<p dir="ltr">If A4AI is not doing a good job, probably those with concerns can get into the alliance and reform it, or create a parallel entity that will perform according to their wishes. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The global south will only benefit if any criticism on effort that helps drive policy towards universal access is followed by tangible but better alternatives.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Let us remember this quote, which reigns supreme decades later :<br></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">"Citizenship in a Republic,"<br>
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910<br>
- See more at: <a href="http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/site/c.elKSIdOWIiJ8H/b.9297493/k.7CB9/Quotations_from_the_speeches_and_other_works_of_Theodore_Roosevelt.htm#.dpuf">http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/site/c.elKSIdOWIiJ8H/b.9297493/k.7CB9/Quotations_from_the_speeches_and_other_works_of_Theodore_Roosevelt.htm#.dpuf</a></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 27, 2016 9:52 AM, "Nick Ashton-Hart" <<a href="mailto:nashton@consensus.pro">nashton@consensus.pro</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Dear Michael,<div><br></div><div>May I suggest that in the first instance, before proposing to rewrite A4Ai’s entire mission and purpose, you and those interested could have a conversation with them about your concerns?</div><div><br></div><div>I suspect that will get a better reception from presenting them with a redraft completely out of the blue, without having any dialogue.</div><div><br></div><div>Regards, Nick</div><div>
<br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On 26 Mar 2016, at 23:49, Michael Gurstein <<a href="mailto:gurstein@gmail.com" target="_blank">gurstein@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div style="font-family:OpenSans;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">My original<span> </span><a href="https://gurstein.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/a4ai-who-could-oppose-a-more-affordable-internet-the-alliance-for-an-affordable-internet-a4ai-and-the-neo-liberal-stealth-campaign-to-control-the-internet-throughout-the-developing-world-and-make/" style="color:rgb(149,79,114);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">blogpost</span></a><span> </span>examining the<span> </span><a href="http://a4ai.org/best-practices/" style="color:rgb(149,79,114);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">“Policy and Regulatory Best Practices” of the Alliance for an Affordable Internet (A4AI’s)<span> </span></span></a>has generated some considerable discussion including on the InternetPolicy elist sponsored by the<span> </span><a href="http://www.internetsociety.org/" style="color:rgb(149,79,114);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Internet Society</span></a><span> </span>(ISOC). In the course of that discussion a challenge was put forward by Bill Smith, a tech industry veteran, Board Member of ISOC and the “tech evangelist” for PayPal as follows (taken from a post to the InternetPolicy elist (Fri 2016-03-25 9:31 AM)<u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">What is lacking in the discussion against A4AI, is a well-articulated alternative. Some bits and pieces may appear but they suffer from the same deficiencies attributed to A4AI’s principles, best practices, and policy positions – they are offered as fact with no substantiation.</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">A4AI has what I consider a set of easily understandable principles, best practices, and policy positions. I suspect that when applied in practice, they will be effective in many circumstances. They may not be appropriate in all. (Think globally act locally.)</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">What I haven’t seen are a similar set of principles, best practices, and policy positions from the non-neoliberal corner. Perhaps such a set could be presented to this list for consideration and debate.</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">This below is my response to this challenge (I have added additional comments by Brandt Dainow also a contributor to the InternetPolicy elist):<u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><a href="https://gurstein.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/alternative-best-practices-for-the-a4ai-to-be-renamed-alliance-for-an-accessible-internet/" style="color:rgb(149,79,114);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://gurstein.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/alternative-best-practices-for-the-a4ai-to-be-renamed-alliance-for-an-accessible-internet/</a><u></u><u></u></div><div style="margin:0cm 0cm 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