[governance] Fadi Speech to ALAC, Brazil 2014 Meeting and need for IGC and civil society Liaisons

Sun Nov 17 12:20:29 EST 2013

Dear IGC,

As you can imagine, since Bali and in light of the “multistakeholder” event
that will be hosted by the Brazil on the future on Internet Governance
called:
*"Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future on Internet Governance," *it
becomes inherently critical that we start preparing to shape the Agenda.
Many thanks to Carlos and Hartmut for keeping us informed of what is
happening within Brazil and for taking the time to translate from
Portuguese to English when the need demands. Unfortunately, there were no
live transcripts although transcripts will be provided unlike the live
stream available to the GAC community (tongue in cheek).  To watch the vide
of Fadi speaking:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennmcknight/sets/72157637762195684

ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadi spoke about the manner in which ICANN is going to
engage in what I thought was a very mature response symbolic of the desire
to engage with communities.

 As you can imagine in the lead up to the preparations for 2014 we as
global civil society need to consolidate to prepare.  There have been
discussions going on offlist amongst the various facilitators of some of
the core civil society groups about how this is to take place where it has
centered on the possibilities of a joint framework for engagement of civil
society including  Multistakeholder selection processes for some of the key
positions. There was suggestion to experiment first with the combined
NomCom for the MAG and I highlighted that this could be difficult in light
of the pressing deadlines.  There may be room however for joint
endorsements but I will leave this to the NomCom Chair. At this point, I do
not want to burden our NomCom as they are working against a very narrow and
tight deadline. Whilst we are waiting for the other groups to comment on
coordinated and shared framework for engagement, I would like to propose
the following to the IGC.

Given that we do not have time nor the resources, it has been by way of an
ad hoc nature common for people who are involved in foras or diverse
communities to provide feedback on what is happening randomly. This to a
large extent happens but my sense is that we need to be better coordinated
and have different people watch the different spaces they are in and liaise
back with the IGC. I suggested that this could be done with and through
combined civil society but I think we need to pick up the pace and start
anyway whilst waiting.

To this extent, I would propose that in the spirit of enhanced cooperation
that we use our own people within civil society who happen to wear multiple
hats to act as liaisons, even if temporary at this point until such time
where we can coordinate more permanent representation. I feel that the IGC
should have liaisons in the following circles:

·       Technical Community

·       Business Community

·       Governments

The liaisons role would be to be a bridge into these communities to channel
developments of what is happening within these communities that are of
relevance to civil society and also from time to time raise the issues of
civil society or broker and facilitate the process through which these
views can be heard. If there are people who feel they can function in these
roles, we need volunteers. This is to ensure that we know what is happening
at all times.

The IGC has two options, we can utilize a formal process and invite calls
for nominations and have a NomCom make the selection. On another note, we
can maintain the informal ad hoc liaison process that is currently in
place. My personal preference is for the latter to allow for volunteers who
are consistent and command the respect of the diverse communities.

Given the current deadlines and politics surrounding the 2014 Meeting in
Brazil, I propose that we have *George Sadowski *to act as liaison for us
to the technical community. I am of the view that we can have at least two
to three liaisons as the Technical Community is diverse and spread out
between the ETSI, W3C, ITU-T, IETF, ICANN, IAB, RIR etc.  For now the
liaison function can be limited to the developments of the Rio engagement
with room to evolve into identifying issues affecting global public
interest that civil society might want to monitor in a consistent and
cohesive manner. Whilst George is also a member of the ICANN Board, I am
not asking him as an ICANN Board member but as a member of the IGC.

 If there are those that wish to join George in this role, there is nothing
stopping a list of volunteers from being part of a team that condenses the
issues in diverse stratas and feeds it back into the IGC in a consolidated
manner.

As we engage in coming to the table to set the Agenda, we need to do so
intelligently and cohesively and in a coordinated manner. This was one of
the things raised in the meeting in Bali-
In the future as the IGC evolves, there is space to develop a working group
to focus on technical and policy stratas that we may wish to organize our
advocacies in. For a long while, advocacy has been happening via
individuals or groups that have pet topics and issues.

Kind Regards,
Sala
(In my personal capacity)

George Sadowski Profile and Biography
GEORGE SADOWSKY: BIOGRAPHY
George Sadowsky is currently a member of the Board of Directors of ICANN
(Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and a consultant to, inter
alia, the World Wide
Web Foundation and NATO.
He received an A.B. degree with honors in Mathematics from Harvard College
and M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Yale University. After spending 1958-1962
as an applied
mathematician and programmer, his career concentrated on applying computers
to economic
and social policy, leading academic computing and networking organizations,
and making
information and communication technologies (ICTs) useful throughout the
world. In 1963-64 he
introduced the use of microsimulation for tax analysis purposes in the U.S.
Treasury Department.
During 1966-1970 he founded and directed the Computer Center at the
Brookings Institution in
Washington; from 1970-73 he did economic research at the Urban Institute
leading to his Ph.D,
dissertation on the subject of micro-analytic simulation of the household
sector.
During 1973-86 at the United Nations, he supported the transfer of
information technology to
developing countries. He has done work in more than 50 developing countries
and continues to
do so. Among other things, he introduced the use of microcomputers for
census data processing
in Africa in 1979, and he worked in China during 1982-1986 supporting the
computing activities
of their 1982 Census of Population and Housing.
From 1986 to 2001, he directed academic computing and networking
activities, first at
Northwestern University and then at New York University. He has been a
consultant to the U.S.
Treasury Department, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, UNDP, the Swiss
Government,
and a number of foundations. He was a Board member of AppliedTheory
Corporation and was a
Trustee of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN)
and the New York
State Educational and Research Network (NYSERNet). He was actively involved
in World
Bank activities during 1996-2002 as a member and Coordinator of the
Technical Advisory
Panel for the infoDev program, as well as in UNDP and USAID activities. In
1994, he and Larry
Landweber formulated USAID's Leland Initiative for providing initial
Internet connectivity
for 20 African countries. He was a member of the Internet Society Board of
Trustees during
1996-1999 and 2000-2004 and served as Vice President for Conferences
(1996-1998) and Vice-
President for Education (1998-2001). He headed a group of ISOC volunteers
who defined and
conducted the ISOC Developing Country Network Training Workshops during
1993 -2001.
More recently, he was the Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy
Initiative (GIPI)
from 2001-2006, which had active ongoing Internet policy reform projects in
17 countries. He
also served as Senior Technical Adviser within USAID's dot-GOV program for
the Internews
Consortium, providing ICT policy assistance to the developing world. He has
served as an
expert witness for litigation in the United Kingdom and the United States.
He was a special
adviser to Nitin Desai, the Chair of the UN Secretary-General's Internet
Governance Forum
as well as to the Chair of UN G at ID. He has served as a member of the PIR
(Public Internet
Registry) Advisory Board, and he is currently a member of the ICANN
(Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers) Board of Directors He has written and lectured
extensively on
Please refer to his web site, http://www.georgesadowsky.org/ as well as the
GIPI web site, http://
www.internetpolicy.net, for additional information.
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