[governance] URGENT: Last call for feedback on CS participation in NETmundial Initiative

[Deirdre Williams]

I asked in an earlier post whether civil society has been manoeuvred into a
position in which choosing not to be involved becomes not really an option?
As civil society we have a very broad range of perspective and therefore it
is much more difficult for this group to act together rapidly, as ISOC has
done, when the nature of the issue itself is still doubtful. Other people
have already reminded us of the hesitation before the NETmundial meeting in
April, and the enthusiasm (in general) which greeted the outcomes of that
meeting, although there are still some reservations – Renata just shared
hers.

My sympathies lean towards a reluctance to provide legitimacy, but my
common sense suggests the following:

   1.

   As far as I can see the Netmundial Initiative will continue with or
   without us.
   2.

   Civil Society is split now (and has been split for some time) so that
   any attempt at a boycott is likely to fail because it will be incomplete.
   3.

   The invitation to join can be presented in such a way as to provide
   legitimacy even if not all of civil society agrees to accept. (This is what
   I meant by “manoeuvred” above.)
   4.

   We have not been given a clear picture of what the initiative is – it
   may prove to be something that meets our approval – or not.
   5.

   It is very important that any civil society representatives who join
   that committee should be people who go with an open mind. Those who
   disapprove are absenting themselves anyway; it would be better to have
   representatives who are initially neutral but open to be persuaded one way
   or the other.
   6.

   Finally, should the initiative prove to be unacceptable, a well
   publicised walkout by the 5 civil society representatives (who are also
   representing “the world”) would be much easier to arrange and much more
   effective than a partial boycott before the meeting takes place.

The discussion at the Geneva Internet Conference about the Netmundial
Initiative yesterday morning (Wednesday 19th) was useful. On Tuesday during
“*Same issues, different perspectives: overcoming policy silos in privacy
and data protection”, **one of the afternoon sessions, *Brian Trammell,
Senior Researcher, Communication Systems Group, ETH Zurich, presenting the
“technical” perspective, said of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
that members are volunteers who “participate as individuals”. This is also
true of the Internet Governance Caucus, and essentially of civil society as
a whole. One of the freedoms that our society tries to provide is the right
of the individual to follow the dictates of her/his own conscience. My own
choice is a pragmatic one. It should in no way be seen as a criticism of
anyone else's point of view or decision.

Deirdre

On 20 November 2014 11:41, Mawaki Chango <kichango at gmail.com> wrote:

> Fellas,
> Some of us have raised questions about the views of the Brazilian party
> (CGI.br) in this NMI business. But I know they are in a delicate position
> and may be concerned to appear as judge and jury if they come out strong
> for a position (and we can expect which that position would be.) Flavio is
> not on the IGC list but he granted me the permission to forward to this
> list this message of his below, originally posted to the Non-Commercial
> Stakeholder Group of ICANN's GNSO.
> Best,
>
> Mawaki
>
>
> Fw: [NCSG-Discuss] UPDATE ON CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION IN NET MUNDIAL
> INITIATIVE
>
> On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 12:55 AM, Flávio Rech Wagner <
> flavio at INF.UFRGS.BR> wrote:
>
>
> Robin
>
> I have been informed that the "transitional council" of the NMI -
> NETmundial Initiative (which contains representatives from ICANN, CGI.br
> and WEF and is provisory, until the 25 names of the permanent council have
> been defined) is having an intense dialogue with CSCG (the Civil Society
> Coordination Group) and, together, they shall come to a solution for
> appointing names to the council by consensus and fully respecting
> nominations from Civil Society. There is no intention whatsoever from the
> transitional council to indicate names in a closed, top-down manner and
> without full endorsement from CSCG.
>
> The transitional council also expects to achieve similar solutions for
> appointing names that will represent other stakeholder groups.
>
> Please notice that CGI.br (the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee),
> which is one of the entities proposing the NMI, would never agree with
> top-down, closed decisions that would strongly undermine CGI's legitimacy
> as a true bottom-up, multistakeholder body. CGI.br is completely committed
> to preserve the NETmundial principles in the implementation of the NMI.
>
> Please remember also that, when NETmundial was proposed by the end of
> 2013, all of us in the global Internet Governance (IG) community, because
> of lack of information, were puzzled about its organization and possible
> success and outcomes. But the global community faced the challenge and
> transformed a vague idea into a successful event, with a true
> multistakeholder organization, with very open and transparent processes,
> and with a final document that was achieved by rough consensus and approved
> governance principles that were praised by most of the stakeholders
> (including human rights and other principles that are extremely valued by
> Civil Society).
>
> So let's try to transform NMI, which is still also a vague idea, into
> something that is concrete and useful for the advancement of IG and that
> fully respects the principles enshrined in the NETmundial declaration.
>
> Flávio
> (NCUC member and member of the Board of CGI.br)
>
>
>
>
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-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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