[governance] [WSIS CS-Plenary] slight postponementoftoday'scaucus meeting

[Ronda Hauben]

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Veni Markovski wrote:

> At 00:39 24-09-2005 +0900, Izumi AIZU wrote:
>> Being involved with ICANN AtLarge from its inception in 1998,
>> I would like to counter to what Veni wrote above.  Even if majority
>> of the average end users today are not interested in such details as who is
>> managing the DNS, IP Address and root servers, that does not mean
>> that the work of ICANN as a whole is not of the interest of the end users.
>
(...)
>
> I can't talk on behalf of ICANN, but as a plain user, I'd say that
> ICANN must have both! Direct users involvement in the policy
> development and governmental participation; how to make it happen is
> the challange.

The development of online newsgroups, mailing lists, etc make it clear
that if there were a response to what users desire, and user input
welcomed, they would be participating.

Many have tried, only to have it made clear that their input wasn't
welcomed by the structure, and form of ICANN.


> The easiest thing is to say, "let the governments take it over, yet -
> they are chosen by the people".

Unfortunately most governments these days are *not* chosen by the
people. Witness people in Germany who don't want the legislation
that takes away their unemployment insurance (Hartz IV) and instead
ushers in "liberalization".

Other countries show similar disconnect between what is the people want
and what governments are offering them.

The New Orleans disaster in the US shows the kind of result that comes
from the current neoliberal policies that dominate most governments
since the pressure of big corporations has been foisted on them.

The Internet provides for grassroots processes, it was built by
grassroots processes. That is why it is a model for the future,
not the kinds of neoliberal policies that are dominant in business
circles and also many government circles these days.

>
> veni
>

Ronda

Take a look at our book "Netizens" if you ever have a chance.

http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/

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