[governance] Re: [bestbits] Looking for your input - NetMundial Initiative

Mon Aug 25 12:08:14 EDT 2014

Dear all

The Web Foundation position paper states in its final paragraph

I don't remember having read such a concentrate of naivety for a long time ! At best, the Web Foundation is dreaming. Or isnt its language putting the CS to sleep ? 

CS committed in an actual Internet governance should better try to keep the Internet and its use by the world citizens out of the business-centered web and try to focus its efforts against its unfair and harmful commercial exploitation (tag : cloud and Internet of things). For those of our lists members who are able to read a french newspaper (there may be a "significative minority" :-) ), I warmly recommend the article entitled "De l'utopie numerique au choc social" (From the digital utopia to the social shock) by Evgeni Morozov*, in the August issue of Le Monde Diplomatique. It deals fairly well with these issues.    

* Morozov is also the author of To Save Everything. Click Here. Technology, Solutionsm, and the Urge to Fix Problems That Don't Exist, Allen Lane, London, 2013 

In addition, I wonder if these < events in Ethiopia, Swaziland, and Turkey (that) highlight just a few of the many ways in which countries continue to violate citizens’ basic human rights online> are more important than the permament and systematic spying practiced by the USG and its NSA with the active complicity of its Internet Giants which is ignored in this paper. 

Best

Jean-Louis Fullsack

> Message du 25/08/14 09:01
> De : "Nnenna Nwakanma" 
> A : "Governance" 
> Copie à : "" , "irp at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org" 
> Objet : Re: [governance] Re: [bestbits] Looking for your input - NetMundial Initiative
> 
>

Dear all
> 
>
The position of the World Wide Web Foundation is open and on the blog: https://webfoundation.org/2014/08/the-fall-of-internet-governance/
> 
>
SNIP = = = 
> 
>
> Here are the proposals we’ll be bringing to these forums to help ensure that international commitment leverages change on the ground:

Commit to policy coherence. Companies and governments who espouse participatory, democratic processes and defend human rights in Internet governance forums should not turn around and negotiate away our Web rights in secretive negotiations on topics such as digital copyright, cybersecurity, spectrum licensing and surveillance cooperation.
Popularise the issues. Companies won’t change until they feel their profits are threatened. Governments won’t change unless they fear being voted out of power. So we need a collective effort to ensure that people around the globe understand and care about these issues. We’re playing our part by leading the Web We Want campaign — and as part of this we’re planning a major festival with the UK’s Southbank Centre, which will take place across three weekends, beginning in September. We also fund and connect local activists working for a free and open Web all over the world, from Privacy Cafes in the Netherlands, to public awareness efforts and advocacy campaigns in Mexico, Nigeria and beyond. Through our Web Index project, we’re tracking the performance of countries around the world on digital rights issues such as access, affordability, and online privacy. How can you help?
Include more voices. Technical guidance from “Internet Governance Experts” is critical in this field to avoid policy blunders, but the conversation is too important to be left to them alone. Representatives of other constituencies need to turn their minds to this issue and put forward solutions. The World Economic Forum initiative will reach wider business interests beyond the tech sector, which is positive in itself — but not everybody gets to go to Davos. We need equally creative and well-resourced ways to engage small-medium enterprises and start-ups, union leaders, the arts and culture community, anti-poverty campaigners, women’s rights groups, youth movements, parliamentarians and more.
Open up. Internet governance affects everyone, and so discussions should happen in the open, supported by transparent mechanisms that strengthen the accountability of governments, technical bodies, and technology corporations to the public. The Internet Governance Forum is to be commended for live-streaming their sessions, and we call on the organisers of the NETmundial Initiative and the Plenipotentiary to do the same. We’ll be providing full and honest write-ups of all our participation here too.
Invest in national level change. International norms are important — and we’ve gone as far as to call for a global “Magna Carta” for the Internet. Yet it is national level laws, regulations, business practices, and market incentives that most powerfully shape the Internet—for better or worse. It’s time for a concerted effort to build and pass an “Internet bill of rights” in every country that will enshrine citizens’ rights to access, privacy, and freedom of expression and association online. To do this requires sustained attention, political leadership, and investment in the capacity and resources of local civil society.

