I've just sent mine as well, but Norbert's is far better! :) []s fraternos --c.a. Norbert Klein wrote: > FYI > > Norbert Klein > > = > > ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- > Subject: Charter drafts - and the related process so far > Date: Friday, 24 July 2009 (Cambodia time - USA: 23 July) > From: Norbert Klein <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > > Though I have seen that many voices from different parts of the world have > sent in their support for the original proposal, prepared within the > Non-Commercial Users Constituency in an intensive process of online and > international Internet communication, in which we received an overwhelming – > an almost unanimous consensus – I thought it might not be important to state > this again. > > But I write because I am utterly surprised that – in spite of this process of > wide and open consultation – the result of this process was sidelined so far. > The litany of “bottom-up consensus building,” which is in so many official > ICANN statements, became more and more hollow over the years. > > I say so as a person who was involved in the pre-ICANN efforts – the 1998 > Singapore meeting - and since 1999 – Santiago de Chile – I fairly regularly > did participate in ICANN affairs, the “ICANN fellowship” as I felt it was, in > the early years – learning a lot for my efforts to start the first Internet > connection in Cambodia, creating the country code .kh in 1996 and > administering it until 1998, and continuing to be involved in the UNICODE > codification of the Khmer script and then the localization of software etc. > > Over the years, our situation seemed to get more and more into the background > of the ICANN dynamics – but WSIS 1 and 2 were an encouragement, when the > Declaration of Principles of WSIS 1 said: > > “We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from > 10-12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the > Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a > people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, > where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and > knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their > full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their > quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of > the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal > Declaration of Human Rights.” > > Instead of a “people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information > Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and > knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their > full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their > quality of life,” I do not see much of this vision in ICANN's efforts to > secure the stability and security of the network. > > This vision has been held up especially in the Non-Commercial Users > Constituency and in the At-Large structures, where the people-centered, > inclusive activities have their representation, and where they hope to be > supported, so that the purposes and principles of the UN Declaration of Human > Rights will be kept central in our operations. > > The details for this are well stated in what the Non-Commercial Users > Constituency has elaborated and presented before – as the result of a wide > participatory process. I do not need to repeat it – I only hope that the > members of the ICANN Board will really take note of this and not pass quickly > to some “pragmatic” suggestions which are not based on the principles on > which we started to cooperate. > > I want, however, highlight one aspect where I see a grave failure in the > process, where the Non-Commercial Users Constituency – on the basis of what > the organizations and persons here cooperating – thought to be important. We > raised it repeatedly, but we remained without an answer. When the discussions > about new gTLD touched on the restrictions to be considered, the NCUC raised > the question that such restrictions must be included against efforts to erode > the fundamental rights (as stated above) - the protection of rights for this > new developments. Many of us live in environments where this is crucial. > Instead the problem of “generally accepted legal norms of morality and public > order” became more prominent, and the repeated official requests by the NCUC > Chair to the staff, how the staff identifies these principles, > supposedly “recognized under international principles of law,” did never get > an official response. > > Many of those who are not part of the larger technical or economic bodies > cooperating in ICANN, but who live somewhere “on the periphery,” need that > ICANN finds again ways to live up to the “bottom-up principle” for our social > development and – in some cases – for our survival. > > The Non-Commercial Users Constituency, built up from the bottom, is an > important instrument for this. The new move I read a while ago, that a WIPO > initiative is accepted as the basis for a revision of the UDRP – without > considering immediately what this means in terms of a bottom-up process – is > a sign that the fundamental orientation of ICANN – from the point of view of > its world wide membership – not from those who control it – remains a most > important task. The non-commercial and the at-large users are the most > important basis for giving bottom-up orientation. > > > Norbert Klein > > > Open Institute > Phnom Penh/Cambodia > Member of the NCUC > >