[At-Large] Say Whut!

Mon Dec 10 12:36:04 UTC 2018

On Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:58 PM Evan Leibovitch <evanleibovitch at gmail.com
wrote:

> Hi Christian,
>
> Given my experiences and observations... While I have totally stayed away
> from the last At-Large review, I did one myself as a personal mental
> exercise.
>
> The conclusion I came to is that the current structure underneath ALAC is
> overly politicized, appeals to superficial airs of importance, and is at
> its core designed to be utterly impotent in regard to serving its bylaw
> mandate.
>
> Were I to be engaged in a real exercise to enable ALAC to serve its bylaw
> mandate, I would wish to eliminate ALSs and move to fully individual
> membership in RALOs. I would reduce travel and invest more in vitual
> meeting technologies. I would also concentrate ALAC activity in ONLY three
> areas:
>

------

The suggestions above sound too drastic to take sides with. However:

>
> - Creation and distribution of plain language public education on the DNS
> and how it affects public use of the internet (written independently of
> ICANN itself)
>

Yes. If DNS is demystified there would be greater user participation.

> - surveys and R&D into public needs and opinions about domain names and
> the DNS
>

+1.  A considerable amount of R&D could happen through social media, not
necessarily by votes, even by 'likes' and reactions to non-commercially
promoted posts and tweets

>
> - analysis of the result of such research, and development of ICANN input
> based on that (both in original policy initiatives and response to existing
> activity)
>

Needs to go even beyond that. ALAC could become more emphatic on Cross
Community PDPs.

Sivasubramanian M

>
> Any takers? I'm happy to engage if any interest exists. My rationale
> behind this is quite deep and I'm happy to expand if interest exists.
> ___________________
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto
> @evanleibovitch/@el56
>
> On Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 11:45 AM Christian de Larrinaga <cdel at firsthand.net
> wrote:
>
>> Given the clarity of these two comments. Maybe it is time to consider a
>> straw poll over what future role and activity At Large participants feel
>> is viable? Given the experience of the continuous perilous undermining
>> of the Internet edge by every digital miner with a pickaxe, shovel or
>> stick of dynamite?
>>
>> Christian
>>
>>
>>
>> Carlton Samuels wrote:
>> > Yessir, I can recall your exact words to me so long ago; waste of
>> > time, decision already made. The reasoning you offered was bold, too.
>> >
>> > I was interested at one point. Then when it was too clearly a bridge
>> > too far, I retired to the shadows.
>> >
>> > A congressman from Texas once told a writer I truly loved that in
>> > politics you have no right to call yourself a politician if you cant
>> > drink their whiskey, take their women and money and still vote against
>> > them. Theres a lesson there somewhere.
>> >
>> > The arguments you hear on this or that are stimulating for a policy
>> > wonk. But quite frankly at this point much of what the At-Large does
>> > is margin-gathering.
>> >
>> > Someone has to. And we live in hope.
>> >
>> > -Carlton
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, 10 Dec 2018, 1:07 am Evan Leibovitch <evanleibovitch at gmail.com
>> > <mailto:evanleibovitch at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >     So... Do all of you who sank your valuable time into that
>> >     where-do-the-auction-funds-go sham of a process feel a little
>> >     betrayed now?
>> >
>> >     How many more times will we continue to play this futile game?
>> >
>> >     The fix is always in. Let the "community" thrash about with
>> >     well-meaning but big-picture-pointless debate, then swoop in at
>> >     the end to remind where the ultimate decision lies. It lies with
>> >     the money.
>> >
>> >     "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
>> >
>> >     I got fooled enough with the Applicant Support process, the CCT
>> >     and a few others. Yeah, it's more than one but at least I can say
>> >     I know the experience intimately. But the aftermath of these
>> >     efforts (or lack thereof) is why you don't see me wasting my time
>> >     on subsequent ones. (Cue the theme music from "CSI:Miami".)
>> >
>> >     Countless of my colleagues continue the good-faith attempt to
>> >     disprove Einstein's definition of insanity(*), unsuccessfully. I
>> >     love my ALAC friends (I've literally invited you to my home) and
>> >     it pains me to watch the story repeat so often.
>> >
>> >     But sooner or later the collective massochism and denial has to
>> >     end. Turnover in ALAC is low enough to have plenty of veterans
>> >     around who should know better.
>> >
>> >     Stop playing the game. Challenge the rules instead. Perfect
>> >     example: why is ALAC involved in the minutiae of "subsequent
>> >     procedures" for new rounds of gTLDs without having even challenged
>> >     the rationale for new rounds at all? Also, I've previously spoken
>> >     at length about ALAC's sad longtime choice to respond to the
>> >     agendas of others rather than even try to set its own.
>> >
>> >     Monied interests overpower us politically by orders of magnitude,
>> >     and without a regulatory role ICANN has no incentive to push
>> >     against the money. This needs to be changed, or others will change
>> >     it from the outside.
>> >
>> >     I remind that we are now living through a period of time in which
>> >     awful political choices are being made, all over the world, in
>> >     desperate moves to disrupt deaf and corrupt status quo. ICANN and
>> >     ALAC ignore this trend at their danger.
>> >
>> >     ___________________
>> >     Evan Leibovitch, Toronto
>> >     @evanleibovitch/@el56
>> >
>> >     (*) that may not have ever actually been said by Einstein, but
>> >     it's a useful phrase regardless of source.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     On Dec 9, 2018 12:34 AM, "Carlton Samuels"
>> >     <carlton.samuels at gmail.com <mailto:carlton.samuels at gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >         https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/07/dot_web_review/
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
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>>
>> --
>> Christian de Larrinaga
>> @ FirstHand
>> -------------------------
>> +44 7989 386778
>> cdel at firsthand.net
>>
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