(Toronto) NCUC Policy Conference: ICANN & Internet Governance: Security & Freedom in a Connected World

[michael gurstein]

I'm not sure if folks are aware of this (free) event happening in TO in a
few days.

M

-----Original Message-----
From: joy [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 11:17 PM
To: michael gurstein
Cc: 'Shawna Finnegan'; 'Lisa Cyr'; 'Tamir Israel'; [hidden email]; 'Anriette
Esterhuysen'
Subject: Re: [Advisors] Canada UPR submission - can we endorse

Hi Michael - thanks for these great ideas - excellent and yes we should work
out how best to support them: just briefly in the meantime, not sure if your
networks are aware that there is an event later this week before the ICANN
meeting which they would be most welcome to attend, so feel free to share.
Registration and program at
http://www.amiando.com/NCUC-ICANN45

 and the press release below

Best,

Joy

-----------

NCUC Press Release  -  3 October 2012

Civil Society Leaders Converge in Toronto for "ICANN & Internet
Governance: Security and Freedom in a Connected World"

Cyber-Security Expert Ron Deibert and new ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Address
Non-Commercial Users Policy Conference on Eve of ICANN #45

Public interest groups involved in ICANN will gather for the event, "ICANN &
Internet Governance: Security & Freedom in a Connected World"
on Friday 12 October at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada.
Sponsored by the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC), the voice of civil
society in ICANN, the policy conference will focus on key ICANN policy
issues like the need to promote both cyber-security and
human rights in the development of global Internet policies.   The event
kicks-off with a morning address from cyber-security expert Ron Deibert,
Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and The Citizen
Lab, an inter-disciplinary research and development hothouse at the
University of Toronto.  Deibert will address the need to establish a
cyber-security strategy for global civil society.

"Cyberspace is at a watershed moment.  Global civil society, now
increasingly recognised as an important stakeholder in cyberspace
governance, needs to step up to the challenge," said Deibert.  "What is
required is nothing less than a serious and comprehensive  security strategy
for cyberspace that addresses  the very real threats that plague governments
and corporations, addresses national and other security  concerns in a
forthright manner, while protecting  and preserving open networks of
information and communication."

The afternoon sessions begin with welcoming remarks from Fadi Chehade,
ICANN's new Chief Executive Officer, a Lebanese-Egyptian IT entrepreneur,
who took the helm of ICANN last month and pronounced he was committed to
strengthening the multi-stakeholder process of Internet governance.
Additional speakers at NCUC's policy conference include Fionna Alexander
from the U.S. Commerce Department and other governmental representatives.
The all-day event's four panel sessions include participation from ICANN
board members and senior staff, civil society and Internet business leaders.

The conference will explore a broad range of ICANN policy issues including
privacy concerns related to the whois policy that requires the publication
of registrants' personal data and discussion of ongoing negotiations with
law enforcement agencies regarding a related policy that privacy authorities
have called "unlawful".  The geopolitical landscape of Internet governance
models and the shifting role of stakeholders will be addressed by experts
from around the world.  NCUC's conference will also explore policy issues
related to controversial new domain names such as protection for freedom of
expression in the face of
cultural differences and sensitivities.   Concerns about intellectual
property rights and new top-level domain names remains an area under rapid
development and will be ripe for discussion as well as activities related to
extra-territorial domain name seizures.  Including human rights principles
in ICANN policy development will be considered, in addition to ways civil
society can become involved in the development of ICANN policies, which
impact Internet users worldwide.

NCUC represents more than 250 noncommercial organizations and individuals
from around the world on ICANN policy matters and was formed
in 1999 in Berlin at one of ICANN's earliest meetings.   Currently NCUC
represents a wide range of non-commercial interests in ICANN policy
development including universities and educational institutions, human
rights organizations, development, promotion of the arts, children's
welfare, scientific research, community networking, and many other
non-commercial interests.  NCUC participates at ICANN as a constituency
within the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) and the Generic Names
Supporting Organization (GNSO), which makes ICANN policy recommendations and
selects board members.

