The comments.. wow!! On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 12:00 AM, Robin Gross<[log in to unmask]> wrote: > You guys all really ROCK!! Thanks very much for weighing-in on this > important issue! > [log in to unmask] > Best, > Robin > > On Jul 23, 2009, at 1:53 PM, Ginger Paque wrote: > > Ok, mine too :o) > > Kathy Kleiman wrote: > > Mine are in too! > Kathy > > 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 > > > > > > > > IP JUSTICE > Robin Gross, Executive Director > 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA > p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 > w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: [log in to unmask] > > >