Palm Springs California (2)

Palm Springs California

Meet John Doe

In debates over participation in the new Internet Governance Forum, advocates for more open, individual-based participation frequently heard concerns about "someone off the street" showing up. This proverbial "man off the street" (close kin, no doubt, to the generic "man on the street" from journalism) was clearly a source of angst among governments and even many NGOs. Perhaps they feared unruly mobs of jihadis or a general decline in the quality of reception hors d'ouevres. My response was always that the UN system, and the whole gaggle of governments, NGOs and business lobbyists focused on internet governance should feel flattered if ordinary street denizens showed any interest in what they do and enough commitment to show up and talk about it.

Well, I'm happy to report that here in Geneva Feb. 16, a "man off the street" actually showed up. Just one, so far as I know. The name of this rare creature is [deleted by request]. He just graduated from Oxford with a computer science degree and is now working in Switzerland doing programming and reverse engineering. He read about the UN's consultations in the newspaper. Because he works with and on the Internet he thought it sounded interesting. He read the instructions on the IGF's web site and registered for the meeting. The UN identification process threw no barriers up. He has a tag; he is here, sitting across the room from me.

I am keeping him under close observation and will report back further on the results of this bizarre experiment.