[CPWG] [registration-issues-wg] [GTLD-WG] New gTLD Applicant Support - improve it, or scrap it?

[Roberto Gaetano]

Hi all.

I think that the way other constituencies or stakeholder groups are chartering themselves is orthogonal to how ALAC defines its scope. If we do believe that the reason for having ALAC is to serve the end user community, the fact that other bits and pieces of the ICANN constellation include that particular segment is by and large irrelevant.

Personally, I do not believe that ALAC should be the voice of “whoever is not included otherwise”, but must have a clear profile: I believe that we have been chartered to be the voice of the “users at-large”. “Users at-large” include indeed both registrants and non-registrants - however, as I have argued in the past, and as Evan is arguing in this thread, the non-registrant users are an overwhelming majority and, moreover, they are the ones that have less awareness of ICANN, let alone ties with it and opportunities to influence policy decisions. This is an important point, in particular because we are an advisory body, not a lobbying body. This means that we must be committed to look at the larger picture and not constrain ourselves with the support of the parts of our community that are more vocal and/or pushing for a narrow set of interests.

As observed by Tijani, most of us are not just “plain users” but also registrants. This is the case for myself as well. Moreover, we all have a knowledge and experience of the Internet world that is above average, and have therefore sometimes difficulties in “guessing” what a complete layman user (they are the vast majority!) thinks and needs, in particular when that particular user lives in a completely different geopolitical or economic situation - but this is our task.

Personally, I try always to set aside my needs as registrant to embrace the view of an Internet user that does not have this role. I believe that if we do not do this, we do not fulfil our role.

Best regards,
Roberto