Re: [ga] ALAC Statement on WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Actions

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004, Vittorio Bertola wrote:

> This statement has just been released by the ALAC. Comments or questions 
> are welcome.

I'm sorry that I can't support the statement as it is not in accord with
my strongly held belief that the fundamental unit of sovreignty is not the
"private sector" but the individual human being.

To the extent that national governments are ordained and established by
the people those governments are worthy of far more respect as the voice
of those people than are arbitrarily defined groups of "stakeholders".

Few, if any, truly democratic governments have ever dared to place as many
layers of insulation between their seats of authority and their citizenry
as ICANN has placed between itself and the community of internet users.  
We should not delude outselves into a belief that the mechanisms that
ICANN has created for public participation are in any way adequate.

(I note in passing that the the ALAC statement asserts that ICANN's role
be "limited to technical matters".  Given that ICANN has engaged almost
exclusively in the regulation of business processes, the ALAC statement is
suggesting that the ICANN that is desired is nearly the opposite of that
which exists.  That is an opinion with which I quite agree.)

		--karl--