Archive for April 2009

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[ecrea] ICANN and civil society

Wed Apr 15 13:27:42 GMT 2009



Dear all


I forward a message from the Non-Commercial Stakeholders Groug at ICANN. It would be good if ECREA members and/or board could support it.

Best
Divina Frau-Meigs


Dear All,


I am contacting you in the hopes that you can help to garner support for the proposed Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) charter at ICANN. We are asking groups who support the petition to please sign this joint civil society statement: <http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf <http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>

We are looking for sign-on from civil society groups from all over the world who can sign the statement. Deadline is tomorrow 15 April (EOB in California) to sign-on.

As you may know, the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) is the organization that represents non-commercial interests and advocates for the protection of digital rights including free expression, privacy, due process of law and other non-commercial interests in ICANN-GNSO policy discussions. As part of ICANN?s GNSO Restructuring efforts, the 6 ?constituencies? are being replaced by 4 broader ?stakeholder groups?, including a Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) to represent the interests of non-commercial users of domain names in the GNSO policy arena at ICANN.

NCUC has submitted a petition for the charter of the NCSG that intends to encourage broader civil society participation at ICANN and aims to increase the relative power of non-commercial interests in ICANN policy negotiations. Noncommercial individuals and organizations are invited to participate in the NCSG, which will be governed by stakeholder group wide elections under the petition.

All of the proposed stakeholder group petitions are in the midst of a Public Comment Period at ICANN (until 15 April) so the ICANN Board of Directors can receive input from the general public on the various stakeholder group petitions. Today I write to ask that your organization consider signing onto the attached joint civil society statement supporting NCUC?s proposal for a stakeholder group petition to be filed in the Public Comment forum.

The NCSG charter needs your support to ensure that all non-commercial interests have a voice through their GNSO representatives and in the creation of policy.

We ask for your support because we want the stakeholder group that represents non-commercial interests to be able to generate sound, consensual, and collaborative policy and decisions that are representative of all of the members in the stakeholder group.

In summary, the NCUC?s petition for a Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group is the best proposal of those submitted because it: * Emphasizes democratic representation to the Generic Names Supporting Organization instead of a constituency-based approach that gives disproportionate power to select groups. * Encourages cooperation and inclusiveness through consensus-building among members of the stakeholder groups. * Ensures that minority viewpoints are heard and their policy ideas are explored through an increased reliance on working groups. * Operates with a flexible and lightweight framework that allows it to focus on representing non-commercial interests without getting bogged down by bureaucratic details. * Was drafted in consultation with dozens of civil society organizations representing all corners of the globe and went through numerous evolutions and thus represents a true consensus document, submitted by the entire NCUC (over 70 members, accept 1). Please consider signing the following statement to indicate your support for the NCSG petition from NCUC.

Joint Civil Society Statement Supporting the NCSG Petition from NCUC:

<http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf <http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>

We would be glad to provide any additional information or answer any questions or concerns you may have on the issue.

Please indicate your support for signing this civil society statement before 15 April (which is the deadline for submitting Public Comments) by sending an email to (robin /at/ ipjustice.org) <mailto:(robin /at/ ipjustice.org)> . Thank you very much.

Signed,

The NCUC Executive Committee and GNSO Councilors:

Robin Gross, NCUC Chair

Norbert Klein, NCUC Nominating Committee Representative (Asia)

Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza, NCUC GNSO Policy Councilor (South America)

Mary Wong, NCUC GNSO Policy Councilor (Asia)

William Drake, NCUC GNSO Policy Councilor (Europe)

Carlos Afonso, NCUC Executive Committee Representative (South America)

Horacio Cadiz NCUC Executive Committee Representative (Asia)

Georg Greve, NCUC Executive Committee Representative (Europe)

Robert Guerra, NCUC Executive Committee Representative (North America)

Dave Kissoondoyal, NCUC Executive Committee Representative (Africa)



Background Information:

Joint Civil Society Statement Supporting the NCSG Petition from NCUC:
<http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf <http://www.ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCSG_Charter_Civil_Society_Support.pdf>

NCUC?s Petition to Form a Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group:
<http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/ncsg-petition-charter.pdf>http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/ncsg-petition-charter.pdf <http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/ncsg-petition-charter.pdf>


Executive Summary / Cover Letter of NCSG Petition from NCUC:
<http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/executive-summary-ncsg-proposal.pdf>http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/executive-summary-ncsg-proposal.pdf <http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/executive-summary-ncsg-proposal.pdf>


Information on ICANN Public Comment Period for Stakeholder Group Petitions:
<http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#sg-petitions>http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#sg-petitions <http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#sg-petitions>


Public Comments Submitted Thus Far on Stakeholder Group Petitions:
<http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/>http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/ <http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/>


IGF/WSIS Internet Governance Caucus Statement Supporting NCUC?s NCSG Proposal:
<http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/msg00009.html>http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/msg00009.html <http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/msg00009.html>



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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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