> SNIP =  = = 
>

> 
>

> Nnenna
>

>

> 
>
On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 6:00 PM, "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"  wrote:
>
Hi Adam,
> 
> good questions. I also support Rauls approach. Key point at this stage is to broaden the support for the IGF and NMI is one great option to do this. BTW, I got yesterday an invitation to join the Geneva meeting but I can not go due to our 14th Meeting of the ICANN Studienkreis in Sofia (Bulgaria), August 28/29.
> 
> In the light of the Monday Meeting in Istanbul we should use the IGC Meeting on Friday to enhance a CSmid-term strategy.
> 
> Wolfgang
> 
> 
> 
> DAM;
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org im Auftrag von Adam
> Gesendet: Sa 23.08.2014 14:38
> An: Carolina Rossini
> Cc: Brett Solomon;  bestbits at lists.bestbits.net> irp at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org; governance at lists.igcaucus.org IGC
> Betreff: [governance] Re: [bestbits] Looking for your input - NetMundial Initiative
>

> Dear Carolina,
> 
> Thank you for sharing this.  A few comments below.
> 
> 
> On Aug 23, 2014, at 9:24 AM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> >
> >
> > As some of you might have heard and also seen the leaked documents, the World Economic Forum, supported by ICANN, will host the workshop "NetMundial Initiative" on 28th of August, in Geneva.
> >
> >
> > Besides leaked documents, an "official" site is now up (as of yesterday) at http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-internet-governance, with list of participants, agenda, a short briefing and a FAQ. It worth reading it - the FAQ is a very "interesting" piece. See it here - http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_2NETmundialInitiativeFAQ.pdf.
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Shame it had to leak.  Fadi announced the initiative at the ICANN meeting in London (around 23rd June) and the lead CS participants were already known at that time.  But only rumor, no information, until the leak of course...
> 
> 
> > Background regarding invitations and communication with NMI organizers: None of the CS members invited to the workshop know exactly how the selection process happened. In my personal case, I heard I was being invited from colleagues in Brazil, but you can refer to Brett's previous email (I paste it below) regarding to some of our earlier concerns regarding the lack of transparency related to the invitation process.
> >
> >
> > Yesterday, a group of CS members had a call with Fadi and folks from the WEF - the first of its kind. The call was arranged in response to a request from CS invited for the Geneva meeting.
> 
> 
> Who were the other "civil society" people who joined the call with Fadi/WEF?
> 
> And news on membership of the Steering Committee?
> 
> 
> > Below are some key concerns that were drafted ahead of the call. A primary theme on the call was lack of transparency and failure to adequately engage CS as part of the planning process for this workshop and its follow-up processes.  We also conveyed how problematic that it was about the lack of southern CS representation.
> 
> 
> Except for yourself, is there anyone?  Skimming the participant list, the only other person I recognize as having a experience of Internet governance at national/regional level global south is Barrack Otieno (tech community, Kenya and East Africa IGFs and other).
> 
> 
> > Besides the issues below, and in regard to participation, we asked ICANN and WEF to let CS chose its own representatives and that the representation should rotate, so it is inclusive.
> 
> 
> from   this initiative is "Inspired by the NETmundial..." "Carry forward the spirit of NETmundial..."'
> 
> NETmundial document is couldn't be clearer "Stakeholder representatives appointed to multistakeholder Internet governance processes should be selected through open, democratic, and transparent processes. Different stakeholder groups should self-manage their processes based on inclusive, publicly known, well defined and accountable mechanisms."
> 
> Please ask WEF to cut the sweet words and either follow the "spirit" or find another brand :-)  Quite an issue over this during the lead-up to NETmundial.  Should be a civil society non-negotiable.
> 
> 
> > We also asked for remote participation and that the WEF sets a platform for remote commentary, which should happen in advance, during and after the meeting. The initiative was presented to us as an experiment that will initially last for roughly 6 months.  Nobody from CS who is attending the workshop has decided to publicly support or not the initiative.
> 
> 
> Will you attend as representatives of civil society or for your own organizations?
> 
> Is WEF (etc) covering costs of participation, travel to Geneva?
> 
> 
> > At the workshop, we will observe, understand what is still up in the air and what may have been decided in advance by the conveners, and then decide.  But for that to happen, it would be very helpful to hear more in the main IG lists.
> >
> >
