Considering an alternative to ALAC

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Not only did ICANN ignore the ALSC recommendation that one third of the ICANN 
Board should be made up of At-Large representatives, they then went further and 
expelled those members of the At Large who had already been elected to the 
ICANN Board.

It was a coup.

Since ALAC was the face-saving device created by ICANN to 'cover up' the 
expulsion of the At Large from the Board Room, it is either idealistic or 
deliberately ironic that you are appealing to ALAC to represent the interests 
of individual users at this time.

Only this week ALAC has been moving to make membership of their "closed shop" 
even harder, insisting that any new members must physically attend fifteen (15) 
days of ICANN meetings all round the world, while continuing to bar any 
individual internet users from membership of their individual users' 
constituency on the grounds that they are individual users.

I have tonight contacted other agencies around the world who might be more 
willing to promote and support a genuine Individual Users movement, since ICANN 
has demonstrated that it has no agenda to let Individual Users back in to their 
California-based quango.

The interests of hundreds of millions of ordinary Internet Users cannot be 
sidelined, marginalised and locked out forever. The people who actually use the 
net and the DNS, contribute to it, communicate through it, and develop it, have 
a right to an active participation in decisions about the future direction of a 
resource which, frankly, belongs to the whole world and not just the Department 
of Commerce of a single nation.

ALAC does not offer that "active participation" because ALAC locks out these 
millions of individuals who could create a wonderful and vibrant community. It 
is therefore only logical to consider an alternative to ALAC (and, in all 
likelihood, an ultimate alternative to ICANN). The User Constituency which 
emerges will offer credibility to agencies or organisations that have the 
vision and intelligence to embrace it. The support of Internet Users is, 
ultimately, like a mandate that may be used by other agencies to show that they 
act on behalf of the worldwide community of users, and not just a 
self-perpetuating clique at Marina del Rey.

The convergence of Internet Users worldwide with an governance accountable to a 
body or agency beyond California may well persuade the Press and several 
Western governments that it would be better to move on from ICANN altogether.

Yrs,

Richard Henderson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Danny Younger 
  To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Cc: committee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 8:22 PM
  Subject: [ga] Letter to the ALAC


  Dear members of the Interim At-Large Advisory Committee,

  ... [snip snip]...

  As you are representatives of the At-Large interest, we presume that have 
have no qualms about seeking to implement the consensus-driven recommendation 
of your peers to place elected at-large representatives on one third of the 
ICANN Board (especially at a time when the state of ICANN finances are no 
longer the issue that they once were).

  We look forward to your participation on the General Assembly discussion 
list, and know that you understand that all efforts to continue promoting 
"participation without representation" are categorically rejected by the 
at-large community.

  Best regards,
  Danny Younger
  dannyyounger[at]yahoo.com