Jonathan Zittrain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Good to see this posting as a few people have mentioned they were planning to go to Cambridge on January 23, but I couldn't find any explanation of what was happening then or who it was open to. Is the meeting open to anyone who comes, or is there a need to let someone know if one plans to attend? >Workshop on Membership Issues for ICANN >January 23, 1999 >The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is convening a >workshop on Saturday, January 23, 1999 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in >conjunction with its study of possible membership structures for the Internet >Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It seems especially important that there be some presentation and discussion of the Internet and its unique nature. Do you plan any such discussion? I will have a paper by then that I could contribute. >The workshop will feature discussion of membership structures for existing >organizations that have confronted aspects of the membership >issues ICANN is facing. It will also feature moderated Socratic panel >discussions. But the Internet is *not* an existing organization but a unique new medium of worldwide communication. That is why it seems especially important to have discussion of the unique nature of the Internet to determine whether the membership structures you will be considering are appropriate for this unique new medium. The Federal District Court in the CDA case (and in a decision affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court) said that one needed to consider the unique nature of this new medium before being able to determine what was appropriate for it. >The Berkman Center welcomes public attendance and electronic participation via >the submission of written questions, ideas or >proposals. Comments can be submitted to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by postal >mail to: Do I have to submit this suggestion to that email as well? I will do so. >RCS/Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School >Pound Hall 511 >1563 Massachusetts Avenue >Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A. >In addition, Berkman Center staff are actively subscribed to domain >name/assigned numbers discussion lists such as IFWP, ORSC, and Internic's >domain-policy. There doesn't seem to be a list involved that takes up the concerns of the noncommercial Internet community and users. Are you making any effort to include this large segment of the Internet as part of your work? The fact that I didn't originally even receive a reply to my statement of interest in the membership support organization, and after complaining that no one notified me of the action on my application I was told that there had been a slip up. Then when I complained that it didn't seem my statement of interest had been considered, I was told that there were others from other regions that had to be included so I couldn't be. This is the danger of "representation" and of any form of exclusive or selective membership. It seems that those without a commercial interest in the Internet are being actively excluded from the whole ICANN process, and when one complains about this, one is told effectively that this is because there are those with a commercial interest in the Internet and its future in other regions of the world and they have to be included so don't expect to be. In the research I have done about the early development of the Internet, I came across a situation where the U.S. postal service was having a hearing on what should happen with regard to email and the postal service. The consultant involved with that meeting said that too often public meetings were attended only by those with a commercial interest in the issues being decided. That he was especially interested in hearing from those who did *not* have a commercial interest in the issues under discussion. In the creation and development of ICANN by the U.S. government the opposite principle is in effect. Essentially only those with a commercial interest or who are willing to represent commercial interests are allowed to be involved. And there is a principle of actively excluding those without a commercial interest. Thus the great majority of those who communicate via the Internet being disenfrachised. And the great majority of those who contribute to and make the Internet into the important and unique means of global communication are being disenfranchised. The paper I have been working on compares both the process that is involved in developing ICANN versus the process that is needed to create a functioning means of scaling the Internet and administering the essential functions of the Internet. I would be glad to make a presentation on this topic for the meeting. >The deadline for submissions is January 20, 1999. Is there any reason to send submissions as soon as possible? Is there any way to contribute to how you will frame the questions and program or has that already been determined? >For background on the Berkman Center membership study, please visit the RCS >website at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rcs. >Contact: Wendy Seltzer, +1 617 495 7547 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ronda [EMAIL PROTECTED] Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6 __________________________________________________ To receive the digest version instead, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNSUBSCRIBE, forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Problems/suggestions regarding this list? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___END____________________________________________
