[IRP] Proposal for IRP to register as an At Large Structure

Wed Oct 6 16:22:36 EEST 2010

Dear all,

It is a great idea to, in due time, push the charter on the ICANN agenda
as elsewhere. However, seeing that the IRP DC is a global coalition, I
would be uncomfortable if we would decide to do so by formally
associating with a structure within the ICANN system that is explicitly
a representation of European organisations.

Also, I don't think it is particularly fruitful at the moment to
constitute "regional" chapters of our global coalition, in case that
would be another option.  One of the things I have valued the most in
this group is the continuous cross-regional collaboration, as it has
fostered greater understanding of each other's perspectives and reduced
existing fragmentation. I would not like to let go of this way of
working at the moment.

Why not instead work more closely with IRP DC members who are already a
member of EURALO, or any of the other regional groupings? In that way,
we would also be able to advocate the Charter from more than one
position. Olivier, Wolf and others who are already engaged in ICANN, do
you think this could make sense?

Of course, this would depend on the willingness and availability of
those already involved in these processes, but seeing the kind of
attention the Charter already attracted during the IGF, I am hopeful
that we can convince a sufficiently large number of people of its
importance, without joining ALAC as a member ourselves.

Thanks and best,
Anja

On Wednesday 06 October 2010 05:11 PM, Carlos A. Afonso wrote:
> I think condition [3] is the most relevant, and should be discussed with
> ALAC. I wonder if organizations of individuals which also allow for
> membership of other organizations are not allowed.
> 
> I am not sure about condition [1] -- I am not sure if one needs to
> present formal documents of incorporation in some country, but I think
> at least the regional structures are not formally constituted in this
> way. Maybe there is an organization formally constituted in some country
> which takes on formal responsibility to operate as an office or
> something like it for the regional structure?
> 
> Anyway, check with ALAC.
> 
> frt rgds
> 
> --c.a.
> 
> On 10/05/2010 06:46 PM, Henrik Almstr?m APC wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I think Meryem's points are good and that the process of becoming a
>> member
>> as well as the process of deciding if membership is the right thing might
>> steal momentum from the process of the charter. And pushing the charter
>> higher on the ALAC agenda would certainly be easier when the charter is
>> closer to a final version.
>>
>> /Henrik
>>
>> 2010/10/5 Meryem Marzouki<meryem at marzouki.info>
>>
>>> Hi Lisa, Wolf, Olivier and all,
>>>
>>> Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that there are at least
>>> three
>>> conditions to join ALAC that are not met by the IRP coalition:
>>>
>>> 1- Be an organization, and as far as I understand a registered one,
>>> while
>>> IRP is a loose (not registered) group
>>> 2- Be a national or regional organization, since ALAC is structured into
>>> geographic regional structures, e.g. Wolf is proposing to join
>>> EURALO, which
>>> is the European regional structure (made up of regional organizations
>>> having
>>> joined ALAC), while IRP is a global coalition
>>> 3- Be individual user organizations, while IRP is not only a
>>> multistakeholder coalition, but also a coalition made up of both
>>> individuals
>>> and various organizations (NGOs, academic institutions, IGOs,
>>> businesses,
>>> governments)
>>> See: http://www.atlarge.icann.org/en/framework.htm for the criteria and
>>> their explanation.
>>>
>>> These arguments are only with regards to formal membership criteria.
>>>
>>> Most importantly, even if the IRP coalition eventually meets the
>>> "administrative" membership criteria, we need to collectively discuss
>>> from a
>>> substantive point of you whether it is desirable for it to join ALAC.
>>>
>>> The first issue I see is that we don't have the human resources to do
>>> this
>>> in an effective manner: we already have an important project (the
>>> charter)
>>> which is mobilizing the few resources that we can devote to the IRP
>>> work,
>>> given that all of us are volunteering on this. Are we really able to, in
>>> addition, substantively participate to ALAC work?
>>>
>>> The second issue, which is related, is: do we want to concentrate on
