Board of Trustees
2003 Board Election
Petitions
Candidate Profile: Jonathan Robin
Please accept this
email as my confirmation both of the willingness to petition for inclusion
in the BoT Elections as Chapters' constituency representative, and of
my ability to continue to devote the time, energy and effective ability
towards forwarding the historic aims of the Internet Society.
As a Member of the Board of Trustees I would seek to encourage a greater
recognition of the role of Chapters, and also a direct and explicit link
between Chapters' representatives and their constituency - which is not
the case at present. The need for good faith in dealing with Chapter related
affairs, for clarification of the roles of both Chapter and Global membership,
and for the greater proactive support of the Chapters which is perceived
to be needed in order to retain ISOC's credibility.
I would therefore work towards a more satisfactory definition of the roles
and responsibilities of all parties especially in the area of the societal
impacts of emerging technologies. This does not mean that Standards should
be ignored, but that they should be determined with an appropriate understanding
of human factors and of the implications of Internet architectural modifications
which seem insufficiently integrated at present.
My experience and activities in favour of ISOC's Mission Statement, and
the lead role taken in ensuring UNESCO recognition of ISOC as an NGO was,
as you know, explicitly commended in a letter to the BoT by the previous
Chair of ISOC.
For Bucarest PrepCom I WSIS I organized the funding of a dozen East European
ISOC representatives, including one current BoT member. As rapporteur
of the WSIS UNESCO NGO Forum Emerging Technologies Theme and of its final
Geneva PrepCom II Report this year, I obtained explicit support
for archive integrity and for IPv6. As Trustee, I would seek to widen
the relationships with other NGOs and international organisations, rather
than let them decline - which is the perception that many at present have
of ISOC.
Beyond these activities are those in the context of IPv6 where after 3
years of awareness growing I sought and received explicit endorsement
for IPv6 from the Executive Secretariat of the World Summit on the Information
Society, from the French Prime Minister in a speech last November following
the launch of the IPv6 Task Force at the French Senate, and in the context
of the intergovernmental summit of the English E Envoy where I was the
only civil society representative invited. The human factor is too often
ignored in the initial stages of standards implementation - and the legal
implications of IPv6 are far from understood by either the societal or
the technical interests involved.
I would also work towards growing awareness among Chapters of the funding
possibilities of the PIR - and of the need to avoid all conflicts of interest
between projects put forward through members of the Board of Trustees
and those elsewhere in ISOC
I would also seek a ruling from the Board of Trustees that no more than
30% of Vice Presidents could be drawn from one country - and feel that
the current figure of around 90% is a regrettable reflection of a "new
governance plan" whose ethical moral and practical justifications
I would seek, as Trustee, to urge the BoT to reconsider in the interests
of ISOC's credibility.
My long term commitment to ISOC's Mission Statement that the Internet
is for Everyone has as its corollary a desire to create a win win situation
for ISOC's membership and extended constituency both for Organisation
and for individual membership. This ethical independance, attested by
my work as Election Chair of the former ISTF, may not make some people
happy, it may be perceived by some to be "divisive" but it has
the merit both of making people think, and of avoiding double-think.
As initiator and co organizer of the ISOC ECC /Greek EU Presidency on
the influence of Emerging Technologies on E Democracy and E Governance
in Thessalonika this coming May 2003 the messages of this petition statement
will be enhanced.
This candidacy platform aims at offering Chapter Chairs a viable choice,
which if refused, will at least stand for the record in future. ISOC's
principles reinforce its historical legitimacy with the perception of
added value. If we lose our principles then we will have only ourselves
to blame - and there is "In My Humble Opinion" a need to clear
the air of the perception of "new governance" disinformation
or even manipulation to allow the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society
to be respected everywhere.
Best regards to you, Kees, to members of the Election Committee, and to
those Chapter Delegates who effectively cast their votes in the 2003 ISOC
Board of Trustees Elections
Jonathan Robin ISOC France and ISOC Global member,
jonathanrobin@messagerie.net
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