RE: The telephone network and the internet (RE: [ga] ALAC commentson proposed Bylaws modifications)

[Karl Auerbach <karl@CaveBear.com>]

Let's compare the who has power in ICANN against who has power in the ITU 
and see which gives the internet user community a better chance at having 
an impact:

    ICANN Participants who have actual roles in the making of policy:
      - Governments (frequently through self-appointed representatives without
                     actual credentials to represent their countries)
      - Selected industries (ISPs, intellectual property owners,
                             DNS registrars/registries)
      - Educational institutions (not educators, but the institutions)     
      - Non commercial organizations
      - Regional IP address registries

    ITU Participants who have actual roles in the making of policy:
      - Governments (through formally appointed representatives) 
      - Selected industries

What is interesting is that the internet user community is present in
neither of these.  (ICANN's nominating-committee/ALAC/ROLO/structure can
be dismissed - it is no more a meaninful vehicle for public participation
than were the village soviets in the USSR, the system upon which ICANN has
seemingly modeled its structure for public participation.)

Now, ICANN itself has made the claim that governments adequately represent 
the interests of their citizens.  If one believes this, than the internet 
user community would naturally prefer the ITU over ICANN because:

   a) The government role (and thus the representation of the internet users) is 
      less diluted by other interests in the ITU than it is in ICANN.

   b) The governmental role in ITU is more formalized in the sense that 
      the representatives are clearly credentialed rather than ad hoc
      self appointees.  This means that there is a greater chance for
      the national citizens to exert organized influence on their
      representative.

		--karl--


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