>>> - or
>>> at least dedicate part of our work to - a single, though important,
>>> aspect
>>> of Internet governance, namely the domain name system and some other
>>> critical Internet resources, while the very raison d'etre of the
>>> coalition,
>>> namely human rights in the digital environment in a very broad sense
>>> (including the DNS and CIR as part of this environment constitution:
>>> remember our discussions on "layers") is far broader?
>>>
>>> The third issue, which is more of a political discussion, is: do we
>>> think
>>> that we should be part of the ALAC and other structures of the ICANN
>>> system,
>>> thus backing - without any discussion - this system?
>>>
>>> These are my thoughts on this proposal. The different issues are exposed
>>> above in increasing order of both importance and  risk for the
>>> coalition to
>>> literally sink in an ICANN-dominated discussion. While it is
>>> certainly more
>>> stimulating to discuss the third substantive issue, I would prefer
>>> that one
>>> of the three administrative issues provides us with the answer, so
>>> that the
>>> coalition may continue to dedicate its resources to our main collective
>>> project, that is, the Charter.
>>>
>>> Obviously, since we have active members of the IRP who are also part
>>> of the
>>> ALAC members, it would certainly be fruitful that they serve as
>>> cross-fertilizers of both groups: our work on the Charter might be
>>> used by
>>> the ALAC group working on the "Registrant Bill of Rights / Registrar
>>> Best
>>> Practices" project, and conversely this ALAC group might be really
>>> helpful
>>> by bringing inputs to the Charter provisions concerning DNS/CIR.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Meryem
>>>
>>> Le 4 oct. 10 ? 12:57, Lisa Horner a ?crit :
>>>
>>>
>>>   Dear all
>>>>
>>>> Please see below a note from Wolf Ludwig, suggesting that the IRP join
>>>> ALAC-EURALO.  Olivier and Rafik have also been looking at how we can
>>>> best
>>>> coordinate with ICANN and its networks (ALAC and NCSG).
>>>>
>>>> Thanks Wolf for this invitation and for your support.
>>>>
>>>> What do people think about this proposal?
>>>>
>>>> Olivier - please could you send through the note you drafted before
>>>> which
>>>> gives a bit more background about ALAC.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Lisa
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Wolf Ludwig [mailto:wolf.ludwig at comunica-ch.net]
>>>> Sent: 22 September 2010 15:05
>>>> To: parminder; Lisa Horner; Meryem Marzouki
>>>> Cc: b at nwagner.org; Wolfgang Benedek; Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
>>>> Subject: Re: [IRP] IRP IGF notes
>>>>
>>>> Dear Parminder, Lisa and all,
>>>>
>>>> as discussed in Vilnius with Lisa, Wolfgang, Ben and others, we were
>>>> not active to add much input to the IRP Charter discussion and process
>>>> but we can help to promote its impact.
>>>>
>>>> It was Max Senges, Vittorio Bertola and others who organised a WG on
>>>> IRP at the 1st ICANN Internet User Summit in Mexico in March 2009. In
>>>> the final declaration of this Summit At-Large at ICANN announced - as
>>>> a commitment! - that we will follow-up this discussion in related fora
>>>> (like IGF etc.) and we nominated two people for it. In the time between
>>>> not so much happened ...
>>>>
>>>> The excellent draft what was submitted at the recent IGF offers a good
>>>> opportunity to re-start the discussion at the ALAC-ICANN level. One
>>>> option to foster this discussion among ICANN user representatives could
>>>> be if the dynamic coalition would join ALAC - EURALO as an At-Large
>>>> Structure (ALS). Such a membership brings EURALO in a position to push
>>>> the IRP Charter on the ALAC agenda again. Other scenarios can be
>>>> discussed as well ... It's just to reconfirm that we will try our
>>>> best to
>>>> support the further IRP process.
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Wolf
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> IRP at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org
>>>>
>>>> http://lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org/listinfo.cgi/irp-internetrightsandprinciples.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
> 

-- 
Dr. Anja Kovacs
Centre for Internet and Society
No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross
Domlur 2nd Stage
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