[PublicInterest] [Public-Interest-WG] Materials from the Public Interest Session at ICANN57

Fri Nov 25 10:43:32 UTC 2016

With apologies for re-sending this message, posted it earlier from an email
address not yet subscribed to.

On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 3:45 PM, Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Amal Ramzi,
>
>
> Neither the session "Exploring Pubic Interest" nor the first meeting of
> the At-Large public interest group revolved entirely around the opinions
> that you have shared, nor reached the conclusions as inferred from your
> summary.
>
>
> The transcript of the main session is at page
> http://schd.ws/hosted_files/icann572016/91/I57%20HYD_Sun06No
> v2016-Exploring%20Public%20Interest-en.pdf
>
> and the
>
> At Large Pubic Interest Working Group session is archived at page
> https://participate.icann.org/p5wbsvi1lnd/
>
> Thank you.
> Sivasubramanian M
>
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 6:30 AM, Amal Ramzi via Public-Interest-WG <
> public-interest-wg at atlarge-lists.icann.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I attended the two sessions of public interest in ICANN 57 meeting and I
>> found them interesting. At-Large Public Interest WG session was like a
>> brain storming as it brought up to my mind many questions and conflicted
>> answers , maybe because it was my first exposure to the topic of the public
>> interest within ICANN’s remit besides the ongoing discussions about this
>> concept within ICANN specially after the transition and the new ICANN
>> bylaw. As we’ve been encouraged by prof. Wolf Ludwig and Olivier to share
>> our thoughts and ideas in this mailing lists, I just like to share here my
>> comments and questions on some of the discussion points, and to share some
>> of background on PI from my region.
>>
>> -          *Public Interest from an Arab culture background:*
>> To my knowledge, the public interest concept from an Arab culture
>> background, which is rooted to some Islamic resources, is closer to public
>> “good” more than “interest”. And it means achieving benefit for community
>> and avoiding its harm, where avoiding harm is prioritized to achieving any
>> benefit. This should be decided through tradeoff or balancing between a
>> group of interests where the decision is not necessary to be the interest
>> of majority nor the interest of individuals, but it can be decided regarded
>> the kind, the scope, and the sustainability of the good that’ll be achieved
>> by that decision in a long run. It’s also case by case decision and usually
>> doesn’t depend on a bottom-up or multistakeholder approach.  With the ideal
>> concept of “common good”, it seems that it’s needed to be identified and
>> judged by someone fair, wise, farsighted, inclusive , & unbiased, and
>> these characteristics isn’t available in human beings . So, in our case
>> talking about public “interests” is more reasonable and measurable than
>> public "good”, and just required a good system or approach to have all
>> interests’ or stakes holders well heard and considered i.e. bottom-up
>> multistakeholders model with fairly balanced representation and fairly
>> balanced weight of voices- by using “fairly” I don’t mean “equally” for now
>> .
>>
>> -          *Broad definition vs. restricted or tight one.*
>> Regarding the definition of Public Interest, usually it’s not defined ,
>> as many had said, specially in the context of country management or
>> governance, or has an elastic and vague definition or description that
>> makes it fits with any decision ‘cause PI is determined for a particular
>> case, in a particular community, in a certain country, and in a certain
>> time. So, it has to be broad although this broadness ‘causes the loss of
>> the public interest in a liable way. But for ICANN, I think coming up with
>> a definition is possible because of the clear and finite frame of ICANN
>> mission and resources that ICANN manages or accountable to. However, a very
>> restricted definition won’t work. Public interest should be defined through
>> a set of measurable criteria that guarantees as much procedural approach as
>> possible in referring to public interest for decision making but I believe
>> that also some of the required criteria aren’t possible to be exactly
>> specified and so at the end , PI definition or criteria will inevitably
>> have a kind of broadness. The only way to guarantee the best possible
>> public interest consideration within ICANN’s remit is to enhance the
>> representation of the different interests in the multistakeholder model and
>> to amend it if needed.
>> As for the definition suggested by the strategy panel, “, I think it’s
>> very broad as if it defines the global internet-related public interest in
>> general, and to my knowledge I don’t think that it falls under ICANN remit.