> > So, the primary purpose of this email is to reach out to you with a very practical ask: The agenda presents a series of questions this "Initiative" wants to address. Those on the call thought it would be a good idea to ask in a series of CS lists involved in IG for your views and comments regarding those questions. Refer to the agenda here: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_3NETmundialInitiativeLaunchAgenda.pdf
> >
> > It would be extremely helpful to those attending to get your input on the questions and issues presented in the agenda by Tuesday Aug 26, so we can incorporate your thoughts and comments into our interventions at the workshop. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Long way to go for an agenda doesn't have much time for discussion.
> 
> Topic that most interests me is (from the NETmundial document) "There is a need to develop multistakeholder mechanisms at the national level owing to the fact that a good portion of Internet governance issues should be tackled at this level. National multistakeholder mechanisms should serve as a link between local discussions and regional and global instances. Therefore a fluent coordination and dialogue across those different dimensions is essential."  Two items on the agenda seem to address this.
> 
> and text I think perhaps helpful :
> 
> "National and regional level Internet governance structures and mechanisms must emerge, guided by the same global principles to ensure alignment [*]. The synchronization between the different levels ensures a healthy, inclusive, and balanced stakeholder representation locally while contributing to the coordination of activities taking place at the global level and avoiding additional frictions in the Internet."
> 
> [* i.e. NETmunudal principles, and text from the Panel On Global Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms, contribution to NETmundial http://internetgovernancepanel.org/ ]
> 
> How can this new WEF initiative help develop, support/sustain such national level mechanisms, will the members commit to supporting such activities.  Does need commitment, we have been talking about such mechanisms since 2000/01.
> 
> The bullets below look good.
> 
> Adam
> 
> (not subscribed to redlatam at lists.accessnow.org, igcbp-talk  and steering at lists.bestbits.net so removed from cc list, but added "governance at lists.igcaucus.org IGC" )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >  Cheers,
> >
> >  C
> >
> >
> >
> >       .
> > Welcome the interest and desire of ICANN and the WEF to leverage and further build on the NETmundial outcomes
> >
> >       . Recognize that there have been some challenges in bringing this group together and many concerns as to the processes by which this occurred
> >
> >
> >       . Convey broader civil society concerns that the convening process was inconsistent with the NETmundial principles - greater openness and transparency is required in order to achieve any legitimacy
> >
> >
> >       . Insist that the process going forward be true to principles of openness, transparency and inclusivity and that there be mechanisms to ensure that fullest participation is facilitated
> >
> >
> >       . Insist that the NMI support, underpin and strengthen the IGF and its work
> >
> >       . Insist that the NMI not duplicate or subsume work of existing entities to promote NETmundial outcomes but rather support and encourage such work and find new avenues
> >
> >
> >       . Seek clarification and work to identify the medium to long term goals of NMI - what is the NMI's added value, specific purpose and what are (at most) the three clearly identifiable and achievable goals that it is going to set for itself
> >
> >
> >       . Work to ensure that NMI is not operating in a vacuum and that it is appropriately linked to 1NET, the IGF, the various business and civil society platforms, etc., and to ensure that it is appropriately taking into account other processes such as the WSIS+10 review
> >
> >
> >       . Suggest that a meeting in January around the fringes of Davos may not be suitably accessible to the majority of interested parties given the costs, etc., of that particular event
> >
> >
> >       . Seek to put "more meat on the bones" of the proposed actions, noting where such actions are already taking place (and their progress), and suggest that it may be wise to start with one action rather than multiple [encouraging the implementation of NETmundial outcomes - particularly governance principles and processes - at the national and regional levels, for example]
> >
> >
> >       . Suggest an open brainstorming session at Aug meeting and an online process to solicit ideas for taking the NETmundial outcomes forward. (Perhaps the Initiative should be open to suggestions as to possible actions on an ongoing basis.)
> >
> >
> >       . Better understand the role of the WEF and how the "host" is going to rotate and how the meetings will be structured so that they can encourage the greatest possible engagement and participation
> >
> >
> >       . Ensure that the steering committee going forward is put together through appropriately transparent and inclusive processes.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: Brett Solomon 

> > Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 2:41 PM
> > Subject: [bestbits] NetMundial Initiative
> > To: "&lt,bestbits at lists.bestbits.net&gt," 
> >
> > Hey there,
> >
> > As many of you know there is a post-Sao Paolo process emerging, proposed by Fadi Chehadi at ICANN, called the Net Mundial Initiative. Various versions of the documents laying out this concept have been floating around and are now leaked.
> >
> > A number of individuals including myself were alerted to this process before the documents were 'leaked' and have since communicated it more broadly amongst civil society. Clearly there are a number of procedural and substantive questions about what the Net Mundial Initiative will seek to accomplish, who will be involved, and what the processes for inclusion and decision-making will be moving forward.
> >
> > As the documents indicate, the next step of the Net Mundial Initiative will be a meeting in Geneva on August 28th. A number of members of civil society who have been invited to join the Net Mundial Initiative will attend this event, including Carolina Rossini (Public Knowledge), Eileen Donahoe (HRW), and Bill Drake (though perhaps more there as a representative of the academic community).
> >
> > I have not communicated this yet to the organizers, but I'm  planning on going to the event to learn more, but Access has not decided yet whether we will accept the invitation to join the Steering Committee. Regardless, I personally will consult our global membership and other civil society partners to garner an array of perspectives before attending.
> >
> > From what I have been told, the process will be hosted by the World Economic Forum for a temporary period from August to February 2015. In addition to those listed above, a number of concerns have been raised about the Initiative including:
> >
> >       . Participation: selection process, attendance, and representation from the global south
> >       . WEF as host: corporate nature of the host, perceptions of corporate capture, approach to development and elitism
> >       . Objectives: what is the NMI trying to achieve, and how does it relate to other key elements of the IG landscape, in particular the IGF.
> >
> > All of the people that Fadi and WEF reached out to that I've talked to have expressed pretty deep concerns back to the organizers, including pushing hard to make sure civil society is represented and for this process in general to be more open, transparent, and inclusive of those from the global south. It would be good if we could have as open lines of communication as possible, including at the event, so if people have any thoughts or concerns they can then share them on or off list. Those who are attending should be a conduit for communication.
> >
> > Additionally, we have requested a meeting between civil society representatives and Fadi and Klaus (of WEF), so there will be a further opportunity to voice concerns there, which those going to Geneva will report back on.
> >
> > Best wishes
> >
> > Brett
> >
> > PS I am on Access team offsite so might be slow to respond.
> >
> > Brett Solomon
> > Executive Director
> > Access | accessnow.org
> >
> > +1 917 969 6077
> > @solomonbrett
> > Key ID: 0x4EDC17EB
> > Fingerprint: C02C A886 B0FC 3A25 FF9F ECE8 FCDF BA23 4EDC 17EB
> >
> >
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________
> > You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
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> > To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit:
> >      http://lists.bestbits.net/wws/info/bestbits
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > Carolina Rossini
> > Vice President, International Policy
> > Public Knowledge
> > http://www.publicknowledge.org/
> > + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________
> > You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
> >     bestbits at lists.bestbits.net.
> > To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit:
> >     http://lists.bestbits.net/wws/info/bestbits
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

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