[UA-discuss] [Ext] ACTION REQUIRED by May 15, 2024 For Continuation of Your UASG Membership

Wed May 15 21:36:55 UTC 2024

Roberto,

First of all, it would be a shame to see you go. You are a trusted and 
respected member of the Internet Governance community and someone that I 
personally admire. I hope you reconsider.

Regardless, to answer your concerns, I'd present a counterpoint that is 
along the same lines of your argument. The project is becoming more 
commercially viable, and we shouldn't be scared of that, because this is 
how we have gotten some results up to this point. We have tried many 
times over the years to appeal to people's good sense and conscience 
about linguist diversity, and it always end up falling on deaf ears. We 
have come to an implicit conclusion that stakeholders need to be 
convinced that there is a real business opportunity here, so that they 
invest resources into UA expecting some form of return.

It may be a less pure approach, but honestly, I think that we are still 
here for the same reason: we care about linguistic diversity, equity, 
and preservation. In that sense, nothing really changed.

What does change is the economic interest behind decisions. The more the 
UASG's decisions impact budgets and money allocation, the more scrutiny 
and transparency its community needs. Let me state the obvious: the UASG 
has always lacked greatly in this department. Like you implied, it was 
conceived as a band of rebels trying to change the Internet. Now we need 
to have greater conscience of our role as people who will affect the 
financial decisions of others, not only our own.

Just some thoughts.

