[WSIS CS-Plenary] CS at the upcoming Tunis meeting / CS input into Internet Governance activities

[Vittorio Bertola]

Thomas Ruddy ha scritto:
> For instance, for the ICANN Meeting in Rome
> forthcoming from 2-6 March 2004, the agenda has just
> been released,
> http://www.icann.org/meetings/rome/#ScheduleandAgenda
> 
> The agenda includes a session by a civil society
> group, ICANN's At Large Advisory Committee, which has
> issued a Draft Statement on the WSIS Declaration of
> Principles and Plan of Actions,
> http://alac.icann.org/wsis/statement-wsis-20jan04.htm
> 
> So let me put forth two questions:
> 
> 1. How does our Plenary relate to the work being
> undertaken by ICANN's At Large Advisory Committee?

I'm the Chairman of that Committee, so if anyone needs any info, I'm here. 
A couple of us (ALAC members) participates regularly in the Internet 
Governance caucus.

As ALAC, we're planning to co-host a workshop in Rome, in the morning of 
March 4; the idea is to brief the ICANN participants and constituencies on 
what WSIS has been doing in the last months, and what is expected to 
happen in the next. So it's mostly informational, but it will possibly 
include some discussion among the ICANN community on how it could interact 
with the WSIS process and what should be the future of Internet governance 
structures, particularly in relation to ICANN (which only covers a part of 
the broader "Internet Governance" space). However, the actual agenda and 
interventions still have to be defined; we plan to have someone from the 
IG caucus to relate to the audience, and of course attendance is totally open.

As you might know, the ALAC is an open platform (though still at a very 
early stage) for all Internet users' NGOs who want to have a voice in the 
ICANN process. We mostly target user and consumer organizations and 
technical and professional groups in the different parts of the world, and 
ask them to participate in our work, which mostly consists in advising 
ICANN on the needs of the at large citizens of the Internet. Eventually, 
these organizations will get to form regional coordinating forums and 
elect the Committee itself.

So we think that - even if we're focused on a narrow mission inside ICANN 
- we are an embryo of what could be a workable model for participation by 
NGOs and individuals to global Internet Governance processes. And we also 
want to bring our experience, so that any future governance entity avoids 
the mistakes that were done during the long and painful history of ICANN.
-- 
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Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu.org
http://bertola.eu.org/    <-- Vecchio sito, nuovo toblog!