[Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate

[michael gurstein]

That's always the dilemma...

I think the key issue for me (which I guess that you have answered) is
whether or not he would see (and be a voice on the CIRA Board) for having
CIRA seeing its role as acting in "the public interest" rather than simply
in support of the narrower technical and commercial interests represented by
the Internet.  As in most countries, the initial concern with CIRA was the
technical well-being of the Internet infrastructure, but now that that is
more or less regularized there is the opportunity for institutions like CIRA
to become more "pro-active" in support of the public interest... Not
necessarily as "advocates" although that would be nice, but to support those
processes that in turn identify and enable the public interest and the
Internet.

As an aside, I sent a note to Byron Holland the CIRA CEO mentioning the IGF
panel and indicating that they might be interested in it, and offering to
report back to them on the panel (and not incidentally mentioning the need
for travel support--I did this at the urging of several folks from the
Internet Governance Caucus since it seems that one of the ways that various
Internet governance bodies are spending their money is supporting
participation at the IGF by civil society folks... That was about a month
ago and I'm still waiting for a reply...

M

-----Original Message-----
From: Marita Moll [mailto:mmoll@ca.inter.net] 
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 3:03 PM
To: michael gurstein
Cc: 'TC Advisors'
Subject: Re: [Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate

Yes, I know, but he is an active part of the OpenMedia circles and the 
community of advocates working on privacy and security issues.   He 
knows who we are and is willing to work with us. We have an opportunity to
get some of our issues into his platform.  He has a real chance of winning
so is a possible voice at the table.  As far as I can tell, we don't have
many other options for engagement.

I like your suggestion re: the workshop in your further e-mail.  It would be
very useful to attend on-line if possible.  Please keep us posted on
accessibility.

Marita

On 8/16/2012 4:08 AM, michael gurstein wrote:
> Marita and all,
>
> I think we should be a bit cautious in saying that Kevin McArthur is a 
> "public-interest oriented candidate".
>
> I don't know him at all and certain elements of his platform seem to 
> be public interest orinted e.g. Net Neutraily however, other elements e.g.
> "Currently develop and operate over 50 websites representing some of 
> Canada's strongest e-commerce brands" might suggest some caution in 
> that regard.
>
> (Please note that the on-going debate concerning issues like "net 
> neutrality" suggest that there is considerable corporate interest from 
> some directions to ensure net neutrality (and thus support open 
> competition among various content suppliers) but support for this 
> position (and related ones) does not mean that there would necessarily 
> be a consistency with other of TC's positions as for example around 
> digital inclusion. (There may be, and I have no way of knowing, but 
> such a position doesn't necessarily follow from a position in support 
> of "net neutrality".)
>
> My feeling is that we should be concerned to support a candidate who 
> is clearly and directly aligned with public interest positons across 
> as wide a number of issue areas as possible.
>
> MG
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: advisors-admin@tc.ca [mailto:advisors-admin@tc.ca] On Behalf Of 
> Marita Moll
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 5:59 PM
> To: TC Advisors
> Subject: [Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate
>
>
> Last year many of you supported me in a bid to get on the CIRA board 
> as an advocate for communities and a community vision of Internet 
> access in Canada.  We did very well -- making 4th -- actually 3rd 
> minus only one vote that came in late.  This year I was hedging about 
> whether to take another run at it when I was contacted by the person 
> who came in second
> -- Kevin McArthur -- also a very public-interest oriented candidate.  
> He suggested that we were on the same wavelength.  Maybe we should 
> cooperate and maybe one of us would actually get in.
>
> So, after thinking about it for awhile, I thought that he is actually 
> closer to winning than I am.  But with some of our support, he could 
> go over the top.  And then, we could have someone on the board who owes us
a favour....
> never a bad thing.
>
> So, I'm not running.   Here is Kevin's platform:
> https://www.kevinforcira.ca/.
>
> Tell me what you think about supporting him.  Perhaps there are some 
> things we would like to see added to this platform in return.
>
> Marita
>
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