this that he gets together with some mates from the registry that handles our domain and some engineers at our ISP, to block the formation of our nascent platform, claiming that "the network we built for you was the most successful, open and inclusive that you ever had".  If the platform is formed nonetheless, he might ensure that he is appointed to chair its meetings, would stack those meetings with his friends, and ensure that no resolutions are made other than those that support their own technical work.

Thankfully, Firdaus wouldn't do this.  He realises that just because he built the network doesn't make him any special claim of authority or expertise over every aspect of its governance.  But then again, Firdaus isn't isn't a Director of ISOC.

-- 
Dr Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Policy Officer
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599

WCRD 2013 – Consumer Justice Now! | Consumer Protection Map: https://wcrd2013.crowdmap.com/main | #wcrd2013

@Consumers_Int | www.consumersinternational.org | www.facebook.com/consumersinternational

Read our email confidentiality notice. Don't print this email unless necessary.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20130403/ee3fcb3f/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t