Snapshots from ICANN HL Panel in London Re: [governance] [bestbits] press release about meeting of the high level panel

Mon Dec 16 15:59:10 EST 2013

+1, thank you Vlada. Very useful and informative
Best
Carolina


2013/12/16 Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com>

> Thanks, Vlada, for this detailed and very informative account of what
> transpired at the HLP meeting in London.
> Mawaki
>
>  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
> *Mawaki Chango, PhD*
> Founder & Principal, DIGILEXIS
> http://www.digilexis.com
> m.chango at digilexis.com
> Mobile: +225 4448 7764
> twitter.com/digilexis
> twitter.com/dig_mawaki
> Skype: digilexis
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 5:36 PM, Vladimir Radunovic <vladar at diplomacy.edu>wrote:
>
>>  Dear colleagues,
>>
>>
>>
>> here are few lines on my impressions of what happened at the High Level
>> Panel meeting in London on Friday. I hope it will help us better understand
>> the intentions and potentials of this (dynamically evolving and
>> self-reshaping) initiative.
>>
>>
>>
>> I was there in status of an observer, representing Diplo who was invited
>> among others by ICANN to provide its expertise and assist the drafting of
>> report by the HL panel. The Panel event was under Chatham House rule, so I
>> will try to bring as many details as possible while still respecting this
>> rule. The views below are my personal, as I saw the discussions and the
>> process. Besides the impressions below, I (and several others) have been
>> extensively tweeting with #InternetPanel (read here<https://twitter.com/search?had_popular=true&q=InternetPanel>)
>> so you can get a pretty good snapshot of key points in discussion through
>> that. Formal Press Release has been published and is available here<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/high-level-panel-on-global-internet-cooperation-and-governance-mechanisms-convenes-in-london-235789861.html>– it brings more or less all the basic info on topics and participants of
>> the meeting as well as the future timeline.
>>
>>
>>
>> *HL Group and experts*
>>
>>
>>
>> Panel includes 21 members listed in the Press Release; additionally, a
>> final one (Anriette from APC) has been accepted during the meeting in
>> London to reflect loud civil society requests. Panel is dominated by tech
>> and corporate sector, with few yet high level representatives of
>> governments; only now there is a panel member from civil society
>> organisation.
>>
>>
>>
>> It was my impression that initially the entire HL Panel was composed
>> based on “names” rather than on representation of stakeholders; yet it
>> appears that it was acknowledged at the end that the absence of civil
>> society organisations can hurt the process. On the other hand, civil
>> society experts dominate the expert group who is supposed to assist with
>> drafting the final report – as the agenda in press release shows. As an
>> observer (replacing Jovan who was invited as expert but was not able to
>> join in London), I did not have chance to formally raise civil society
>> concerns expressed on this list and elsewhere, but other experts were
>> involved in formal discussion. I hope Anriette’s formal presence in future
>> will extend this direct opportunity.
>>
>>
>>
>> At London meeting there were most of Panel members, the experts, dozen of
>> observers assisting Panel members or as guests, and some ICANN staff –
>> total about 50 people, invited by ICANN. These are likely the people that
>> will gather also in the next phases of the work. I suppose there will be no
>> further changes in composition of the panel. I also got the impression the
>> following two meetings will not be opened for observers rather than those
>> invited directly or related to panel members, nor there will be greater
>> transparency during the meetings; instead, it seems public consultations
>> (primarily on 1Net) will be the public inputs into the work of the panel.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Task*
>>
>>
>>
>> The Panel has decided to be titled “Panel on global Internet cooperation
>> and governance mechanisms”. Their goal is to prepare a blueprint document –
>> a report – as described in press release. The focus of London discussions
>> was on mapping the ecosystem and needs, discussing the “desirable
>> properties” of future system, and agreeing on next steps. While there were
>> interesting discussions, my impression was that there were very few new
>> aspects on the table yet. It is my hope that the panel (and especially the
>> experts who do have extensive knowledge of already-discussed issues in and
>> various fora in previous years) will reflect to valuable outputs of
>> previous IGF and other meetings rather than reinventing the wheel. It was
>> confirmed that the summary of discussion points will be posted to 1Net.org
>> soon asking for community reflections.
>>
>>
>>
>> The final draft of the report should be ready during second HL meeting in
>> US end February; then it should be formally submitted as contribution to
>> Sao Paolo meeting and Freedom Online conference in Tallinn in April, and
>> offered for public consultations towards the next draft (not sure if only
>> through 1Net, but probably will not be limited to that). It is supposed the
>> draft report will find its place in the Sao Paolo meeting as well. The
>> outputs of this and public discussions will be fed into the final report to
>> be wrapped up during the third meeting in Dubai in early May. It should
>> then be fed into various processes incl. ICANN meeting in London in June,
>> IGF in September, etc. It is important to mention that the relevance and
>> legitimacy of IGF was mentioned several times in discussions, and I had a
>> feeling that the panel and experts are aware that this process should
>> contribute to (and possibly strengthen) the IGF rather than undermine it.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Other components*
>>
>>
>>
>> My impression was that there was distancing by ICANN and the HL panel
>> from the Sao Paolo meeting. Brazil meeting was mentioned only once at the
>> end as a place where the report may be discussed – and was mentioned as
>> only one such opportunity. There was no feeling that Sao Paolo conference
>> is part of this initiative. At the same time the news was spread that
>> Brazilian president Rousseff met French President Holland and that France
>> might support Sao Paolo meeting (I found no direct confirmation for this in
>> news yet however – pointers welcomed if anyone has).
>>
>>
>>
>> On the other hand 1Net was mentioned several times as the place in which
>> public contributions on the draft report should be provided. It was of
>> course only the reference to 1Net with regards to the HL Panel work, but it
>> is possible that 1Net was envisaged with a broader goal; there was no
>> further info however on how 1Net will proceed, nor on its Steering
>> Committees or further steps.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Timeline*
>>
>>
>>
>> The timeline of meetings was presented in the press release as well. Yet
>> let me combine it here with the updated info on other relevant 2014 events
>> mentioned and not mentioned in London:
>>
>> 22-25 January, Davos: Side-meeting of the HL Panel during WEF annual
>> meeting
>>
>> 27-28 February, US: 2nd HL meeting
>>
>> 31 March, Dubai (rather than Sharm): ITU WTDC
>>
>> 23-24 April, Sao Paolo: Brazil conference
>>
>> 28-29 April, Tallinn: Freedom Online Conference
>>
>> 3-4 May, Dubai: 3rd (final) HL meeting
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I hope this shed bit more light on what this whole new initiative will be
>> about. It is slightly clearer to me now, though I still have lots of
>> questions about 1Net. It is my belief that we should try to, whatever the
>> initial idea behind 1Net was (and also the HL Panel), explore its
>> potentials to strengthen the IGF and improve communications among
>> professional (and stakeholder) silos.
>>
>>
>>
>> Best!
>>
>>
>>
>>             Vlada
>>
>>
>>
>> PS Sorry for a rather long email.. I decided to be detailed in this case,
>> and mention as much as possible.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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