[ga] Appeal to the North American At-Large Community

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) has announced that North American representative Esther Dyson will be stepping down from her post on the committee to pursue other endeavors.  http://alac.icann.org/announcements/notice-soliciting-alac-candidates-11nov04.htm
 
After considerable soul-searching, I have decided to apply for the position being vacated and I am seeking your support in this initiative to represent the North American At-Large Community; those of you that know me from correspondence on this and other lists doubtless realize that I have not reached this decision lightly.
 
There is an old adage, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."  Over the course of the last year it has become crystal clear to me that the North American At-Large Community has been shown the ALAC trough but has had no apparent interest in partaking of the waters (most probably because ICANN's ALAC construct just doesn't make much practical sense).
 
Under ALAC, an individual must join an ICANN-endorsed local unit that next must join an ICANN-approved regional entity that must enter into a formal memorandum of understanding with ICANN (all this just in order to be able to offer a modicum of advice to the ICANN Board).   Meanwhile, sufficiently savvy North American organizations (that to some degree represent the interests of At-Large users) already realize that it's far easier to simply send a letter to the ICANN Board or to the ICANN CEO, or for that matter to join the Non-Commercial Constituency in the GNSO -- they have neither a need nor an incentive to struggle through the ALAC accreditation process.
 
In view of this reality, I have therefore decided to apply for Esther's soon-to-be vacant position on the ALAC to help make the North American position clear to the ICANN Board.  What we have by way of ALAC isn't working, and is totally incompatible with the very nature of North American individual users (who are not at all shy about expressing their views without the need for organizational spokespersons to comment in their stead).
 
Unfortunately, as most of you have realized by now, one needs to be "within" the ICANN process in order to have a chance to successfully amend the process... this is why I have decided to forward a Statement of Interest in the position, and why I seek your letters of endorsement.
 
For those of you that would like to support my candidacy, as well as for those of you that would prefer another candidate, please express your thoughts by forwarding an email on this subject to committee(at)alac.icann.org.
 
Thank you for your consideration.
 
Best wishes,
Danny Younger
dannyyounger(at)yahoo.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

		
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