Hello, all-

I was only able to listen in on part of the second NETmundial Initiative (NMI) Coordination Council meeting, but Domain Mondo has published a short summary with some interesting observations:

http://www.domainmondo.com/2016/02/netmundial-initiative-wef-and-icann.html

Firstly, it's noted that the ICANN Board will “determine at a later date whether to continue any funding [towards the NMI] beyond June 30th. Chehade also announced his resignation from the NMI Coordination Council effective March 13, 2016.” I'm not sure if he resigned in his capacity as departing CEO of ICANN (in which case Göran Marby will take his seat on the NMI CC) or if ICANN is removing itself from a leadership role in the initiative? If it is the latter, I find this unfortunate.

There were also some embedded tweets in the blog post attributed to Larry Strickling which indicate “some members of [the] Coordination Council wanted this meeting closed” to the public. I am glad the decision was made to keep the meeting open to observers and that remote participation was available. It would be hard to take seriously a platform which claims to be democratic, open, participative, consensus-driven, transparent, and accountable if this had not been the case.

Finally, I was pleased to see that the NMI may have found itself an institutional home within the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, CGI.br. This - along with the proposal of an NMI+5 conference - all sounds very encouraging for the longevity of the NETmundial principles and the protection of the Internet's open, democratic architecture.

There is some overlap between the NCSG's membership and the NMI's Coordination Council - João, Marília, Will, and Wolfgang - so THANK YOU very much for all the work that you do both helping advance the operational side of the Internet governance ecosystem and also representing, even if indirectly within the NMI, the NCSG and the NCUC. Your work on both fronts is very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Ayden Férdeline