Re: [ga] At-Large membership: definition

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Karl and all former DNSO GA members or other interested stakeholders/users,

Here here Karl!  Well re-done!

Karl Auerbach wrote:

> On this list it was written about the ALAC that "individuals" can join as
> long as they wrap themselves in an "organization":
>
> > You need to apply as an organization or group (even if informal), as
> > long as it has individual members that use the Internet.
>
> In plan language that means that individual people have no worth except as
> members of organization, that they have no voice except through the voice
> of those organizations, and that they have no power over questions of
> internet governance except indirectly through those proxy organizations.
>
> But, of course, individuals do, at the end of the day, foot the bills of
> ICANN and suffer the consequences of ICANN policies (such as
> privacy-busting whois and the trademark uber alles UDRP.)
>
> The ALAC has a very clear historical ancestor - one that contains as much
> democratic elements as the ALAC and one in which the individual is about
> as equally empowered as the ALAC - and that is the old system of soviets
> in the now-gone Soviet Union.
>
> Compared to the red carpet treatment that ICANN gives to selected business
> enterprises and the intellectual property industry, the ALAC reduces
> members of the community of internet users to something well below third
> tier, and thus negligable, status.
>
> It's time to abandon the ALAC.  It was a product of the minds of several
> people who intentionally wanted to dismember individual participation in
> ICANN.
>
> The ALAC had its chance; it has failed.
>
> And the ALAC has not failed merely in the US; it has failed everywhere.
>
> Changing the ALAC merely in the US and Canada is not acceptable.
>
> The notion that the US and Canada are different is condescending to the
> hopes of those people around the world who wish to play a role in the
> improvement of the wellbeing of themselves, their families, and their
> communities.  It is not justice to give those of us who by a quirk of fate
> happen to live in the US or Canada a superior role in the governance of
> the internet.  If direct participation in ICANN is appropriate for people
> who live in the US and Canada then it is appropriate everywhere.
>
>                 --karl--

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
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