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

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

That is as wild a leap in inductive reasoning as it has been my dubious 
privilege to see on this list.

And an over estimation of what civil society is capable of in this area.

--srs (htc one x)



On 3 April 2013 7:14:24 PM Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:
> 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: 
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