[Governance] Fwd: [JNC - Forum] Fwd: Fwd: Calling for ISOC to not associate with the nomination process for IGF Leadership Panel

Tue Nov 30 23:37:32 EST 2021

In the below email is my report back on the issue to the Just Net
Coalition group ..

Since it involves comments on my disappointment with how the overall IG
civil society has engaged with this issue, I thought to share it here. 
This disappointment is not so much about differences of views, which is
expected and fine, but more about how civil society groups have
conducted themselves even as per their own declared views.

It astonishes me how groups that have closely involved themselves with
these processes chose to stay completely mum when the UN SG holds a
public consultation about a new structure -- that represents a very
significant shift in the global IG system -- and then soon after acts
against the outcomes from his own public consultation. This is even
apart from the what views a person/ group may have on the specific idea
of an LP .. Although I must mention it here that *I saw no civil society
or technical community group support the idea of LP before or after the
consultation and its formation*, only just a very few freelancers... The
latter are of course also entitled to their view, but the larger
observation I make in this regard is important to take note of.

There is nothing personal here .. It is in my understanding the main
task of civil society people and groups is to openly express and discuss
their views on the conduct of public actors -- not just governments and
corporations but when needed also civil society groups and persons.

parminder

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	[JNC - Forum] Fwd: [Governance] Fwd: Calling for ISOC to not
associate with the nomination process for IGF Leadership Panel
Date: 	Wed, 1 Dec 2021 09:36:50 +0530
From: 	parminder <parminder at itforchange.net>
Reply-To: 	Internet governance related discussions
<forum at justnetcoalition.org>
To: 	Forum at Justnetcoalition. Org <forum at justnetcoalition.org>

Please refer to the enclosed letter that the Just Net Coalition (and
Internet Governance Project) addressed to the UN Secretary General
denouncing his setting up of an (Internet Governance Forum) IGF
Leadership Panel. It also appealed to civil society groups and the
technical community to not associate with the nomination process that
will give the LP undue legitimacy.

ISOC is the anchor body for the technical community in the Internet/
digital governance system. We are happy to report that ISOC has now
declared that it wont associate with the nomination process, which it
thinks gives undue legitimacy to the IGF Leadership Panel. Please*see
the below email from ISOC's CEO *in this regard.

We are also happy to report that a process involving key civil society
groups set up to consider nominations for the LP has collapsed because
it did not find enough support in the community.

This is wonderful. It strongly makes the point that public interest
groups cant be played around with, and that if the UN Secretary General
undertakes a public consultation, where the LP idea did not find
support, he cant then go ahead in any case and set up an LP. Public
interest groups will speak up, and not go along!

We are however disappointed that other than JNC and the Internet
Governance Project , civil society groups, unlike ISOC, have not made
public their dismay and opposition to the setting up of a LP. In fact,
one would normally expect such 'speaking out' much more and louder from
civil society groups even than the technical community. Indeed, some
groups/ individuals seem to have meekly joined in the nominatin process,
now seeking seats on a body that they had earlier opposed, and which did
not find the favour of public opnion in the UN SG's own public
consultation.

There however are a (very) few others, almost all free-lancers ( I did
not see any group actualy support the LP, before or after its setting it
up), that may always have been supporting the LP idea. It seems that
many of them are also among the nominations for the LP panel. It is fine
if there are genuine differences in views in the civil society. But what
is odd is that this LP will have people/ groups from a very very small
minority that either always supported the LP, or post LP formation
dumped their positons and agreed to get into the nomination process; and
the vast majority which remained opposed to the LP will not be in the
Panel .. What does it say about what is supposed to the Leadership Panel
with respect to the public engaged with digital policy processes? What
legitimacy does it have?

In any case, we will remain doggedly watchful ... Thanks to all who
worked on our joint letter that made an impact.

parminder

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [Governance] Fwd: Calling for ISOC to not associate with
the nomination process for IGF Leadership Panel
Date: 	Tue, 30 Nov 2021 10:37:05 -0500
From: 	Andrew Sullivan via Governance <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
Reply-To: 	Andrew Sullivan <sullivan at isoc.org>
To: 	governance at lists.igcaucus.org

Dear colleagues,

In reply to Parminder's email, I have sent the following. I forward it
here because, since his note was effectively an open letter, I think it
requires an open reply:

Dear Parminder,

Thanks for your note. I had already seen the letter you and Milton sent
to the UN Secretary General, but I appreciate you bringing it to my
attention specifically.

