[atlarge-discuss] Re: Re: Point of personal privilege -- I'm being disenfranchised by glitches in the system!

[espresso@e-scape.net]

 Sorry -- I hit "send" a little sooner than I intended. Here is the rest;

Thank you, everyone who tried to help me out of my confusion. 

I am definitely interested in efforts to broaden the participation of Internet users in the decision-making which affects their wellbeing, and I will be sticking around here in the hopes that this group can take those first essential steps towards organizing somethine like that. I will indeed register on the site (though not tonight since I'm exhausted).

In the meantime, at the risk of repeating myself endlessly, I would like to suggest that everyone think of what such an organization should be called, especially if we're contemplating incorporation. "ICANN At Large" confused me and would undoubtedly confuse others, too; it also suggests an affiliation with ICANN which makes no sense in the present situation. 

Last but not least, I suspect it won't attract the Internet-using public who don't think in terms of ICANN, DoC, TLD and the rest of the alphabet soup.
We are all drowning in acronyms anyway and these things don't do much for the average person but make their eyes glaze over. Something like "Internet Users of the World" may sound a bit naive to those of us who deal with acronym-ridden organizations all the time but it does have the virtue of making it plain who the organization is actually for and that all Internet users are welcome to join.

Similarly, the better we can express what the organization is intended to do in clear, straightforward language, the easier it will be to translate the message and get it out to the general public. I think it's essential that we do this quickly. Arguing amongst ourselves or with ICANN will get us nowhere. On the other hand, a worldwide letter-writing campaign just might sensitize the U.S. government to the fact that democracy matters on the "Net and that people won't stand for having it hijacked for the benefit of private interests, financial or otherwise. Given that the failure of "corporate self-policing" is making the news nightly all around the world, this just might be a good time to press for a better and more transparent institution to oversee a global electronic commons.

Does this make sense?

Regards,

Judyth


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Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
ICANN At Large Member No. 374546 since July 2000
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"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once 
they have exhausted all other alternatives." (Abba Eban)
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