On Oct 11, 2013, at 9:32 AM, Jorge Amodio <jmamodio(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com> wrote:
Just to start, there is no clear consensus of what "Internet Governance"
means and entails.
You are correct. The term "Internet Governance" is a term of art, and a poor
one
at that. It is the term that governments like to use, and in fact, in 2005
several of
them got together at the United Nations-initiated World Summit on the
Information
Society (WSIS) and came up with the following definition:
"Internet governance is the development and application by Governments, the
private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared
principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape
the evolution and use of the Internet."
<http://www.wgig.org/docs/WGIGREPORT.pdf>
I happen to hate the term "Internet Governance", but its use has become a
common
as shorthand for the discussions of governments expressing their needs and
desires
with respect to the Internet, its related institutions, and civil society.
It might not be necessary for the IETF to be involved (if it so chooses), but
I'm not
certain that leaving it to ISOC would make sense if/when the discussion moves
into
areas such as structures for managing delegated registries of IETF-defined
protocols
(i.e. protocols, names, numbers)
In your particular case as President and CEO of ARIN, clearly you "lead" that
organization but it does not make you representative of the Internet or its
users. I can't find anywhere in the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation of
ARIN the word "Governance."
Nobody will deny any of the alleged "leaders" to participate in any meeting,
conference, event, in their individual capacities, but NONE has any
representation of the whole Internet.
Full agreement there... No one has any representation of the entire Internet,
and
we should oppose the establishment of any structures that might aspire to such.
Do we really want to create a "government" for the Internet ? How do you
propose to select people to be representatives for all the sectors ?
I do not, and expect others on this list feel the same. However, it is likely
that more
folks need to participate to make sure that such things don't happen.
And in particular how do you propose to select an IETF representative and
who/how it's going to give her/him its mandate to represent the organization
on other forums ?
That is the essential question of this discussion, and hence the reason for my
email.
I'd recommend that the IETF select leaders whose integrity you trust, you
provide them
with documents of whatever principles the IETF considers important and how it
views
it relations with other Internet institutions (could be developed via Internet
Drafts) and
ask them to report back as frequently as possible. Alternatively, the IETF
could opt
to not participate in such discussions at all, and deal with any developments
after the
fact (an option only if there is sufficient faith that the current models,
structures, and
relationships of the IETF are inviolate.)
FYI,
/John