[kictanet] is IGF a castrated version of ICANN???

Thu Jul 12 12:21:49 EAT 2007

Just to note that this statement is fairly close to the truth.

To a good extent, IGF will only make sense once its structure becomes clear
to its real purpose. It is still a fairly new forum which has to go through
its due process to begin making serious adjustments as to what is relevant
or not. The diversity in constrains of both internet access for most and the
economic internet for the developed countries is always going to be a
contentious issue to bring in forums where the gaps are so far apart.

I attended an IGF meeting last year that left me confused, but then again so
does the Kictanet list sometimes. Your explanation below begins to make
sense for me.

Njeri,

On 7/12/07 10:16 AM, "John Walubengo" <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Judy,
> 
> yes, it does make sense.  though the language of castration
> is a bit on the offensive side i would imagine...
> 
> Nevertheless it is true that IGF, the Internet Governance
> Forum was concieved at WSIS 2005  as a compromise, safty
> valve (ref http://intgovforum.org/mandate.htm).  This was
> after members and participants failed to agree on the way
> forward, particularly with regard to how the internet could
> be managed more democratically - put in another way, how
> the American dominant control of the internet (thro ICANN)
> could be shared out with other interested countries.
> 
> Indeed IGF has no executive powers and remains a 'talking
> shop' as critics would say.  However, the IGF secretariate
> believes that its strength is paradoxically because it does
> lack the executive authority to enforce matters discussed.
> I know it sounds stupid but if you think about how KICTAnet
> operates, then u begin to understand the power of IGF.
> 
> KICTAnet has no executive authority over ICT matters in
> Kenya, but because of that, members (civil society, govt,
> academia, media, consumers, individuals, etc) are free to
> shout their grievances in an open, informal and sometimes
> careless manner.  And more often than not, those with
> executive power tend to pick out important messages and get
> to act on them - sometimes they do so immediately other
> times much later on, and yes ofcourse sometimes never.
> 
> And so it is with the IGF, it is a global forum for
> 'venting it out' in a sort of diplomatic way, and many
> times ICANN (the one with executive control over the
> Internet) gets to pick out the issues and considers some if
> not most of them accordingly.
> 
> 
> walu.
> 
>> a visit to the
>>> therapist's office
>> a visit to the
>>> therapist's office.
> 
> 
> 
> --- Judy Okite <judyokite at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> This does not make sense!! Is it meant to be a joke???
>> Mr. Walubengo?
>> Kind Regards,
>> 
>> On 7/10/07, Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku at yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>> makes good reading???
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ICANN San Juan 2007 After a crazed American federal
>> prosecutor wreaked havoc
>>> on the Puerto Rican roads by wiping out on his
>> motorcycle at 3am doing 105
>>> mph, immobilizing traffic for ten hours on a major
>> highway, I walked four
>>> miles on Thursday morning along the beach to the site
>> of the ICANN meeting.
>>> I made it just in time to the Caribe Hilton for the
>> internet governance
>>> workshop.
>>>   Sure glad I caught this one.
>>>               if
>> (document.getElementById('MidArticleSlot'))
>>> document.write('\x3Cscript
>>> 
>> 
> src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/reg.management.4159/itdirector;'+RegExCa
> ts+GetVCs()+'pid='+RegId+';'+RegKW+'maid='+maid+';test='+test+';pf='+RegPF+';d
> cove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord='
>>> + rand + '?" type="text/javascript">\x3C\/script>');
>>> 
>>>    In the beginning ... uh, were the critical...uh...
>> internet resources...
>>> ahm well... we'll get back to that at the Rio
>> conference in November. Sort
>>> of like Adam wandering around the garden labeling
>> things, the Internet
>>> Governance Forum (IGF) is still working on its reason
>> for being here.
>>>   The IGF was created out of whole cloth by the UN as a
>> kind of
>>> internationalized counterweight to perceived excessive
>> American influence at
>>> ICANN, and yet no one in attendance, even those who
>> participate in the IGF,
>>> are quite sure what the IGF even does - apparently it's
>> still defining its
>>> fundamentals. A good chunk of this mercifully short
>> session consisted of
>>> participants half-heartedly trying to define what
>> constitute "critical
>>> internet resources" - the protection of which they've
>> decided is essential
>>> to their core mission, and which is topic numero uno at
>> the upcoming Rio
>>> event.
>>>   The truth is really out there, right?
>>>   This session in theory was about more than the IGF,
>> but in practice it
>>> consisted mostly of a discussion about the extent to
>> which the IGF and ICANN
>>> serve overlapping or even contradictory purposes.
>>>   There seemed to be a rather diplomatic consensus that
>> the two institutions
>>> complement each other, but after sitting through an
>> hour of discussion on
>>> the subject, this correspondent still has absolutely no
>> idea what the IGF
>>> actually does - or if it even has the power to do
>> anything at all. Is it a
>>> gripe forum, kind of like those bitter websites
>> American trademark attorneys
>>> are always trying to shut down? Is it just a glorified
>> networking event? Who
>>> knows? If I make it to the Rio forum, I'll be sure to
>> let everyone know.
>>>   Although this topic looked appetizing on the
>> schedule, it's clear that the
>>> IGF has a lot of work to do if it is to be considered
>> anything more than a
>>> highly vocal yet castrated version of ICANN. Indeed,
>> the IGF bares an
>>> uncanny resemblance to that other impotent,
>> internationalized and highly
>>> vocal institution, the UN General Assembly. That's not
>> to say that it does
>>> not have value - it's just the political equivalent to
>> a visit to the
>>> therapist's office. We all need to get stuff off our
>> chest from time to
>>> time.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Tel. 254 720 318 925
>>> 
>>> blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/
>>> 
>>> ---------------------------------
>>> Got a little couch potato?
>>> Check out fun summer activities for kids.
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Judy Ann Okite,
>> +254-721237507,+254-734252336
>> P.O. BOX 2228 00100,
>> NAIROBI,KENYA.
>> 
>> 
>> "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run
>> over if you
>> just sit there."
>> 
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> 
> 
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