Re: [icann-europe] Re:ALSC publishes final draft

[Vittorio Bertola <v.bertola@bertola.eu.org>]

On Sun, 16 Sep 2001 21:23:56 -0700, Mike Roberts
<mmr@darwin.ptvy.ca.us> wrote:

>At the time, going on three weeks ago, I had in mind something like 
>US $100 from several thousand individuals who actually were willing 
>to put their money where their mouth was about having a functioning 
>At Large organization.
>
>Today, that idea is out the window, along with a lot of other 
>populist notions about any old terrorist around the globe getting to 
>vote on how to run the DNS.
>
>When civilization takes a step backward, as it did last week, it 
>usually means a period in which the people with the guns make the 
>decisions.  Anyone watching the American President on tv in recent 
>days knows that's where we're at.  It may be a while before the 
>luxury of debating what constitutes consensus in a terrorist-less 
>society returns.

Mike,

while I understand the shock that every American must feel, I come
from a Western country where not more than 25 years ago terrorism had
made normal life almost impossible, and where we still have at least a
couple of terrorist actions per year, though on a much lower scale
than in NY.

What history has told us is that the worst error you can make in this
situation is to stop believing in your own principles, or to give up
living. It is obvious that you will have to take precautions, but you
cannot fight those who oppose freedom by abolishing freedom; you
cannot defend democracy by stopping practicing it. What you call a
"luxury" is exactly what distinguishes the United States of America
from Afghanistan. Take it away, and there will be no more difference.

So I respectfully think that ICANN must not stop or alter its activity
and goals in any way; not just because ICANN is a worldwide
organization that cannot be disrupted by a single event in a single
nation of the world (not to consider that the meaning and relevance of
this event is very different if seen from different parts of the
globe), but also because lowering the degree of openness, freedom and
democracy in our everyday lives is exactly what terrorists want.
-- 
.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo vb.
Vittorio Bertola     <vb@vitaminic.net>    Ph. +39 011 23381220
Vitaminic [The Music Evolution] - Vice President for Technology

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