You are quite correct that the Internet Society previously opposed a
proposal to create a panel like the one that has been announced, and
that we oppose this Leadership Panel. The Internet Society will not, as
the Internet Society, nominate anyone to the panel. In addition, no
staff members shall participate in the panel. There is a semi-formal
group called the Internet Technical Collaboration Group, which has
George Sadowsky (in his personal capacity) as its chair, and for which
we provide minimal secretariat services. It is possible that group will
nominate someone, but it will not be a nomination from the Internet
Society as such.

Given the clear expressions made during the public comment and the UN
decision to proceed anyway, I am sad to say I think it is a waste of
time to appeal to the Secretary General again, so I will not be writing.
It seems to me we have to accommodate ourselves to this change in the
nature of the Internet Governance Forum. That does not mean supporting
or nominating potential members. We will of course monitor the group's
activity, especially if it seems likely to threaten the Internet.

Some would argue that it would be better to try to join this panel and
influence it from the inside. My view is that such participation would
convey a kind of legitimacy to the Leadership Panel that I do not
believe it can have. Let me explain.

When the Internet emerged as a large-scale social phenomenon in the
1990s, there was a great deal of contention about who would be in
charge. This is to be expected with a large, transformative technology.
Moreover, the early history of the Internet may have tended to encourage
the idea of someone being "in charge", since of course the earliest
Internet sites were all under the supervision of the US DoD.

Over time, however, everyone seemed to come to realize that, in a
network of networks, it is not really possible to establish who is in
charge: since there is no centre, there is no centre of control.
Instead, we had to work out always-contingent consensus approaches,
using forums like the IGF to identify issues and figure out who might be
able to address them. This, of course, is a parallel to the fundamental
operational realities of the Internet's design. And it tended, I think,
to be reinforced by the nature of the burgeoning Internet: there were
just so many players that ruling by authority would be impractical.

Something has become gradually more apparent, however: with
consolidation and concentration on the Internet, it becomes logistically
realistic to get "the important players" into a room. Realistically,
when the number of firms with overwhelming traffic dominance on the
Internet falls to perhaps 20 or fewer, it is tempting to squeeze those
firms and just treat everything else as mostly unimportant noise. And
this is, of course, a pattern that is discernable in various acts both
by governments, and by very large firms who are clamoring for
regulation. Industrial history teaches us that, when a large incumbent
insists it needs regulation, it is unlikely to be an effort to ensure
the market is open to new players.

So, those of us who believe in the open, globally-connected, secure, and
trustworthy Internet are now engaged in the fight of our lives. Our
vision of the Internet is being supplanted, really, by a giant
corporatist enclosure movement. It aims to turn the Internet into a
well-controlled, sanitized utility, operated overwhelmingly by a few
large, trustworthy organizations at the behest of this or that
government. Probably such a utility would have different properties in
different places and would interoperate in the more-awkward, more
geopolitically-oriented manner of the old telephone system than like the
Internet we are used to. It would likely not be the infrastructure of
empowered edges that we have known in the opening stages of the
Internet. It wouldn't, really, be an internet at all, even though people
will probably still call it "internet". I do not believe we are too late
to stop this from coming true, but we are definitely at a late hour.

Under these circumstances, I think it would be dangerous to participate
in—or support in any way—a Leadership Panel that is practically
tailor-made for Internet-enclosure thinking. As designed, it is a group
of Important People, where the selection criteria are opaque and the
remit is vague. It will inevitably be under pressure to support Internet
enclosure, and given the political sensitivity of many of the panelists'
"day jobs" the panel as a whole will almost certainly have to bow to
that pressure. This will be true, in my opinion, no matter how worthy
and independent-minded I think are many of the nominees I have heard
suggested. The institutional design is fundamentally wrong, and I cannot
support it.

I have a number of thoughts about how the IGF could more effectively
pursue the useful job it has. I have shared those previously with people
who I thought might be in a position to try to undertake some of it, and
I won't reproduce it here, except to note ruefully that I was apparently
not convincing enough.

