NCSG - GAC Meeting

[Sam Lanfranco]

I want to underscore the central point in Julf's comments.

The GAC is not a tight and informed coalition of representatives of 
national governments. It has some key players that send highly 
knowledgeable contingents (e.g. the European Community). However, many 
representatives are under-equipped either for knowledgeable engagement 
in GAC business (and much less ICANN's remit) or to knowledgeably 
represent the nuances of their country's positions on issues that are on 
the ICANN agenda.

It is one thing to remain on guard against GAC's potential influence as 
a camel's nose under the edge of the ICANN multistakeholder tent. It is 
an additional concern to worry about the internal dynamic within GAC as 
it arrives at its advisory positions. /Virtually none of the individual 
GAC countries would tolerate such an internal dynamic within their own 
national policy discussions. /

My own (possibly unpopular) view is that national civil society 
constituencies should dig into how their own governments select and 
inform their GAC representatives. Internet governance, and GAC's role in 
ICANN would be improved if that domestic engagement were promoted./How 
many of us know who is, or engage with, our government's GAC 
representative, or even which department of our government they come 
from?  >>>> https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/GAC+Representatives 
<https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/GAC+Representatives>/

Sam L.


On 2/12/2018 8:41 AM, Johan Helsingius wrote:
> I really like Michael's suggestion:
>
>> Could we ask the representatives more generally about how they develop
>> their policy positions, and whether and how they consult with human
>> rights/privacy/data protection voices in government, or with domestic
>> NGOs or civil society voices, in formulating the policy positions that
>> they bring to ICANN - maybe phrasing the question a bit more broadly
>> than just asking directly about the RPMs. I feel like this might need
>> to be approached delicately, but it may be a good question to get the
>> GAC delegates themselves to reconsider...
> W§e have to remember that a lot of GAC members are fairly junior,
> pretty new to ICANN, and not always very well briefed. They also
> often biased to see GNSO as "A club of domain industry lobbyists with
> a small group of free speech academics". I think it would be good to
> point out that we speak on behalf of civil society in their countries
> too, and encourage the GAC members, as representatives of their
> governments, to extend the sphere of people they talk to and seek
> advice from.
>
> 	Julf
>

-- 
------------------------------------------------
"It is a disgrace to be rich and honoured
in an unjust state" -Confucius
  邦有道，贫且贱焉，耻也。邦无道，富且贵焉，耻也
------------------------------------------------
Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus & Senior Scholar)
Econ, York U., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3
email: Lanfran at Yorku.ca   Skype: slanfranco
blog:  https://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
Phone: +1 613-476-0429 cell: +1 416-816-2852

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