[NCUC-DISCUSS] RightsCon Session Update

[Michael Karanicolas]

Hi,

Thanks very much for that. You have it spot on regarding the challenge
with private sector engagement. Negotiations on the speakers' list
have actually been a bit more delicate than I had anticipated, with a
lot of pushback from UNESCO on things being too American-centric, but
I have reached out to Rachel to chat about the session, so thanks very
much for the suggestion.

Best,

Michael

On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 6:44 AM, Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for the update. Just on the panellists — Susan left Facebook last
> March, so it might be advisable to find someone else (with her change in
> affiliation I don't think she will be attending RightsCon). I guess the
> challenge here is that the private sector does not engage as much in
> RightsCon as civil society does, so trying to find private sector speakers
> already going, or with a desire to attend and to speak on this topic, is
> going to be challenging.
>
> That said, any chance we can extend an invitation to Rachel Pollack to
> speak? I'm not sure if she can attend, but she is an NCUC member who works
> for UNESCO and is very knowledgeable on this (and other) topics.
>
> Ayden
>
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On 6 March 2018 1:56 PM, Michael Karanicolas <mkaranicolas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Just writing with an update on the NCUC RightsCon session. As I mentioned
> last month, the proposal has been accepted. The RightsCon folks followed up
> requesting that we collaborate with UNESCO on it, merging our session with
> one they had proposed based on last year's publication on
> multistakeholderism. As a result, the session will now be co-moderated by
> Xianhong Hu, alongside myself, but the session description, structure, and
> speakers are basically unchanged from the version we submitted. I am
> attaching our revised description below, along with initial the list of
> proposed panelists. Happy to hear any thoughts or feedback.
>
> Best,
>
> Michael
>
> PS: Our NCUC outreach booth for RightsCon has also been approved. No details
> on the timing of that as of yet, but please let me know if any of you are
> planning to attend RightsCon, and might be willing to join me there for a
> bit.
>
>
> Title: Is Multistakeholder Internet Governance Advancing, Dying, or
> Evolving?
>
> This session, jointly organized by UNESCO and ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users’
> Constituency, aims to foster a robust discussion on the strengths and
> weaknesses of multistakeholder models and to develop recommendations to
> improve these processes in the future. Multistakeholder governance models
> are built around the idea of bringing diverse stakeholders together to
> collaborate on policy making solutions. These models have become
> particularly prevalent in Internet governance, where representatives from
> the commercial, technical, academic, governmental and civil society sectors
> all have a seat at the table and share a role in policymaking. However,
> systems that are designed to be egalitarian can nonetheless manifest biases
> in practice. In ICANN’s case, although the IANA transition has already
> occurred, uncertainty persists over where governments’ role in Internet
> governance ends and ICANN’s begins, allowing the former to wield a powerful
> stick over the process. Meanwhile, human rights advocates and other
> non-commercial interests, who in theory engage on an equal footing with
> their counterparts from the business community, can be placed at a natural
> disadvantage by the fact that they generally have fewer resources to work
> with. The session will welcome participants from ICANN staff, its
> Governmental Advisory Committee, and commercial and non-commercial (civil
> society) participants in the ICANN process. Among the entry points to the
> discussion will be a recent study released by UNESCO, “What if we all
> governed the Internet? Advancing multistakeholder participation in Internet
> governance”, which was developed as part of the UNESCO Series on Internet
> Freedom. The session will be moderated by UNESCO representative Ms. Xianhong
> Hu and Mr. Michael Karanicolas of the Executive Committee of ICANN's
> Non-Commercial Users’ Constituency.
>
> Speakers (all TBC):
>
> Ms. Anri van der Spuy, Research ICT Africa, civil society, South Africa
> Mr. Benedicto Fonseca (Brazilian Ambassador for Internet issues), Brazil
> Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Australian, M), Senior Global Policy Analyst at
> Electronic Frontier Foundation
> Ms. Susan Kawaguchi (American, F), Facebook representative to ICANN
> Ms. Theresa Swinehart (American, F), Senior Vice President, Multistakeholder
> Strategy And Strategic Initiatives, ICANN
>
>