[NA-Discuss] Evan's Closing speech

[Glenn McKnight]

>EVAN LEIBOVITCH:   The counter is already going before I even get up.  Maybe that's a sign.

 (No translation to scribes) it's a pleasure to be here with you at
the At-Large Summit -- the planning and the staging of the first-ever
global gathering of ICANN's public constituency.

 Soon after my ALS was first recruited to join ICANN At Large about
two years ago, I was exposed to a diversity of opinions and emotions
about ICANN, most of which I was not prepared for.

 It was curiosity and confusion, augmented by an unusual amount of cynicism.

 My first meeting, in San Juan, was what I considered to be the birth
place of the current At Large, for it was the first time that every
region had formalized and we finally had an ALAC that was mainly
elected by and representative of the community.

 Between then and now, I've come to see that the vision that created
the at-large infrastructure was, complex though it may be, it is the
best long-term path to providing ICANN with high-quality, diverse, and
genuine direction.

 In the six days that have just passed, I've come to see that that
vision is in the right hands.

 In the time I've been involved, the ALAC has evolved dramatically.
As an example, two years ago, I would have told you that AGP actually
means a graphics card that you would put in a PC.

 In the time since then, I've come to know it as something also called
the add-grace period, a seemingly benign tool with few equivalents in
the normal world of business.

 At Large had witnessed that the AGP had become the core of a
particularly nasty form of name space abuse, domain tasting.  It was
At Large that identified the tasting as contrary to the public
interest, initiated processes to study it, and eventually drove
measures that would ultimately lead to a dramatic reduction in its
use.

 Since then, At Large and its representative ALAC have become
increasingly involved in other areas of ICANN policy.

 We have become a primary supporter of Internationalized Domain Names
as well as IPv6.

 We've asserted ourselves into the domain on WHOIS data accuracy and
also into gTLD creation.

 We continue to study the various parts of the RAA, to identify areas
of domain abuse, of registrant abuse, and especially of end user
abuse.

 We're holding ICANN increasingly accountable as to its transparency,
its enforcement activities, and its respect for the rights and needs
of registrants and the billions of Internet users worldwide.

 The level of maturity, enthusiasm, and talent evident within At Large
has clearly been evident in the events being held this past week in
this, our first-ever summit.

 In workshops and thematic sessions, we've not only identified
challenges, but we've also proposed concrete solutions that will
ultimately benefit both ICANN and the public it is charged to serve.

 Yesterday's workshop on e-crime, another summit initiative, attracted
interest throughout the ICANN community.

 The vision that's inspired these events was a bold one, and it was
not without risk.  And it has also not been easy to achieve.  It is a
continuing challenge to engage the interest of organizations and
individuals who do not have a primary interest in Internet governance.

 It is an even greater challenge to be informed in languages other than English.

 And sometimes we still find within ICANN that merely having the
ability to speak does not guarantee that we get listened to.

 [ Applause ]

 >>EVAN LEIBOVITCH:   These changes can be addressed, and they are
being addressed.

 The board governance report on the ALAC review has demonstrated
admirable understanding of the vision that created At Large.

 The quality of At Large's policy input has, I believe, naturally led
to a heightened awareness of and respect for the voice of what is
ICANN's largest constituency.

 Some of our largest challenges, though, come from within.  We need to
be more active, more assertive, more educated, and more engaged, both
within ICANN and within the greater community of Internet users.  We
cannot be intimidated by those who care not for the public good, but
we must also be constructive and progressive in our approach.

 Some healthy cynicism is always useful.  But we cannot and must not
allow ourselves to be obsessed by it.

 We are well on our way.  The summit has been a critical milestone in
the maturation of At Large.

 I hope many of you have had a chance to participate in our many
events, and I invite everyone here to go to the Web site that I hope
will be on the slide that comes up soon.

 There we go.

 Anyway, I encourage you to go to that Web site to read about the
constructive and realistic policy work that came out of this week's
events.

 In it, you'll find creative and positive approaches to WHOIS, how
ICANN can operate better in a global environment.  And you'll also
find that, in some ways, we are amongst the strongest advocates of new
gTLDs.

 To me, the summit is an end of one phase of At Large and the
beginning of another.  In its success, we see a very clear point of
transition.  From here, that we've demonstrated that we have not only
turned vision into mission, but also mission into action.

 On behalf of the 88 at-large structures attending here and the many
more still operating at home, I want to thank ICANN staff -- and you
all know who you are and where you are here --

 Your help has been invaluable in helping to create an event that has
been a complete success by whatever metric you think of.

 I want to give a special acknowledgment to summit chair Wolf Ludwig
and his extraordinary talent at herding cats.

 [ Applause ]

 >>EVAN LEIBOVITCH:   And I'm delighted to see Nick Ashton-Hart in
good enough shape to spend some time with us and finally see the
fruits of our collective sweat.

 [ Applause ]

 >>EVAN LEIBOVITCH:   Stand up.  Come on.

 [ Applause ]

 >>EVAN LEIBOVITCH:   As we prepare to close the summit today, I hope
my fellow members of At Large leave here with a strong, clear, and
simple message:  This is our ICANN.

 What happens next depends on ICANN's holding true to its vision and
our communities' determination to fulfill it.

 Now, let's go make it happen.

 Thank you.

 [ Applause ]



-- 
Glenn McKnight
868 Corbetts Road
Oshawa, Ontario L1K 2E1
905-434-6655
mcknight.glenn at gmail.com
skype  gmcknight
http://newsocialmedia.wordpress.com