[ALAC] The Role of the At-Large Community - Discussion with the Board

Fri Mar 3 14:27:55 UTC 2017

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On 3/3/17 12:33 AM, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> This whole process is insane.
>
> Is the Business Constituency ever asked if it represents or speaks for 
> every business -- domain owner or not -- in the world? Is NPOC asked 
> if it represents every NGO? Do the people who attend from law 
> enforcement speak for all police and military?
>
> Contracted parties -- ie, the domain industry -- generally do have 
> reasonably full representation, in part because there are relatively 
> few players and in part because they are so fully invested in -- and 
> dependent on -- ICANN's pseudo-regulation more than other communities 
> or constituencies.
>
> But it seems that At-Large alone is singled out for this kind of 
> analysis, because -- unlike the others -- we wouldn't be able to be 
> involved without the charitable resources -- travel and staff support 
> -- that ICANN bequeaths upon us. Such support clearly bothers other 
> communities who believe that we are skimming off revenues THEY bring 
> to ICANN just so we can trash them.
>
> In my experience, the "who the hell are YOU speaking for?" comment has 
> been used whenever we have something to say that poses a legitimate 
> end-user-driven challenge to ICANN's standard operation. Hearing that 
> in a debate would embolden me because it indicates that our logic and 
> evidence was superior and the only rebuttal was to challenge our 
> legitimacy.
>
> At the end of the day, we do the job that is asked of us to the extent 
> we are able -- that is, to bring the end-user point of view into ICANN 
> to the best of our individual capabilities. That is all that Bylaw 
> 12.2(d) asks of us and I believe we have generally done that as well 
> as possible given the constraints in place. We try to bring forth such 
> a PoV informed by a geographical and linguistic diversity unmatched 
> elsewhere in ICANN except for the GAC. But even here we are deeply 
> flawed, considering how the regions are sliced and a structure that is 
> so complex so as to churn more volunteer time on process than on 
> policy input.
>
> Still, there is decent output. I see our policy diversions from NCSG 
> as a (positive) reflection that grassroots population don't always 
> share the same priorities and perspectives of the civil society that 
> is supposedly protecting it. This divergence exists on the street, so 
> seeing it in play within ICANN tells me that At-Large is indeed doing 
> a reasonable -- and surprisingly accurate --  job at conveying the 
> end-user perspective.
>
> Whether or not we get listened to is a different story.
>
> - Evan
>
>
> On 2 March 2017 at 23:54, Alberto Soto <asoto at ibero-americano.org 
> <mailto:asoto at ibero-americano.org>> wrote:
>
>     I agree with Alan. I would just add that those 10 chosen, and the
>     rest of
>     the non-elected members, through their ALS are the FINAL
>     USER-RALOS-ALAC
>     ICANN interface. And through them feedback is done with the end
>     users. From
>     there it is clear that we interpret and defend the interests of
>     the end
>     users.
>
>     Regards
>
>     Alberto
>
>     -----Mensaje original-----
>     De: alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>     <mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
>     [mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>     <mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org>] En nombre de Alan
>     Greenberg
>     Enviado el: Friday, March 3, 2017 1:34 AM
>     Para: ALAC <alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>     <mailto:alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org>>
>     Asunto: [ALAC] The Role of the At-Large Community - Discussion
>     with the
>     Board
>
>     One of the topics suggested (by Rinalia) for discussion with the
>     Board in
>     CPH is the challenges of engaging with end-users.
>
>     I would like to start the discussion by presenting the results of
>     Table 3 in
>     the At-Large Review report describing a survey question on the
>     role of the
>     A-L Community.
>
>     The question read: In your opinion which of the following
>     statements most
>     accurately describes the role played by the At-Large Community
>     within ICANN?
>
>     There were five answers shown here with the % of Board/SO/AC
>     respondents for
>     each option.
>
>     1. The At-Large Community is made up of ALSes and individual RALO
>     members
>     that mainly act in their own interests. (58%)
>
>     2. The At-Large Community is made up of At-Large Structures
>     (ALSes) and
>     individual RALO members that engage in ICANN policy development
>     processes on
>     behalf of Internet end users worldwide. (13%)
>
>     3. At-Large is the body within ICANN that allows all Internet
>     end-users to
>     engage in ICANN policy development processes in an equal and
>     non-discriminatory fashion. (6%)
>
>     4. The At-Large Community is made up of At-Large Structures
>     (ALSes) and
>     individual RALO members that effectively engage with the global
>     community of
>     Internet end-users in a bottom-up, consensus- driven fashion. (13%)
>
>     5. The elected members of the ALAC have a mandate to speak in the
>     interests
>     and on behalf of end users in ICANN policy development processes.
>     (10%)
>
>     My analysis:
>
>     1. is largely correct. ALSes are independent entities that
>     generally exist
>     outside of the ICANN context. They of course act in their own
>     interests
>     (which may well coincide with the interests of other including the
>     interests
>     of 3.5 billion users. However, by consolidating these regionally
>     diverse
>     inputs, the RALOs and the ALAC can reasonably claim to represent
>     the needs
>     and interests of users world-wide.
>
>     2. is also correct. We certainly do need to get MORE people
>     involved, but if
>     the component parts listed in 2 are not us, who are we?
>
>     3. is impossible. How can ANYTHING claim to engage all 3.5 billion
>     users, or
>     even provide the mechanisms to allow such participation? Do 6% of
>     respondents really think we do??
>
>     4. is either impossible if it implies that ALSes and individual
>     members
>     engage with the ENTIRE global community, or is a reasonable target
>     if we
>     mean that each part engages in some subset of their local
>     community, or is
>     based on experience with such a community.
>
>     5. is false. No one of the 10 RALO-selected (presumably that is
>     what they
>     meant by "elected") Member has a mandate to speak on behalf of all
>     users or
>     the users of their region. But together, along with the
>     NomCom-appointed
>     Members have a mandate to formulate statements which they believe
>     will serve
>     the global user community well.
>
>     What do people think of this analysis?
>
>     Alan
>
>
>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Evan Leibovitch
> Toronto, Canada
>
>     Em: evan at telly dot org
>     Sk: evanleibovitch
>     Tw: el56
>
>
>
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-- 
Garth Bruen
gbruen at knujon.com

617-947-3805
http://www.knujon.com
ICANN At-Large Advisory Council
Author: WHOIS Running the Internet
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