[Poll] reminder: Topics for discussion: NCSG - ICANN Board meeting Tuesday 9th February

[Sam Lanfranco]

Approaching Public Interest and Human Rights within ICANN

 From my experience elsewhere with regard to how NCSG might approach the 
issues of Public Interest (PI) and Human Rights (HR) with regard to 
ICANN, there are two levels of discourse. One is a global level 
discourse, involving Not-for-Profit and Civil Society sectors, and 
revolves around the core meanings of PI and HR. Those discussions have 
better structure with reference to HR since we have the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a reference point and navigational 
beacon. One way of looking at UDHR is that it helps answer the question 
"What constitutes a just society?". For PI the discourse is more ragged 
and contentious since self-interests come into play. There is no single 
PI reference point, but the same question "What constitutes a just 
society?" can be a navigational beacon.

Our NCSG discourse about PI and HR in the context of ICANN and ICANN 
policy is a second level discourse that is nested within the global 
discourse. Rather than trying from the ground up to build a HR and PI 
strategy for ICANN, the ICANN discussion should start by asking itself 
three questions. First, using the UDHR as a preference point, where are 
the ICANN policy areas that impact on building, sustaining and 
protecting a just society? Second, on both the HR and PI fronts, what is 
ICANN’s track record (key performance indicators?) with regard to 
building, sustaining and protecting a just society? Third, what are the 
lessons learned here with regard to corrective and future ICANN policy?

For those who would argue that this just shifts the the discussion away 
from what we mean by  PI and HR, to what is "a just society", it is 
important to remember that while that is a subject of an ongoing 
discourse at the global level, there is enough guidance from that global 
discussion to give substance to addressing these three questions at the 
practical level as one element of assessing ICANN performance and policy.

Sam Lanfranco, NPOC Policy Chair

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