[governance] [bestbits] Is the Civil Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet Governance Policy positions?

[Deirdre Williams (via governance Mailing List)]

 Dear Siva,
I think this is an excellent idea, but it seems to me that it is also a
topic for a discussion that can go on now, without waiting for the IGF. In
fact an effective discussion between now and November could culminate in a
really effective workshop?
One thing among many others that presents a need for clarification is an
understanding of who/what IS the civil society that should be considering
these issues.
Experience suggests that the more voices that can be harnessed together
with a common understanding of a common goal the more likely it is that
that goal will be achieved BUT "a common understanding of a common goal" is
not an easy thing to find.
Good luck and best wishes
Deirdre

On Sun, 14 Apr 2019 at 15:22, sivasubramanian muthusamy <
6.internet at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
> With a few hours remaining for submission of the 2019 workshops, I intend
> to propose a workshop.  Looking for support from IGC, Besbits and APC, some
> quick suggestions to improve the text, and more importantly, for
> suggestions of speakers who have a good understanding of the history of
> Civil Society in IG.
>
> Kindly respond ASAP.
>
> title
> "Is the Civil Society doing enough?"
> policy question
> "Is the Civil Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet
> Governance Policy positions?"
> relevance to the theme:
> Though proposed under "Digital Inclusion", it is a workshop across the
> three themes, and of relevance to the overall design of the
> multi-stakeholder model of Internet Governance.
> relevance to Internet Governance:
> When broadly classified, Civil Society is one of the three stakeholders in
> Internet Governance. Since WSIS 2005, Civil Society has played a
> constructive role to bring about a balance in Internet Governance debates.
> However, a certain degree of imbalance persists as the other stakeholder
> groups tend to steer policy a little more than proportionately towards
> their own respective positions. Governments around the world draft
> legislative directives some of which the Civil Society find undesirable. In
> some instances, Civil Society positions remarkably differed from that of
> Government, the proposed Acts such as SOPA or PIPA or Directives were
> withdrawn, only to be reintroduced and confirmed by some other title or
> form. Business responds to Civil Society positions, for instance, on
> Privacy issues, but many of the concerns of Civil Society are not
> adequately addressed. It could be stated that the other stakeholder groups
> prevail more than proportionately over Civil Society, in matters related to
> Internet Governance. This prompts the question, "Is the Civil Society
> participating enough? Is the Civil Society doing enough?"
>
> If not enough, what needs to be done? In Internet Governance, the formal
> title as "Civil Society" is shared by a somewhat loose collaboration
> between Internet Governance participants who took up the Civil Society role
> since WSIS 2005, other early CS participants in the IGF, organizations that
> pursue issues in public interest including Privacy organizations, Freedom
> foundations etc, and also organizations such as some Internet Society
> Chapters, ICANN AtLarge, ICANN Non Commercial Stakeholder Group etc, who
> partake in Civil Society positions in their own way.
>
> If the Civil society is not doing enough, is it because it requires
> greater interaction among those who pursue Civil Society positions in the
> IGF? How would Civil Society strengthen itself? Would it also look for
> Civil Society participation from beyond the IGF arena to bring in newer
> Civil Society participants to the IGF?
>
> These are some, and not all, questions that follow the questions in the
> title.
>
> Workshop session description:
> The session would revolve around the Title Questions, "Is the Civil
> Society doing enough to bring about a balance in Internet Governance Policy
> positions?" to bring up supplementary questions, and in the process
> identify its strengths and weaknesses to identify solutions towards
> strengthening itself for a balance.
>
>
> Sivasubramanian M <https://www.facebook.com/sivasubramanian.muthusamy>
> twitter.com/shivaindia
> ____________________________________________________________
> 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



-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20190415/d2aaa4c2/attachment.htm>