<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Friday 03 August 2012 02:36 AM,
David Conrad wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:962BE8CB-4208-4C78-9B43-A0EC2B6106FB@virtualized.org"
type="cite">(snip)
<pre wrap="">
While I personally believe existence and an ability to perform a function does imply some level of legitimacy (perhaps this comes from sitting through too many presentations describing the wonders of unreleased software :-)), I don't think this is particularly relevant to how the technical community can improve the understanding of the technological underpinnings of the Internet. My question isn't about how ICANN can justify what it does, it's about how we in the technical community can get those outside that community to understand "this is how the Internet works".</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
David, Since you (and, perhaps, some others) have sincerely asked
what can the 'technical community' do to make others, chiefly,
policy makers, understand 'this is how the Internet works', let me
try to respond with all sincerity, as I really see it.<br>
<br>
I think you are quite wrong here, that 'legitimacy' or 'how ICANN
can justify what it does' has nothing to do with how the proposed
understanding of 'how the Internet works' is conveyed. My contention
is that these issues are very basically connected. Riaz has made
this point quite well, and often rather eloquently, in a few of his
recent emails, but let me summarise. <br>
<br>
The basic problem here is that the so called 'technical community'
is indeed largely what may in fact be called as the ICANN/ISOC
community. It does not consist of all the people who have sound
technical knowledge about the subject, it systematically attracts,
encourages and organises (even, variously, incentivizes) those who
can largely defend a certain techno-political status quo around the
Internet. And it equally, discourages, distances, dis-incentivizes,
and disables possibilities of organising of those technically-
knowledgeable people who could offer 'neutral' or factual views,
and, certainly, those who could advocate techno- political
alternatives. As a result, what we have as the most visible, active
etc 'technical community' is indeed, often, directly or indirectly,
aggressively or more subtly, found as trying to 'justify what ICANN
does'. Here 'what ICANN does' becomes a place-holder for the current
techno-political paradigm around the Internet.<br>
<br>
(Apart from how we are mostly faced with actors with some degree of
closeness if not embeddedness into the ICANN/ISOC system, there
indeed is the factor of '<a moz-do-not-send="false"
href="cid:part1.08040903.09030505@itforchange.net">Californian
ideology</a>' political proclivities of a certain dominant and
ascendant techie group, in general. This later point admits of
somewhat different political analysis which i wont go into here.) <br>
<br>
Now, there is nothing wrong in holding a techno-political outlook
and philosophy. Indeed, my organisation and I do. However, and this
is my main point, there is everything wrong in holding such a
outlook, and professing that one does not, and behaving as one is
merely providing 'neutral' technical details. I have found very few
people on this list, if any, merely provide technical facts, in that
sense. Everything has been thoroughly wrapped in a certain techno
-political viewpoint, in fact, mostly, in quite a strong
techno-social viewpoint.<br>
<br>
A 'technical community' committed to such specific and clear
'techno-political' viewpoint can do very little to improve the
understanding of political actors, who could have different base
political positions, or at least would want to keep alternatives
open. It is my view that this is '<i>the</i>' key issue at the
bottom of what we see here often as the display of disappointment/
dismay by many of the 'technical community' or close-about on this
list about what seems to them as such poor understanding of
political actors, and their pious statements of desire to do
something about to improve it. <br>
<br>
regards<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:962BE8CB-4208-4C78-9B43-A0EC2B6106FB@virtualized.org"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
Regards,
-drc
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>