[discuss] Greetings from a new convener !

Fri Jul 25 06:21:19 UTC 2014

Dear Colleagues,

In case you don’t know me, I’m Paul Wilson, the head of APNIC, the Regional Internet address Registry for Asia pacific (www.apnic.net).

For the past month or so I’ve been in discussions with the 1net steering committee, and ICANN, about how I could support 1net further. Since playing a role in the “Montevideo Statement” last year, I’ve seen 1net as as important response to our call to “catalyse community action” on Internet governance.  

I’ve seen 1net grow and prove itself successful, with impressive participation and some very active discussions.  But I’ve also seen a lull following NETmundial, and I do feel personally motivated to participate and help 1net to maintain its momentum.

During the latest ICANN meeting (in London), there were discussions among SteerCom members, followed by these decisions:

- The Steering Committee would be renamed as the “Coordination Committee” (CoCom for short) to better reflect a role not to direct 1net, but to support and facilitate it.
- I would be accepted as a voluntary “convener” of 1net, taking on the role played by Adiel Akplogan until recently.
- APNIC would take on the hosting/administration of the 1net platform (and the small costs involved).

My own vision for 1net is as an inclusive, neutral, global, multi-stakeholder platform, for discussing Internet governance and cooperation issues, particularly where more suitable forums do not exist.  I believe it should be a democratic, self-organising, bottom-up space that serves a needed purpose; and it should only continue while that purpose remains.  For now it is not and should not be an “organisation” in any form, and so it should remain until the 1net community determines otherwise.

My next hope is that the 1net community, with support of the CoCom, will start to steer 1net in a useful direction, both in terms of the content of discussions and the ongoing development of the platform.  With your active participation I am sure that 1net can prove and maintain itself as a valid and useful space.  

I should mention that I am a member of the IGF MAG and 1net is not intended by anyone to supplant the IGF in any way;  rather it is a platform that can support and strengthen IGF, as one of its stated aims.  That of course is to be agreed with others, and proven in time, but it is my personal hope.

I will leave it there, but hope to see some discussion here about these changes, and related matters.  I know that there are other issues about the functioning of 1net, and hope that these can now be discussed too, along with discussions about the real business of 1net, Internet Governance.

Thanks to you all, for your support of 1net so far, and in future.

All the best

Paul. 

________________________________________________________________________
Paul Wilson, Director-General, APNIC                      <dg at apnic.net>
http://www.apnic.net                                     +61 7 3858 3100

See you at APNIC 38!                      http://conference.apnic.net/38