<div dir="ltr">Modestly, I agree a very important priority is creating an informed public and think about how is better outreach. Maybe each ALS in its place can be something about that. The second priority is to react to some public commentaries. If it can do both, in this order, it is better. <div><br></div><div>Regards<br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">2016-09-15 5:45 GMT-03:00 Evan Leibovitch <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:evan@telly.org" target="_blank">evan@telly.org</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><span class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)">On 15 September 2016 at 08:21, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><<a href="mailto:ocl@gih.com" target="_blank">ocl@gih.com</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> wrote:</span><br></div></span><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><span class=""><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span></span>
I do not think we "represent" end users, as none of the people on
the ALAC have been elected by end users worldwide,</div></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">IMO the context of this particular corner of the debate -- and why we keep having to revisit it -- comes from the domain industry's speed at responding any time we assert an opinion contrary to their interests, with a loud and hearty "<i><b>who the hell are you?</b></i>". (Of course when we agree with the industry we're a critical and valued stakeholder whose opinion matters much.)</div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">The definitive answer, is within the ICANN bylaws. <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en#XI" target="_blank">Article XI</a>, Section 2.4a, which states unambiguously:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><i>The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is the primary organizational home within ICANN for individual Internet users.</i></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">That means our role is to represent the interests of, and ensure the informed consent of, "the billions" whether or not they have bought domains.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">Do we -- that is, the 15 ALAC members, the RALO leadership and the ALSs and individuals that comprise the community -- actually represent the billions? Consider that a full one-third of ALAC is not elected by anyone end-users, but picked by the ICANN Nominating Committee over who <i>they think</i> we ought to have.</div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">The individial->ALS->RALO->ALAC model is one imposed by ICANN:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"><ul><li>ALAC defined in XI.2.4b,c,d<br></li><li>RALOs defined in XI.2.4g,h<br></li><li>ALSs defined in XI.2.4i<br></li></ul></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">Now, it can easily be argued that this whole infrastructure is ineffective (by design and/or leadership) at being the "home for end users"; indeed, that issue comprises (IMO) much of the scope of the At-Large Review currently underway (hi Tim!). But the fact remains that this is the structure under which we have had to work from the beginnings of At-Large as a defined community within ICANN. Those who have been involved have tried to represent end users as best we can under the circumstances. And there is no question that -- outside of governments -- At-Large provides ICANN with its most diverse stakeholder group.<br></div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">Of *<b>course</b>* we're not elected by the billions; a tiny fraction of them know ICANN exists, and an even tinier fraction knows that At-Large exists within ICANN.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">(Often, when ICANN *is* brought to public attention, whether by Ted Cruz or the Russian government or other sources, it is not painted in a public light and the presence of an end-user community as a source of guidance is routinely ignored. Perhaps the fact that At-Large advice is so often ignored is a justifiable cause of our seeming irrelevance -- but I digress....)</div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">I like the way Alan coined it sometime back and Olivier has repeated, that ALAC can't possibly say that we speak for the billions, but we can very accurately say that we do our best, given the structural constraints, to represent the *interests* of end users. This is why I like Garth's description of At-Large leadership as "stewards" of the global public interest if not its broadly-elected representatives.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">It is not an untruth that At-Large represents the billions within ICANN; that is what its bylaws say we are here to do -- and that is indeed the proper answer to "who the hell are you". That we are a geeky elite from the less than 1% of the world's population that knows what ICANN happens to be, is a reality that is unlikely to change unless WE do something about it. And that is why I am working on a re-envisioning of ALAC's stewardship that is more outward focused than inward, spending less time reacting to every stupid ICANN public comment and more on creating an informed public.</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)">- Evan</div></div></font></span></div><br>
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