>> A question to the strategy panel: does ICANN able or accountable to  “*Ensure
>> that the Internet becomes, and continues to be, stable, inclusive, and
>> accessible across the globe so that all may enjoy the benefits of a single
>> and open Internet.* “  where it’s mission is to: “coordinate, at the
>> overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in
>> particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's
>> unique identifier systems. “
>>
>> -          *Global public interest vs. public interest*
>> As for the “global public interest”, what is meant by “global”? is it in
>> terms of geographical scope? Or interests scope, or internet scope?  I
>> think ICANN shouldn’t adopt this term ‘cause to my limited knowledge, ICANN
>> is not responsible on and accountable to the global public interest. Global
>> Public Interest might be a responsibility of a UN internet-related entity ,
>> which can reach an international agreement or law and enforce it even
>> partially, but also in this case it’ll not serve the global public interest
>> because at the end of the day UN is making agreements only with governments
>> and again in my opinion governments are not authorized  for defending
>> public interest alone although they should “in ideal case”. In short,
>> although theinternet is global but it’s difficult to talk about the global
>> public interest as long as there’s no global law or treaty that regulate
>> internet users’ interests.
>>
>> -          *Governments, GAC, &  public interest*
>> Although governments and governmental bodies in each country have been
>> always using public interest concept as a justification or explanation of
>> their decisions and policies, I think it shouldn’t be the same in ICANN,
>> and GAC shouldn’t be the voice of the public interest. Thomas Schneider’s
>> example at the session of “exploring-the-public-interest-within-ICANN’s-remit”
>> was a good example that illustrates how PI in politics or country
>> governance and management issues is a “point of view”, and how it can be
>> changed and influenced by many variants ,factors, and intervened interests
>> , and it also confirms that governments are not the good delegate to
>> adopt public interest even if they are the only authorized entities to do
>> so in their countries, but in ICANN there’s no need to make them in that
>> position too, specially that GAC voice may also serve implicitly many
>> stakeholders interests like when the governments are also the only ISP in a
>> country and controlling the DNS-business sector too. PI should be
>> represented by the multistakeholders with enhancing the representation and
>> the consideration of independent users and civil society and non-commercial
>> community, so At-Large community & NCSG have to have the louder voice on
>> identifying PI criteria within ICANN.
>>
>>
>> To sum up, I think ICANN’s mission & structure is already based on the
>> public interest ,and ICANN responsibility activities supporting the PI by
>> empowering the community with different views to be engaged in policy
>> development. What is needed now ,besides continuing the engagement of
>> different stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and origins,  is a review
>> or an evaluation and enhancement of the ICANN multistakeholder model or
>> structure to improve ICANN accountability towards the public interest
>> through:
>> 1-      Having a measureable criteria under PI  term used in level of
>> ICANN board decision making , either by the board themselves with
>> monitoring from PI entity inside DPRD , or by and independent  PI entity.
>> And I think these criteria will intersect  ,if not matching, the ICANN
>> accountability and transparency criteria.
>> 2-      Having a mechanism of making sure that in each PDP , there’re
>> all voices from all interests by PI liaisons to make sure that any
>> proposed  policy or issue reaches  the board is already subjective to PI
>> environment and criteria.
>>
>>  Sorry for my long email.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Amal Al-saqqaf
>> ICANN fellow
>> ISOC-Yemen ALS, APRALO, At-Large
>> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
>> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/amalalsaqqaf>amalalsaqqaf
>> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/amalalsaqqaf>
>> Twitter: @Amal_Alsaqqaf
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, November 15, 2016 7:19 PM, Ergys Ramaj <ergys.ramaj at icann.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> For those of you who may have missed the session, the recordings and
>> scribe can be found here: https://icann572016.sche
>> d.org/event/8cyd/exploring-the-public-interest-within-icanns-remit
>>
>> Best,
>> Ergys
>>
>> From: Ergys Ramaj <ergys.ramaj at icann.org>
>> Date: Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 5:05 AM
>> To: "publicinterest at icann.org" <publicinterest at icann.org>
>> Subject: Re: Public Interest Confirmed as High-Interest Topic Session
>> for ICANN57
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> This is to confirm that the High-Interest Topic session on *Exploring
>> the Public Interest Within ICANN’s Remit* will take place tomorrow,
>> Sunday, 6 November 2016 from 15:15 – 16:45 in Hall 3 (Main).
