[CPWG] PIR sale…

[Greg Shatan]

I agree that our voice needs to be heard.  But what is that voice going to
say?

The Malthouse piece is a terrible blueprint for what that voice should be
saying.  Frankly, it's misguided and even offensive.  If anything, we
should be pushing back on it -- but by putting out different and better
ideas, not by getting into a flame war.

I don't support a hasty conclusion that the public interest aspect of .ORG
is being abandoned (easily or not).  At best, there is cause for concern.
But a rush to judgment is not the way to deal with those concerns.  We have
the opportunity to frame the discussion, by asking solid, well-grounded
questions, by proposing some principles/guideposts, and by providing advice
on how to resolve these concerns -- which could mean a sale that allays our
concerns and that goes through, or a sale that substantiates our concerns
and doesn't go through.

More specifically, ownership of .ORG by a non-profit has a nice symmetry to
it.  It's easy to like, people are used to it, and it may even stop bad
things from happening.  But ... there is no reason to presume that
ownership by a non-profit is truly in the best interests of .ORG, its users
or the general public.  If there's a reason to say that ownership by Ethos
Capital will serve those interests well, it will need to come from facts
and action (much of it from Ethos, PIR and even ISOC); we can't presume
that either.

We need to be the voice of the end-user, a voice of reason, and a voice for
the public interest.  We need to sort the wheat from the chaff.  We may
want to have our own meeting with ISOC, PIR and Ethos to get at the facts
and dispel the myths.  As ALAC/At-Large, we have the platform to ask for
that.

If we join the pitchfork-and-torches crowd, we lose our unique voice and
place in the ecosystem.  We become followers, not leaders.  We become
enablers (and even spreaders) of FUD, rather than dispellers of FUD.

So, let's find our voice.  But first we need to find our collective
thoughts.

Best regards,

Greg


Greg Shatan
greg at isoc-ny.org
President, ISOC-NY
*"The Internet is for everyone"*


On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 4:50 PM Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net> wrote:

> I am afraid I am starting to feel this way as well. The end user voice
> that we are here to provide is becoming a glaring absence. And we need to
> do more than ask for a seat on the PIR board. We should be joining our
> voice to others asking why and how the public interest aspect of this
> corner of the ecosystem can be so easily abandoned.
>
> Marita
> On 1/8/2020 4:33 AM, Vittorio Bertola via CPWG wrote:
>
> Il 2020-01-07 22:22 lists at christopherwilkinson.eu ha scritto:
>
> FYI
>
> Hilyard Has a Historic Chance to Activate ICANN At-Large
> <http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200105_hilyard_has_a_historic_chance_to_activate_icann_at_large/>
>
>
> The main reason why almost 20 years ago we fought to create the ALAC and
> preserve some form of user representation in ICANN after the cancellation
> of the original At Large election mechanism was exactly to guarantee a
> voice for the global public interest of billions of Internet users, against
> possible capture or failure of ICANN's industry self-regulation model. I
> have rarely seen a case in which that global interest is so clear, so
> uniformly shared across the community and so loudly voiced. IMHO, failing
> to act in this case would easily become evidence in favour of those who
> challenge ALAC's usefulness and ability to fulfill its mission.
>
> --
> vb.                   Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu   <--------
> -------->        now blogging & more at http://bertola.eu/   <--------
>
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