[WSIS CS-Plenary] RE: [governance] BNA article on UNICT

[William Drake]

Hi Milton, et al,

My bottom line was more or less reflected in the article.  I guess I'd say
it went rather well, especially when you consider the structural constraints
of an event like this and the many ways it could have been worse.  Like the
ITU workshop, the Global Forum was not a decision making body.  The UNICT
Task Force plays a facilitative role on development initiatives and
international dialogues, but it does not have a mandate to formally do
anything with respect to WSIS, which is a separate activity.  Hence, while I
understand Vittorio's complaint the other day, it did not have the authority
to issue strong recommendations to or even discuss the formulation of SG
Anan's forthcoming working group.  Instead, the forum was intended to be
just that, a forum---an opportunity for diverse stakeholders to come
together and share their views, network, etc.  It served that purpose pretty
well, although I hear that some CS folks who wanted to didn't get a chance
to speak (true of the private sector as well---very big room with lots of
people with their hands up makes it difficult to make sure everyone gets a
turn).  Even so, a number of us did manage to and emphasized the importance
of CS having not just a voice but influence in Internet governance decision
making.

I also was surprised that the developing countries that have been
challenging the status quo in the WSIS context didn't show up in greater
numbers. I doubt that the overlap with the CTO meeting in Nairobi fully
explains this, but either way, the views we heard in the prepcoms, and
especially in the IG working group, were in a pronounced minority in NYC,
which affected the sense of the meeting most people came away with.  For
example, in the break out session I moderated, we had a couple of developing
country people criticizing ICANN and a larger group from the North saying
this is just a misunderstanding, everything's on track and getting better
all the time.  (When, in the plenary the next day, I reported on the
conversation and gave equal time to both views, someone came up afterwards
to complain that I should only have concentrated on the majority view---not
the only conversation I had like this, alas).  Bottom line, there was a bit
of a disjuncture between the UNICT discussion and the WSIS discussion, and
it's hard to see how the former added momentum for the developing country
coalition's agenda.  Regardless of where one stands on the issues, it seems
fair to say that they missed an opportunity to push it, if they are still
intent on doing that beyond in ITU (which is not clear).

As to CS strategies, who knows, things seem pretty fragmentary these days.
The IG caucus hasn't attempted to agree a text or shared position since
before the summit, and accordingly also missed an opportunity to weigh in as
an organized constituency, not only in New York but also at the ITU
workshop.  Nor has there been much effort to develop a caucus/plenary
interface to help facilitate input by the larger coalition in these forums.
I agree with Vittorio that it could make sense to write to the secretariat
of the Anan group and ask them to consider reserving a slot or two for
constituency representation, but only if we actually get it together to
function as a constituency.  The reality is that we're not really on the
radars of governments and international organizations all that much and
we're not organized in a manner they know how to deal with (recall the
discussions prior to the ITU workshop on this point).  Compare our situation
to the Internet Society, which has global rock stars like Vint, letterhead,
a budget, two offices, big conferences, and nominally 15,000 or so members
around the world.    It might help if we did something noteworthy first to
make us look like a semi-organized and important network, i.e. releasing a
compelling joint analysis or whatever with lots of endorsements.  But that'd
take a lot of work and coordination, people would have to step forward and
take a lead, and we're running on volunteer labor.

Hopefully we can keep together what's been built and leverage it elsewhere,
especially if they cancel on substantially downsize the Tunis summit (a real
possibility).

Best,

Bill


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Milton Mueller [mailto:Mueller at syr.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 4:35 PM
> To: wdrake at ictsd.ch; governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Cc: plenary at wsis-cs.org
> Subject: Re: [governance] BNA article on UNICT
>
>
> Bill:
> Rather than serving as a forwarding service
> why don't you report to the caucus on your own
> perspective on the New York event, and also on
> what positions /processes and strategies this
> caucus might be looking at?
>
> --MM
>
> >>> "William Drake" <wdrake at ictsd.ch> 03/31/04 04:15AM >>>
> Different tone to this piece from the "UN seeks to take over the
> Internet" meme...
>
>
>
>