[Privsec] [Fwd: IGF Dynamic Coalition on Privacy]

Wed Nov 22 16:17:48 GMT 2006

Hi all,

I have just sent out the kick-off mail for the IGF dynamic coalition on 
privacy. I have copied it below for your information. If you want to join 
and have not done yet, please let me know.

Best, Ralf

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: IGF Dynamic Coalition on Privacy
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:40:04 +0100
From: Ralf Bendrath <bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
Reply-To: bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de
To: privacy-coalition at lists.apc.org
CC: igf at unog.ch, Markus Kummer <mkummer at unog.ch>

*This is quite a long message. Please take your time and read it
carefully. Thanks!*

Dear all,

three weeks after the UN Internet Governance Forum has ended, we want to
formally kick off the work of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Privacy with
this message. Welcome on board everybody!

Let me first of all say, in the name of everybody involved so far, that we
are overwhelmed by the huge interest and support this coalition has been
receiving. We currently have participants or expressions of interest from
over 40 entities, incluing national governments, international
organizations, data protection authorities, business, civil society, and
academia, from all regions of the world.

A few of us who have been actively involved in the formation of the
coalition in Athens and before have discussed the setup and the next
steps. We have merged our thoughts into a "Frequently Asked Questions"
document that is attached to this mail.

As this concept of dynamic multi-stakeholder coalitions is new to the UN
system, we are moving into unchartered territory. So this FAQ document can
only be a first try. Our working methods will evolve, as will our
substantial discussions on privacy in the context of Internet governance.
We are sure that everybody of you will take part in this exercise in a
constructive spirit and in good faith.

A few practical things:

1. Email list

APC has kindly set up an email list for us as an in-kind contribution to
the privacy coalition. Thanks for that! If you receive this mail (except
for the IGF secretariat folks who are cc'd), you are on the list.
In order to write to everybody, just send an email to
<privacy-coalition at lists.apc.org>.

2. Website

A very preliminary website has been set up at
<http://igf2006.intgovforum.org/wiki/Privacy>. We will probably need a
more comprehensive web space, probably also with a document repository, a
wiki, etc., in the mid term. Any volunteers and other
in-kind-contributions are more than welcome here.

3. Deliverables

The idea of the startup team and facilitators is to develop a number of
issue papers to map out the emerging issues of privacy in relation to
internet governance. In Athens, we agreed on the following issue areas:
- digital identities,
- the link between privacy and development,
- the importance of privacy and anonymity for freedom of expression,
- greater public participation in technical and legal standardizations
that have a global public policy impact on privacy.

Some of us have been working on these issues, there will be links to other
IGF coalitions (like the ones on Freedom of Expression or on Open
Standards), and other issues (like the link between privacy and
development) will probably have to be handled in a more explorative way.

My suggestion would be to

a) start a collection of material that is already there,
b) develop a few synthesis papers,
c) start a feedback and consuiltation mechanism on these in order to
ensure an inclusive perspective,
d) develop a set of recommendations.

How long this will take is hard to tell at the moment, but we should aim
at having at least a few vetted synthesis papers ready for the next IGF
meeting in Rio (12 - 15 November 2007).

4. Working methods and meetings

We will probably need a mixture of online exchange and some physical
meetings, preferably back-to-back with other major events, either around
WSIS follow-up or privacy. A list of possible events is below. Please add
whatever you think is helpful here.

- 29 January 2007: 1st European Data Protection Day (Initiative by the
Council of Europe)
- 14-16 February 2007: 8th annual Privacy and Security Conference,
Victoria/BC (main topic next year: ID management)
- 15 to 25 May 2007: Cluster of WSIS-related events, Geneva (the place to
be for WSIS follow-up)
- 1-4 May 2007: Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2007, Montreal (the big
annual North American meeting)
- 25 to 28 September 2007: 29th International Conference of Data
Protection and Privacy Commissioners, Montreal (THE event for the
commissioners)

The French government has offered to host a coalition meeting in Paris,
probably in June. We are looking forward to a meeting in wonderful Paris!

5. Status of statements and documents

(from the FAQ, but because it is of special relevance, I copy it here)

The Dynamic Coalition, especially when addressing emerging issues, will
have to explore new grounds and be a space for creative thinking and
sincere interaction. Therefore, none of the views expressed by any
participant in the work of the coalition will be considered as official
statements of the entities they represent or are affiliated with.

Policy documents developed within the coalition for official release will
be sign-on documents. Issue papers and other deliverables by individual
participants will be published only if agreed to and on terms defined by
their authors.

6. Outreach

If we want to have an impact on the IGF at large, we will have to make
sure we have a very broad participation. Especially government members or
civil servants participating here are currently only from a few European
countries. Please spread the word, especially to developing countries.

We can also use a few more private businesses helping us to include their
perspectives in the protection of internet privacy.

7. In-kind contributions

We currently have no budget, no staff, no formal ressources. Please keep
this in mind. Therefore, in-kind contributions (be they web space and
bandwidth, website administration, secretariat functions, facilitation
time) or even donations (e.g. for travel fellowships to one or more of our
meetings) are really needed. We should probably set up some reward
mechanism or "golden book" for this.

Draft Golden Book - the following persons have already helped:
- Karen Banks (APC) with the email listserv;
- Bertrand de La Chapelle (Government of France) and Jan Schallaböck
(Privacy and Identity Management in Europe project - PRIME) with time for
double-checking first drafts of the FAQ document and giving valuable comments;
- Jeremy Malcolm (Murdoch University) and Kieren McCarty (freelancer) with
setting up and maintaining the community space <ifg2006.intgovforum.org>;
- Bertrand de La Chapelle - I believe in personal capacity - with
designing a logo for the coalition (see attachment);
- Gus Hosein (the LSE) and myself (University of Bremen) with facilitating
the bootstrapping process and organizing the IGF workshops where
everything started;
- and everybody else who was involved in discussions that led to the
privacy workshops in Athens and the formation of this dynamic coalition,
including our panelists and many others.
- Special thanks go to Markus Kummer for constant encouragement.

By closing this message, let me again emphazise that I look forward to
working with all of you. I am sure we will have some serious results ready
at the next IGF meeting in Rio.

Best regards,

Ralf Bendrath
(also speaking on behalf of Gus Hosein as co-facilitator)

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Dipl. Pol. Ralf Bendrath
University of Bremen
Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State"
Linzer Str. 9a, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Tel.  +49 (421) 218-8735
Fax   +49 (421) 218-8721
official http://www.sfb597.uni-bremen.de/homepages/bendrath
personal http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath
blog     http://bendrath.blogspot.com
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Dynamic-Coalition-on-Privacy-FAQ-2006-11-22.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 25336 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/privsec/attachments/20061122/a0d678d6/Dynamic-Coalition-on-Privacy-FAQ-2006-11-22-0001.pdf