[governance] ITU vs. ICANN

Wed Oct 13 19:36:47 EDT 2010

Just a thought....

Has anyone attempted in trying to penetrate/enter the ALAC circle, win
over like minded people and attempt to improve and innovate ALAC to
represent all that is being discussed here regarding ALAC being unable
to serve as the voice of the Internet user? It too has bylaws and a
structure that can be amended? I do see people participating in the
IGF as members in ALAC too.

An Internet user or consumer or whatever is at the end of the day is a
Human Being. Apart from the Non-Commercial Stakeholders group (that at
least from what I have witnessed, considers Human Beings as Human
Beings or simply the only constituency with a "soul"), I see the need
for Human Beings that use the Internet to group up through
organizational affiliations to make way into ICANN processes. So, no
organization or group structure means no membership in ICANN. Only
NCSG gives the individual recognition and membership but the issue to
get it truly recognized and influential in ICANN still remains a
uphill battle like any other CS front?

Too much rhetoric but not a single solution? Why is that? Is it
because of too many conflicting philosophies or disagreement over
basic needs of a Human Being with regards to the Internet and its
governance?

IGC is a very participative, collaborative, sharing based, inclusive
and open CS model, an open network. It does truly signify how the
Internet should remain too and maybe used as a philosophy for
improvements in other IG policy circles!

Interesting times :o)

-- Best

Fouad Bajwa

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 3:58 AM, Karl Auerbach <karl at cavebear.com> wrote:
> On 10/13/2010 06:27 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
>
>> "authority derives from the consent of the governed"
>>
>> In your and my country, perhaps. On a planetary scale, that's a
>> minority. Hence the big hubbub from some governments feeling they
>> need to control this horrible thing called "Internet", which might
>> actually get them to, oh sacrilege, have to be accountable to their
>> citizens at some point in time. And that's unlikely to be happening
>> anytime soon.
>>
>> What we are witnessing is a 19th century organization functioning in
>> the 20th century, trying to control a 21st century Internet. It
>> ain't gonna happen.
>
> I tend to look at what is happening as a return to an era hundreds of
> years before that - as a return to a kind of mixed feudal and guild
> mentality.
>
> ICANN is very much a medieval guild - respect for historical context
> suggest that ICANN's headquarters ought to be in Troyes or Florence
> rather than Marina del Rey.
>
> The notion that forms ICANN's foundation, the notion that there some
> people are more important than others because they are "stakeholders" is
> a notion that ought to have died with established ruling nobility and
> personal succession.
>
> (Unfortunately, here in the US with the recent Citizens case before the
> supreme court we humans have been Constitutionally diminished to second
> rank vis-a-vis those artificial creations of legal legerdemain that we
> call corporations. ICANN's "stakeholder" structure very much dovetails
> into that philosophy.)
>
> We are very much living Satyandra's adage that those who forget history
> are doomed to repeat it. (To which I add Karl's Corollary - If you had a
> great time then forget that it occurred and it is certain to happen
> again. ;-)
>
> I quite agree with Milton and others (including you) that it is a steep
> uphill trail to move beyond the past. But I do not agree that the chance
> that it may be a Sisyphean effort means that the task ought not to be
> attempted.
>
> And I agree with Milton that ICANN's ALAC is not a creation that can be
> considered as deserving of credit as representative of the community of
> internet users. (I perceive the ALAC more as a Sally Rand feather fan
> designed to hide ICANN's removal of even those small patches of
> democratic clothing that it had a decade ago.)
>
> (And I disagree with the argument that the ALAC is young and needs time.
> ICANN's ALAC is more than 7 years old and has received so much ICANN
> funding and support that ICANN is unable to generate accounting reports
> of how much money it has spent on ALAC life support. Do we really need a
> Daniel to translate the words that are clearly written on the ALAC's
> wall by public's forsaking of the ALAC? The message, that the ALAC has
> been weighed and found wanting, is rather clear.)
>
> So what does all of this mean?
>
> To my mind it means that we need to step back and ask what it is that we
> want to accomplish. From that, I believe, we ought to revisit history's
> lessons about how to structure and constrain bodies of authority.
>
> ICANN is an experiment. And like many experiments the results that say
> how not to do a thing are the results of greatest value.
>
> It's almost as if we are in Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" - we seem to
> disregard the obvious, which is that on the internet anybody can
> establish a new DNS hierarchy and turn-off ICANN or ITU control.
>
>                --karl--
>
>
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-- 
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
Internet Governance Advisor
ICT4D Social Practitioner & Researcher
Member Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF)
Member Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC)
My Blog: Internet's Governance: http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/
Follow my Tweets: http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
MAG Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA
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