Thanks Judith for you opinion on the recent IGF. I think its a charm offensive by the hosts and not truly reflective of their true opinions and actions. My concern as was posted is ICANN's decision to go to Oman and beyond the obvious money issue why they are ignoring genuine concerns about human rights. Still curious if others are worried about ICANN's recent decisions G Glenn McKnight, MA Virtual School of Internet Governance Chief Information Officer www.virtualsig.org *YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION * *Mobile 437-237-4655* On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 at 10:26, Judith Hellerstein <judith@jhellerstein.com> wrote:
HI Glenn and Jeff, I would think that the host country believes that they are in abidance of the bylaws. In fact at the IGF in Riyadh there were panels on internet freedom where people were spoke about Internet freedom and journalists whose safety was threatened. Everyone was free to speak their minds at the conference and inside the walls. It is outside I am not sure of. However There were no incidents that Iheard of. Everyone was very friendly. I even saw some observant Jews at the IGF.
I think it is good to show differences of opinion and the ability of the multi stakeholders model to show the host country that it works. They need to see, hear, and feel what a true multi stakeholder conference is like and i hope the Saudis who came to the IGF were able to experience this. They said all the right words and did show a lot of women in levels of authority and as head of organizations and not all of them wore scarfs covering their faces
Judith
Sent from my iPad judith@jhellerstein.com Skype ID:JudithHellerstein
On Jan 15, 2025, at 10:17 AM, Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss < na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:
Thank you Jeff Your comments are well received and valid. It behooves me to think that the meeting selection process ignores the prevailing attitudes in a particular location that makes people unsafe and uncomfortable Note ICANN Standard of Conduct. I suppose the meeting site organizers are defacto exempt from these requirements
Those who take part in ICANN multi-stakeholder process, including Board, staff and all those involved in Supporting Organization and Advisory Committee councils, undertake to:
- *Act* in accordance with ICANN's Bylaws. In particular, participants undertake to act within the mission of ICANN and in the spirit of the values contained in the Bylaws. - *Adhere* to ICANN's conflict of interest policies. - *Treat* all members of the ICANN community equally, irrespective of nationality, gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, disability, age, or sexual orientation; members of the ICANN community should treat each other with civility both face-to-face and online. - *Respect* all members of the ICANN community equally, behave in a professional manner and demonstrate appropriate behavior. ICANN strives to create and maintain an environment in which people of many different backgrounds and cultures are treated with dignity, decency, and respect. Specifically, participants in the ICANN process must not engage in any type of harassment. Generally, harassment is considered unwelcome hostile or intimidating behavior -- in particular, speech or behavior that is sexually aggressive or that intimidates based on attributes such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, color, national origin, ancestry, disability or medical condition, sexual orientation, or gender identity. - *Act* in a reasonable, objective and informed manner when participating in policy development and decision-making processes. This includes regularly attending all scheduled meetings and exercising independent judgment based solely on what is in the overall best interest of Internet users and the stability and security of the Internet's system of unique identifiers, irrespective of personal interests and the interests of the entity to which an individual might owe their appointment. - *Listen* to the views of all stakeholders when considering policy issues. ICANN is a unique multi-stakeholder environment. Those who take part in the ICANN process must acknowledge the importance of all stakeholders and seek to understand their points of view. - *Work* to build consensus with other stakeholders in order to find solutions to the issues that fall within the areas of ICANN's responsibility. The ICANN model is based on a bottom-up, consensus driven approach to policy development. Those who take part in the ICANN process must take responsibility for ensuring the success of the model by trying to build consensus with other participants. - *Facilitate* transparency and openness when participating in policy development and decision-making processes. - *Support* the maintenance of robust mechanisms for public input, accountability, and transparency so as to ensure that policy development and decision-making processes will reflect the public interest and be accountable to all stakeholders. - *Conduct* themselves in accordance with ICANN policies. - *Protect* the organization's assets and ensure their efficient and effective use. - *Act* fairly and in good faith with other participants in the ICANN process. - *Promote* ethical and responsible behavior. Ethics and integrity are essential, and ICANN expects all stakeholders to behave in a responsible and principled way.
Glenn McKnight, MA Virtual School of Internet Governance Chief Information Officer www.virtualsig.org *YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION * *Mobile 437-237-4655*
On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 at 09:55, Jeff Neuman <jeff@jjnsolutions.com> wrote:
Although not the same, but related, I filed a complaint against a particular vendor of ICANN at the end of 2023 for its clear antisemitic statements asking ICANN to terminate its relationship with that vendor. (*NOTE: ICANN mistakenly elevated that issue to deal with that vendor's participation in ICANN - which was not part of my complaint and that resulted in an escalation of the issue which is still not resolved today - they are still a vendor*)
As part of my discussions with ICANN, I expressed my disappointment in the selection of Oman as a meeting location because of their failure to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation and that both the vendor issue and the location was not sending a message to the Jewish participants of ICANN that they are welcome nor are they protected by ICANN's anti-harassment policy. After all, if an ICANN vendor can openly state that he wished "Hitler should have finished the job" and killed all the Jews and it chooses to meet at a location which refuses to acknowledge the existence of Jewish people, then what is the use of having a code of conduct and anti-harassment policy. As you can imagine, I am not happy with this outcome
Long story short, on the selection of Oman, ICANN's view is that they cannot take politics into consideration when selecting a venue. Their only considerations are logistics and safety. If the location is safe, and they can handle the ICANN meeting requirements, that is all that is considered. Their political, religious or social views and policies are not taken into consideration. According to ICANN's security assessment, which is fairly exhaustive, Oman is safe and can handle us.
I am not making any value judgements on any of this as I clearly have my own opinions....just sharing with you my discussions with ICANN.
Happy to discuss further my experience.
Sincerely,
Jeff
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------------------------------ *From:* avri--- via NA-Discuss <na-discuss@icann.org> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 14, 2025 6:19 PM *To:* Glenn McKnight <mcknight.glenn@gmail.com> *Cc:* NA Discuss <na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org> *Subject:* [NA-Discuss] Re: ICANN Meeting in October 2025
hi,
I keep mentioning it as a problem, but no one really cares.
It is one of those issues that ICANN does not worry about.
Decided i had become a broken record speaking of an irrelevant issue.
avri
On 2025-01-14 14:13, Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss wrote:
Hi . It's interesting that ICANN was actively involved in participating at the recent IGF 2024 in Saudi Arabia and I noticed that ICANN's Annual 2025 meeting will be held in Oman. Is this a current policy trend by ICANN.? Anyone monitoring the human rights issues in these countries
See reports
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east... https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/oman https://freedomhouse.org/country/oman/freedom-world/2023
Anyone interested in this issue?
Glenn McKnight, MA Virtual School of Internet Governance Chief Information Officer www.virtualsig.org *YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION * *Mobile 437-237-4655*
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