Best regards,

Andrew

On Mon, Nov 29, 2021 at 01:35:02PM +0530, parminder wrote:
> Dear Andrew,
>
> Please find enclosed a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General that
> Milton Mueller's and my organization wrote recently seeking the rollback
> of the decision to set up an IGF Leadership Panel (LP). The letter also
> appeals to civil society and technical community groups to not associate
> with nomination process for the LP. 
>
> As you know, in the public consultations on the issue, most civil
> society groups and technical community had opposed any such new high
> level groups being formed outside the MAG.
>
>  ISOC was clear in asserting
> <https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com?d=intgovforum.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW50Z292Zm9ydW0ub3JnL211bHRpbGluZ3VhbC85M2EtcHVibGljLXJlc3BvbnNlcw==&i=NjExZDIyY2Q4NzUzZDIwZjVkYWQ4Njdi&t=bldUaFRKZklrdnB5elVuZTNjaUhBeThEQUZ5ZXBOSVo3SHFHcHFHZFVJdz0=&h=741ce0e2bd2e433ebe564fe3d4d0708d>:
>
>    "...as we have indicated in previous contributions to the UN HLPDC
>    process, ISOC is not convinced that a new higher-level body of
>    representatives needs to be established."
>
> The official summary of the responses
> <https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com?d=intgovforum.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW50Z292Zm9ydW0ub3JnL211bHRpbGluZ3VhbC9pbmRleC5waHA_cT1maWxlZGVwb3RfZG93bmxvYWQvMTExMzgvMjQ5MA==&i=NjExZDIyY2Q4NzUzZDIwZjVkYWQ4Njdi&t=Vll2QmVUVVM2RUlObit5VU90djY4L2NaMmx1clh0SVprSlZVZ0ZmVVNYZz0=&h=741ce0e2bd2e433ebe564fe3d4d0708d>
> to the public consultation on creation of a Multistakeholder High Level
> Body (MHLB) itself says:
>
>    "Broadly speaking, the option that seems to have received the most
>    support is to create the MHLB within the MAG."
>
> To put it in other words, creation of an MHLB outside the MAG did not
> have much or enough support.
>
> Soon after these public consultations, the UN Secretary General goes
> right ahead and creates a MHLB outside the MAG, in the form of a IGF
> Leadership Panel.
>
> I do not see the point in doing a public consultation when one is not
> going to go by its outcomes, and in any case impose one's will on the
> public -- in this case in the form of IGF LP.
>
> The announcement for establishing an LP has been received with great
> dismay among civil society and technical community groups.
>
> *A civil society nomination process, involving the main civil society
> groups and networks most engaged with global IG processes, which was set
> up with a clear declaration that it did not amount to an endorsement of
> the LP, still collapsed after a few days because there was not enough
> support from the community. *
>
> Anyway, that is for the UN Secretary General to consider.
>
> My appeal is to those who clearly opposed such a body during the
> consultation, like ISOC did, to write to the UN SG, opposing ( on a
> procedural count) his decision to ignore the outcomes of the public
> consultation, and (on a substantive count) his decision to form the IGF
> Leadership Panel.
>
> In fully ignoring the views of the 'stakeholder community', the UN SG
> has clearly gone against the basic tenets of multistakeholderism.
> Whether ISOC stands for multistakeholderism or not depends on whether it
> is ready to stand up and speak against such blatant violation of
> multistakeholder principles and practice. Such a strong and
> well-respected body cannot accept such things - with a fundamental
> impact on the future of global IG ecosystem - just because they have now
> been ordained by the powers-that-be. ISOC cannot allow itself to be
> cowed down in such matters. The world is watching. 
>
> The least that ISOC can do at this stage is to not enter into a process
> of providing nominations for constituting the IGF LP. At least not do it
> in the very first round of LP processes itself, just a few months after
> it opposed the formation of such a body. This would compromise ISOC's
> moral authority and practical strength with respect to global IG.
>
> There is after all no point in making a clamor for multistakholderism if
> the involved groups and people cannot speak up when the voice of
> multi-stakeholder community is ignored,  and new structures of Internet
> governance contrary to its majority view are imposed on it. It would be
> an even bigger travesty if the community then meekly begins to almost
> immediately participate in providing nominations for the very structures
> (LP) they spoke against.
>
> I do not know whether ISOC is sending nominations for the LP, but if it
> is, we would like to appeal to you to not do so. Even if nominations
> have already been sent, we appeal to you to withdraw them.
>
> *This is a good time to be reminded of the stellar role ISOC played in a
> somewhat similar situation when an attempt was made to put up a new IG
> body at the World Economic Forum, as an extremely ill-advised follow-up
> to the Net Mundial conference. ISOC had at that time stoutly opposed the
> formation of any such new body, and it was considerably owing to ISOC's
> opposition that the WEF based IG body eventually did not come to pass.
> *I shudder to think where we would have been now with the anchor of
> global IG being at the WEF. *
> *
>
> I will like ISOC to once again employ its moral leadership in the area
> of global IG ecosystem, and refuse to accept the new IG body being
> foisted upon us in the face of clearly expressed public opinion against it.
>
> Happy to engage further on this issue.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Parminder
>
> IT for Change, and Just Net Coalition
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
President & CEO, Internet Society
sullivan at isoc.org
+1 416 731 1261

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
President & CEO, Internet Society
sullivan at isoc.org
+1 416 731 1261

-- 
Governance mailing list
Governance at lists.igcaucus.org
https://lists.igcaucus.org/mailman/listinfo/governance

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