Re: [ga] European At Large meeting announcement (today)

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2003, Vittorio Bertola wrote:

> >.... The ALAC lists are almost dead. Contrast the thousand +
> >posts sent each month on the legacy At Large lists, the active elections,
> >the genuine involvement bottom up.
> 
> Could you also contrast the number of policy-related statements,
> interventions, presentations and documents that the ALAC produced in the
> last six months with the number of those produced by all the At Large
> efforts in the previous three years?

There is no doubt that a portion of the ALAC core leadership are people
who write good position statements that are well thought out and well
articulated.  I am glad of that.  However, those positions are largely
created by the authors without the benefit of approval by any large body
of voters.  That is not necessarily a bad thing - it is the way that
representative systems work.  The issue with the ALAC is that it takes the
concept of representation to a degree in which the link between an
individual and ICANN's decisions is exceedingly tenuous and diluted,
particulary when compared with the fast-track and relative direct access
given to select commercial groups.

And, by-the-way, I consider the literally hundreds of things I wrote and
said during my term to reflect the needs and positions of my constituents
(and I was elected by a direct vote) in ICANN's Mexico-less North American
region.

		--karl--