[ALAC] Bad Actor Admission

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hi Bastiaan,


> It does confirm to me there is all the more need for civil society and
> end-user influence and push back. I take it we all agree on that. Of course
> the discussion we’re having is not only about the ‘why’ but especially
> about the ‘how’. I do not have the answer. Although I find the almost
> academic discourses of some of our colleagues in this thread very
> interesting, I think the real challenge is to translate our concerns into
> practical and feasible measures which we can also clearly communicate to
> our constituencies in order to engage them.
>

My thoughts on constructive action going forward have been expressed
elsewhere. But here's one more time.

*TL;DR version: Baby steps won't work. ALAC needs a hard look at itself and
the impact it's making, which is currently ... not much as seen by the
outside world.*

ICANN At-Large seriously needs to re-envision its purpose and how it can
faithfully serve the public interest while staying true to its role as
defined in the ICANN bylaws. This means a conscious decision to re-evaluate
what the public interest in the DNS is, well beyond the current policy
processes currently limiting ICANN's governance.

As just one example (but a big one): ICANN has stated emphatically that it
is not a regulator. Implied in that is the assertion that the DNS does not
need regulation, just the bare oversight-by-contract that ICANN currently
provides. So in the DNS world there are no rules, just contract terms.
Is this sufficient? Isn't ICANN in a conflict of interest by being
financially dependent on the industry it is supposed to oversee?
Is the public interest served by having the DNS unregulated? What are the
risks of continuing lack of regulation?
And If ICANN won't regulate, who should? The ITU? (shudder) If not them,
then who?

These questions (and others) desperately need to be asked. Industry won't
ask them, because it is fine with a status quo in which it has control. The
GAC, if pressed, will happily fall back on multilateralism which may be no
better than the current industry capture. It's up to ALAC, and we're too
busy in reacting to micro-crises (Public comments! Working groups! Combined
working groups!) to actually perform our role of sober reflection on how
ICANN serves the interests of end users.

ALAC advice is not and never has been limited to domain policy. We are able
-- we are MANDATED -- to comment on every aspect of ICANN including its own
scope, governance and methods of operation. And yet ... when was the last
piece of real advice that ALAC gave to ICANN about its dereliction of duty
to the public interest by refusing to regulate? No, the ALAC of today is
content to changing paragraphs here and there on the edges of
industry-crafted policy.  This tactic, while it creates occasional small
victories and fleeting alliances, solves none of the larger problems.

As many of you know I was deeply involved in ALAC for a long time, and now
I've had sufficient time outside the bubble to see just how tiny our
victories were. Meanwhile the community of billions for whom the ICANN
Board have entrusted ALAC to speak sees ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to show for our
thousands of person-hours and air miles. Domains remain abused, expanding
in numbers without evidence of demand, locked away by speculation, only
truly owned by the domain service industry, resistant to real competition
and dedicated to growth at the expense of utility. What have we successfully
done about any of that except smooth a few of the roughest edges?

I do not hold all the answers, or even most of them. I personally believe
that ALAC needs to divert a substantial portion of its budget away from
travel and outreach and into R&D and public education, and that it should
have enough independence so that it is able to successfully fund-raise
outside ICANN without jeopardizing its core finances. These solutions of
mine may be way off, but I haven't seen any alternatives beyond just
continuing to run the maze assigned to us.

Why must we think so small when so much needs to be done and nobody else is
doing it? We need to be more than simply ICANN's response when it's accused
of insufficient public accountability.

I *beg* for the push-back you ask for, Bastiaan; is ALAC capable? Does it
have the will? Or is it too comfortable with members playing politics?

I really do hope this topic gets sufficient breathing room at the next
Summit, for that IMO seems the only real forum where this can be aired in a
way that can hope for any traction.

- Evan
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