[ICANN-EU] "Let the market decide"?

[Thilo Pfennig <tp@alternativnetz.de>]

On 22 Aug, Jeanette Hofmann wrote:

> [...] "let the market decide" -  [...]
> This model, which, frankly, never convinced me, doesn't work 
> anymore on the planet Internet. There are other parties too, among 
> them lawyers, goverments and so on, that wish to participate. Private 
> users always had a strong impact on the development of the Net - 
> simply by using certain services and by denying others.  The most 
> famous example is the WEB. 
> Now, if we accept that there has been a major shift of power with 
> regard to the administration of names and numbers, why shouldn't we 
> consider to strengthen the influence of users while everybody is 
> sorting out his or her new role in cyberspace?

Ok, let's look on the development of HTML. In the beginning there was a
basic tag-set. The W3C tried to develop slowly a more SGML-compatible
language. But the demand of users and graphical designers as well as
Browser-Developers leaded to new tags, which were not presented in the
official HTML-drafts. Now W3C has learned and the standards get more
"market-compatible". The "market" or the "real-world" is the only
standard that we realistically can focus on. In Germany there were some
tries to push a special standard (like X400). But if those standards do
not provide something like "simplicity" and "acceptance by users" they
will not be used. Often time will rule the direction. The only thing we
can do is discuss developments and improve the know-how of users,
managers,politicians. I do not see the difference between "market" and
"users"!? Users build the market. The market are the users.

The end-users nowadays have the biggest influence on the development.
Every company that wants to earn money must understand what users want.
politicians that want to be reelected also. The only thing is that we
msut learn to listen. Creating usable public forums is a good thing. But
I don't think users should vote on development issues, except by
participating in the development (like in the open source community).

To strengthen the influence of users on the technical site is the task
for the business. Protecting their rights is the task of the nations or
united organizations. 


-- 
Thilo Pfennig, Kiel 
<http://Alternativ.Net/>