>>
>> *Agenda Details*
>>
>> *15:15 – 15:20*
>> *Setting the Scene*, Olivier Crepin-Leblond, EURALO Chair
>>
>> *15:20 – 15:40*
>> *Historical & Political Nuances of the Concept of the Global Public
>> Interest: Examples from Europe & India*, Wolf Ludwig, EURALO & Rajesh
>> Chharia, ISPAI
>>
>> *15:40 – 16:10*
>> *Reaching a Shared Understanding: The Concept of the Public Interest at
>> ICANN and its Application*, Jonathan Robinson, GNSO & Becky Burr, GNSO
>>
>> *16:10 – 16:20*
>> *Explore How Public Interest Could be Operationalized as the Basis for
>> Decision-making at ICANN*, Thomas Schneider, GAC
>>
>> *16:20 –16:40*
>> *Open Mic *
>>
>> *16:40 – 16:45*
>> *Next Steps*, Olivier Crepin-Leblond
>>
>> We welcome everyone’s participation and look forward to a constructive
>> discussion.
>>
>> For more information, please see: https://icann572016.sched
>> .org/event/8cyd/exploring-the-public-interest-within-icanns-remit
>>
>> Best,
>> Ergys
>>
>> From: Ergys Ramaj <ergys.ramaj at icann.org>
>> Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 11:25 AM
>> To: "publicinterest at icann.org" <publicinterest at icann.org>
>> Subject: Public Interest Confirmed as High-Interest Topic Session for
>> ICANN57
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> This is to inform you that Public Interest is now confirmed as one of the
>> High-Interest Topic sessions for ICANN57.
>>
>> Attached is the draft block schedule, which is subject to change as
>> sessions are likely to be shuffled further in order to avoid conflicts.
>>
>> The public interest session will be 90 minutes long, and is *tentatively*
>> scheduled to take place on Sunday, 6 November, from 15:15 - 16:45.
>>
>> Additional information on the session can be found below, with more to
>> come in the coming days and weeks.
>>
>> Best,
>> Ergys
>> 9. Public Interest Group: At-Large Advisory Committee
>> *Session Leader(s):* Sally Costerton
>>
>> *Background/ Importance:* Understanding the concept of the public
>> interest within ICANN’s remit been a topic of discussion for many years. In
>> 2013-2014, the Strategy Panel on Public Responsibility Framework explored
>> this topic and, in consultations with the community, proposed the following
>> definition for the global public interest in relation to the Internet:
>> "ensuring that the Internet becomes, and continues to be, stable,
>> inclusive, and accessible across the globe so that all may enjoy the
>> benefits of a single and open Internet. In addressing its public
>> responsibility, ICANN must build trust in the Internet and its governance
>> ecosystem." While this definition has been well received, there is a desire
>> to revisit. A high interest session took place at ICANN55, which helped
>> build on previous discussions, but did not lead to concrete recommendations
>> for next steps. Following ICANN55, the At-Large Advisory Committee created
>> a Working Group to further explore the concept of the public interest. As
>> the organization readies for significant changes in its governance
>> structure in light of the impending IANA functions stewardship transition,
>> it is important to carry the conversation forward.
>>
>> *Session Goals/Expected Outcomes:*
>> 1. Further understand the historical and political nuances of the ‘global
>> public interest’ in various contexts and regions
>> 2. Reach a shared understanding of what the concept of public interest
>> means in the context of ICANN
>> 3. Explore how public interest could be operationalized as the basis for
>> decision-making at ICANN
>> 4. Determine next steps
>>
>> *Relevant Documentation:*
>>
>>    - Strategy Panel on Public Responsibility Framework report:
>>    http://bit.ly/1zEdR1D
>>    - ICANN55 high interest session materials: http://bit.ly/2b3ym1R
>>    - Wikispace: http://bit.ly/icannPI
>>    - Mailing list: publicinterest at icann.org
>>
>> *Session Format:* A panel comprised of members of the ICANN community
>> will lead and moderate the discussion.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> PublicInterest mailing list
>> PublicInterest at icann.org
>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/publicinterest
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Public-Interest-WG mailing list
>> Public-Interest-WG at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/public-interest-wg
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Sivasubramanian M <https://www.facebook.com/sivasubramanian.muthusamy>
>

-- 
Sivasubramanian M <https://www.facebook.com/sivasubramanian.muthusamy>
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