[governance] Are Internet users powerless or empowered, and how?

[George Sadowsky]

Dear Karl,

At the risk of starting yet another questionably productive thread on 
this list, I have to comment on your comment below.  I found it an 
amazing comment, and perhaps symptomatic of why this list is not as 
productive as it could be.

99.999% of Internet users are not drowning in powerlessness! 
Instead, if they are drowning in anything, they are drowning in a sea 
of extraordinarily rich information service offerings that they 
couldn't have dreamed of having access to 10 years ago.  I think that 
any one of them would say that they revel in the freely available 
services that the Internet offers them, and they would say that the 
Internet has empowered them in many ways.  in particular, they can 
get a multiplicity of domain names if they want; they can even set up 
whole networks and connect them to the Internet.

Where is the powerlessness, except from the at most 0.001% who are in 
some way not satisfied with that, and who believe that they could run 
the Internet better?  I think that you are looking at these issues 
through a distorted lens.

I surely admit that there are improvements that can be made, mostly 
IMHO in the area of available and affordable Internet access.  I also 
admit that there are surely threats in areas such as confidentiality 
and freedom of expression, just like there are with respect to every 
other form of communications medium, including private conversations. 
Concern over those issues is hardly sufficient to induce a feeling of 
powerlessness on the part of Internet users.

If you're going to speak for the less than 0.0001% of Internet users, 
you may wish to qualify your statements accordingly.  I choose to 
concentrate on the vast majority of Internet users, and I strongly 
believe that they feel empowered by this technology, rather than 
feeling powerless.

Furthermore, I believe that the discourse on this list would be much 
more productive if we all concentrated on the great majority of users 
and potential users, and ask what kinds of structure, behavior and 
governance with respect to the Internet would make the Internet a 
better vehicle for meeting these users' needs.

Regards,

George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
>  From: Karl Auerbach [mailto:karl at cavebear.com]

>  If you were drowning, as internet users are, in a sea of powerlessness,
>  and if given a choice between the ALAC, and its nearly vacuous ability
>  to hold ICANN to account, and real elections for real identifiable
>  people - including themselves if they chose to run, don't you think
>  that many, perhaps most would chose elections?



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