"The conference subtitle recognizes our shared twin goals of security and
freedom, and questions to what extent must we sacrifice one for the other,"
said meeting organizer Robin Gross of NCUC and IP Justice, a civil liberties
organization based in San Francisco.  The constituency's
2012 Toronto conference builds on the policy conference NCUC held in
2011 in which craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark addressed the ICANN
community in San Francisco.

The 2012 conference concludes with an evening reception at the historic
Fairmont Royal York overlooking the beautiful Canadian waterfront.  The
event is free to attend and open the public, but advance registration is
required because space is limited.  NCUC's conference is held with support
from the Brazilian Internet Steering Registry CGI.br, the Public
Interest Registry (PIR), and ICANN.   Civil Society event partners
include The Citizen Lab, the Association for Progressive Communications
(APC) and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic
(CIPPIC) based at the University of Ottawa.

Conference sessions will be audiocast live and archived for later
downloading, and remote participation will be available from the event's
website via Adobe Connect for those not able to travel to Toronto on 12
October.

For event details including conference schedule, speaker list, remote
participation details, and to register to the event:
  http://www.amiando.com/NCUC-ICANN45

Contact for more information:

Robin Gross, IP Justice
  Email: [hidden email]

Brenden Keurbis, Internet Governance Project & University of Syracuse
  Email:  [hidden email]



On 9/10/2012 4:11 p.m., michael gurstein wrote:

> Hi Shawna and all,
>
> (I'm leaving on Thursday for work/travel and won't have much time
> until I get back mid-November to discuss this further...
>
> However, one suggestion would be to set up an email list specifically
> to discuss and extend the document, the follow-on, and Internet policy
> in Canada from a civil society perspective; what changes might be
> needed in it if it is to move forward (I'm unclear whether this input
> is a once for all or can be modified/added to for a future
> contribution); and invite all and sundry to join and contribute (while
> making some specific invitations to seed the discussion).
>
> I would suggest that the e-list begin with the same set of initial
> sponsors/endorsees as for the document.  (If there are problems with
> the mechanics of an e-list (as there often seems to be), I could set
> one up more or less instantaneously through Vancouver Community Net
> who currently host the half-dozen e-lists that I'm currently
> responsible for.) (I could set one up like this myself, and have done
> so in the past but my feeling is that it should be done as part of a
> coalition building exercise and should have multiple initial sponsors
> and some initial dedicated time resources put into it to make it fly.
> Something which has not, for various reasons, been possible to date...
>
> I would also like to see some sort of formal convening at some point
> (a face to face Civil Society conference on Internet policy issues in
> Canada sometime over the next year).  I think it would make
> considerable sense to do it in conjunction with the Open Data/Open
> Government Data folks--there isn't as much overlap of individuals
> between these two communities as there should be but there is certainly an

overlap in overall policy orientation.

>
> What role APC, a relatively new (but of course --Web
> Networks--something of a founding) player on this block could play I'm
> not sure, but sometimes new/old kids can unfreeze a situation that has
> become rather stale...  so go for it...
>
> Anyway you asked.
>
> M
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shawna Finnegan [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 6:06 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Cc: Lisa Cyr; Tamir Israel; [hidden email]; Anriette Esterhuysen; Joy
> Liddicoat
> Subject: Re: [Advisors] Canada UPR submission - can we endorse?
>
> Dear Michael and all,
>
> First, I would like to introduce myself: I am the assistant for APC's
> Internet Rights are Human Rights project.
>
> Michael, I completely agree on the need for a process of inclusion. As
> Lisa said, APC primarily works in developing countries, and so while
> we did our best to reach out to various networks, our contacts for
> this submission were rather limited.
>
> However this submission is only a small part of the UPR process. We
> would ideally like to build a more inclusive coalition to inform
> follow-up activity, including the review in Geneva in early 2013.
>
> I am including in this email a final copy of the submission, which we
> would be very happy for you to circulate to your networks. Although it
> is unfortunately too late for the official submission to include
> contribution from a wider group of stakeholders, feedback from these
> would be extremely valuable.
>
> Perhaps we could also take this opportunity to discuss how APC can
> support the organizations and coalitions that are working in this area.
>
> All the best,
>
> Shawna
>
>