Best,

On 15 May 2024 18:07, Roberto Gaetano via UA-discuss wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> May I confirm that I have no intention to provide additional SOIs for 
> any group or organization that is part of the ICANN ecosystem.
>
> I understand that, as a consequence, I will be removed from the UASG 
> mailing lists. I regret this because, to be fair, my contributions to 
> UASG has been minimal, while I have learned a lot from all subscribers 
> to UASG (can I say “members”?), in particular during the times of Don 
> Hollander and Ram Mohan, but also to the more recent days.
>
> I am under the impression that times have changed. Back then, most of 
> us were pushing UA and devoting time to it because of an ideal of 
> giving equal opportunities to people who were at a disadvantage 
> because of their different language or script. Now, as I stated at the 
> ICANN 79 Public Forum as well as at the UA Days in Belgrade, attention 
> to UA has become mainstream. This is a “good thing”, I do not regret 
> the past when there were even ICANN Board members who said that 
> “eventually people will learn English language and script”. However, I 
> see the symptoms of an increased commercial interest replacing the 
> equalitarianism approach that started this process. It is part of the 
> normal evolution: if we do not get the commercial interest to UA we do 
> not go very far. But the question remains: how much should the 
> commercial interests determine the strategies and priorities? I am a 
> fan of the multi-stakeholder model, and share the vision that the 
> multi-stakeholder model has to be global and equal, or it is not. A 
> situation in which the UASG gets funding from ICANN but claims an 
> independent managing structure, and underlines this with the 
> obligation to fill in a form that looks more like the application to a 
> trade association than to a volunteer community, is not a “good 
> thing”and raises in my mind some questions about where we are heading.
>
> The fact that the form itself has been developed in such a poor way as 
> to not being compliant with what we claim to be the ultimate purpose 
> of our community, i.e. Universal Acceptance, only adds insult to 
> injury. Hence my decision not to fill it in.
>
> I am sure that I will meet most of you in other fora in the future, 
> looking forward to it.
>
> Best regards,
> Roberto
>
>
>
>
>> On 13.05.2024, at 12:41, Seda Akbulut <seda.akbulut at icann.org> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Roberto, all,
>> Kindly please use the UASG SOI form as mentioned in the email below 
>> for continuing the membership at 
>> UASG.https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/725e244f1369423182ea1bf932df6962
>> We appreciate your understanding.
>> Kind regards,
>> Seda
>> *From:*Roberto Gaetano <roberto_gaetano at hotmail.com>
>> *Date:*13 May 2024 Monday at 13:31
>> *To:*Seda Akbulut <seda.akbulut at icann.org>
>> *Cc:*Universal Acceptance <ua-discuss at icann.org>
>> *Subject:*[Ext] Re: [UA-discuss] ACTION REQUIRED by May 15, 2024 For 
>> Continuation of Your UASG Membership
>> Dear Seda
>> Thanks for the remainder.
>> Please find the pointer to my ICANN-compliant SOI.
>> Roberto Gaetano SOI - ALAC - Global Site 
>> <https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=43983783>
>> community.icann.org 
>> <https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=43983783>
>> 	
>> favicon.ico <cid:3527766F-596D-4106-8AE9-8B60371614F7>
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Roberto
>>
>>
>>> On 13.05.2024, at 11:48, Seda Akbulut via UA-discuss 
>>> <ua-discuss at icann.org> wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>> A friendly reminder about the 15 May 2024 deadline for submitting 
>>> your SOI form as described in the email below.
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Seda
>>> *From:*Seda Akbulut <seda.akbulut at icann.org 
>>> <mailto:seda.akbulut at icann.org>>
>>> *Date:*21 March 2024 Thursday at 13:04
>>> *To:*"ua-discuss at icann.org <mailto:ua-discuss at icann.org>" 
>>> <ua-discuss at icann.org <mailto:ua-discuss at icann.org>>
>>> *Subject:*ACTION REQUIRED by May 15, 2024 For Continuation of Your 
>>> UASG Membership
>>> Dear UASG members,
>>> We hope this email finds you well. As part of ICANN’s ongoing 
>>> efforts to enhance transparency and accountability within the 
>>> multistakeholder ecosystem, we are reaching out to verify your 
>>> continued interest in receiving information from the UASG. To retain 
>>> access to UASG mailing lists, you must submit your Statement of 
>>> Interest (SOI) by 15 May, 2024. This practice is consistent with 
>>> other groups of the ICANN community (e.g., seeSOIs for GNSO 
>>> <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosoi/New+SOIs>, or click 
>>> “New SOIs” on the left menuhere 
>>> <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosoi>.)
>>> The SOI form is available 
>>> athttps://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/725e244f1369423182ea1bf932df6962[app.smartsheet.com] 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/app.smartsheet.com/b/form/725e244f1369423182ea1bf932df6962__;!!PtGJab4!8692yIZklkrGJfnv-Xl4PnPdThhT-LJHaM12_KoiEukzo-1kC4WPtskncognb6JfmFGLuPawOGQjMJMJG8q-EjcyQIJuQWxc9dq7$>.
>>> If you are unable to complete your SOI by 15 May 2024 deadline, you 
>>> will be unsubscribed from all UASG email lists. However, you can 
>>> resubscribe at a later time by submitting your SOI.
>>> ICANN will publicly publish the received SOIs 
>>> athttps://uasg.tech/member-area/[uasg.tech] 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/uasg.tech/member-area/__;!!PtGJab4!8692yIZklkrGJfnv-Xl4PnPdThhT-LJHaM12_KoiEukzo-1kC4WPtskncognb6JfmFGLuPawOGQjMJMJG8q-EjcyQIJuQdSFl2eE$>. 
>>>
>>> We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this 
>>> matter. Your participation is instrumental in building a more 
>>> transparent and robust community. If you have any questions or 
>>> concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us atinfo at uasg.tech 
>>> <mailto:info at uasg.tech>.
>>> Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to your 
>>> valuable contributions.
>>> Best regards,
>>> UASG Leadership Team
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> UA-discuss mailing list
>>> UA-discuss at icann.org <mailto:UA-discuss at icann.org>
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>>> <https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/ua-discuss>
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>
>
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-- 
Mark W. Datysgeld
Director at Governance Primer [governanceprimer.com 
<https://governanceprimer.com>]
ICANN GNSO Councilor
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