Re: [Membership] Re: A Model for Community & Global Governance

[Joop Teernstra <terastra@terabytz.co.nz>]

At 16:53 25/02/99 -0500, toml@communisphere.com wrote:

>Determining the appropriate level of government to select the Certified
>ISP is going to be a bitch. The closer to the people the better in my
>opinion. ICANN's Government Advisory Committee might have a role for
>itself here.
>

Hello Tom,

We may be talking at cross-purposes here. First I thought you wanted local
government to certify Internet users, now it seems they have to certify
their ISP's as well..
Both still BAD idea's IMHO.  
ICANN's GAC is still entirely unknown and unproven. 
And we have been through this argument that ISP's can represent their users
before..(*not*) ..read the archive of the domain-policy@lists.internic.net
list. 

>JO>To give such people the power to certify or to withhold certification to
>JO>internet users will be abhorrent to all that are familiar with such local
>JO>councils or their employees.
>
>JO>Just think of a municipality somewhere in the Third world, where the
son of
>JO>the mayor runs the only ISP/cybercafe...
>
>If the ISP/cybercafI didn't meet the minimums, ICANN would say - SORRY,
>read the booklet.
>
I wasn't thinking of the ISP meeting the minimums, but the of Mayor having
the power to certify  users at his pleasure.
What kind of bureaucratic mechanism can you devise to allow ICANN to say
SORRY, YOU CAN'T to an ISP in Bangkok or Phnom Penh? 
 
>JO>Why empower unnecessary layers of incompetent (or corrupt, at worst)
>JO>bureaucracy, when millions of internet users have already certified
>JO>themselves by registering a Domain Name?
>
>Other voter qualification methods might be established as well. Maybe
>owning a Domain Name is another category of bona fide voters; although
>property ownership is pretty much scorned in my country as a voter
>qualification test.
>
Unless ICANN's empire building is going to price DN's out of reach of the
common man, owning a Domain Name is not a true economic equivalent of
owning Real Estate. 
(To an extent is should be a legal equivalent.)
Owning a Domain Name is still pretty much a self controlled qualification.
A matter of choice. Just like voting is in your borough.
The one criterion that qualifies a DN owner as an ICANN voter is the main
thrust of the White Paper: privatization and self-rule of the DNS.
All else just serves to muddy the water.



--Joop--
http://www.democracy.org.nz/