Re: [atlarge-discuss] Our New Name Isn't...

[espresso@e-scape.net]

At 05:21 +0200 2002/10/04, Norbert Klein wrote:
>Let us tie our fate to whatever the place is where the fight for democratic
>control over the tasks given at present to ICANN may be - with an ICANN >after one more year, of following wherever the struggle for this bottom-up
>structure moves. But the struggle is about this structure, not about some >philosophy not related to this real battle.

I think there is a real disagreement about fundamentals which is being glossed over. Norbert, you assume we all signed up for this group because it had ICANN in its name and because its fate would be determined by ICANN. I know that isn't true for me -- in fact, the opposite! 

I signed up because the ICANN mechanism for including the interests of Internet users around the world, flawed as it was, was being abolished. 

I don't believe for a moment that ICANN wants Internet users to have a voice, and I believe they need one. This group held out the promise of an umbrella-group or round-table mechanism whereby Internet users from all parts of the world could collaborate on ways to make their collective voice heard whenever and wherever it needs to be heard -- that is, with ICANN, the DoC, the U.S. Department of Justice in matters of anti-trust law, the UN's World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in 2003, and anywhere else it matters. 

In fact, if the fate of this group is tied to ICANN, I can already foresee its failure. We *know* ICANN doesn't want to know, and will use every possible means to discount and disregard input from anyone outside the charmed circle of major business players. The way to resolve that issue is to forget about ICANN itself, build an effective structure for the voice of Internet users, and then make that voice heard by the people who control ICANN, own Internet infrastructure, make international Internet law, etc. so that the replacement(s) for the current ICANN cannot behave the same way.

>With the argument you propose, the 1000 people who subscribed might have
>said: better do nothing, and surely not subscribe to ICANNatlarge, because >we dont like the present direction of ICANN, and maybe the DoC will stop it
>anyway.

I'm not sure that follows logically from what Chris said but it doesn't really matter anyway. NOTHING this organization can do, however large and vocal it might become, will change the facts of ICANN's structure and its new Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Commerce of the United States of America. If we have a problem with ICANN's behaviour, we can write to them and be told (as usual) that they know how things ought to be and we shouldn't be permitted to interfere. Then we can send our letter and ICANN's reply to the DoC and say "see, they are not taking users' needs into account" and the DoC will reply "we have told them they should be trying to be more democratic but let's wait and see how they do over the coming year". These things have already been tried, and they just don't work.

Ironically enough, I suspect that if our 1000 people had each written a letter to the DoC at the right time to cite instances of ICANN's acting in bad faith (like the court case needed for an elected board member to see the books!) and request that the new MoU spell out standards for ICANN's behaviour more clearly as well as penalties for its failure to meet those standards, the new MoU might read quite differently. 

Maybe by this time next year, this group would be prepared at least to send out an e-mail message to its members asking them to do that... but this time, my suggestion that we write as a group received the support of precisely ONE other person and absolutely nothing happened. People were far too preoccupied with outrage at the latest pronouncements by ICANN and the advocacy of one domain name over another to do anything so practical.

Here's a different approach:  

I.
- Forget the name for the moment
- Forget about ICANN which none of us can do anything about
- Forget about the DNS problem which most of us can't do anything about
- Forget about fundraising and outreach which we're not ready for 

II.
- Define in 100 words or less a practical, achievable goal for this
  organization-to-be -- that's the MISSION STATEMENT. [EVERYONE]
- Elaborate on that 100 words to the extent of a paragraph explaining the concepts in the mission statement to people who know nothing about the inner workings of ICANN, the history of USENET, how DNS works, etc. but simply want to be able to use the Internet in their own lives and communities --
that's the MANDATE of the organization and, incidentally, the "Welcome" page for the eventual Web site. It says "This is who we are and what we do."
[PANEL with input from EBERYONE]

III.
- Write a set of definitions of the crucial elements in our discussions:
what's ICANN, what's a TLD, etc. but also "what's a member?" "what does the Chair do? the Secretary? the Treasurer? the Board of Directors" [BYLAWS]
- Decide what internal structures are needed to fulfil the mandate: Board, committees/WGs, annual general meeting and special meetings of members, and how their work can be done efficiently via the Internet. [PANEL and BYLAWS, input and voted by EVERYONE]
- Decide what kinds of decisions get made by whom and how votes will be conducted, elected persons replaced if they leave or must be removed, etc.
-- all of this is the Constitution or Bylaw No. 1. [EVERYONE edited by BYLAWS ratified by EVERYONE]

IV. (simultaneous with III)
- Collect information on costs and conditions of incorporation and have a committee/WG make a recommendation on that. [LEGAL & FINANCE COMMITTEE]
- Write a short, preferably snappy history of how this organization came about, providing some links to the most crucial documents and media coverage but *not* counting on readers to pursue all the controversial byways to understand why we felt the need for this group. (With any luck, others will agree and should be able to sign up then and there.) [VOLUNTEERS, WEB]
- Weed through the masses of information and links about ICANN's history and practices and provide some "guidebook" text for each link, perhaps with a rating system indicating whether the link is highly technical or of interest to the general reader. (This gives the newcomer the chance to read as much or as little on the site as they're comfortable with, and in the order they prefer.) [VOLUNTEERS, WEB]
- Install a mailing-list management software on the Web site or find a willing host for separate lists for the various working groups, and put the subscription information and descriptions where everyone can see it. Make sure the archives are easily searchable (maybe a search engine on the site?). [WEB and LIST OPERATIONS]
- Include a handy page-creation tool whereby the first willing body from any given country can make a new page for that country's citizens to join on (in their own language, for preference) and collaborate in building a local chapter. Maybe a functional drop-down list to choose amongst the existing countries or "New..." to start a new page? [WEB]
- Put together a list of other organizations whose interests might overlap with ours whose members might be interested in joining us and/or participating in any campaigns we launch, a list of online and print media people who should be contacted when we have something to announce, a list of foundations and private donors who might be approached when we have a concrete plan we need to fund, etc. [OUTREACH and PUBLIC RELATIONS]


Somewhere along the line, once some real work is organized and under way, we can finalize the name and domain name, place where incorporation papers go in, who the initial officers making the application will be, and who puts up the money to file. But by then we'll know where we're going and why and how, so I suspect these decisions will be much easier. Anyway, the above are some of the tasks I see as necessary and I'll be interested to see whether anyone is much interested in actually doing them.

HTH,

Judyth


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Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
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"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
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