On 09-Feb-99 Ken Freed wrote:
> Eric Weisberg says the mass of folks on earth will not
> vote in ICANN elections, even if asked, so he proposes
> going instead with public interest organizations having
> a say in the process. His notions have merit, yet notice
> the assumption that public apathy will prevail. I am not
> convinced this will always be the case. Think long term.
Well, real world examples don't tend to support your claim.
For example, Ripe hosts a mailing list wwTLD for ccTLD managers, it is much
like their internal domain-policy list. Less than HALF of the ccTLD managers
have participated in this list. And these are people DIRECTLY affected by this
process. You would expect the number to be much higher than that.
The fact is that until something happens that directly affects them and that
they feel they can be an activist about, they will not get involved. And
history tends to indicate that most of those who get involved in such a
fashion, tend to get involved only for the short term, and drop off once their
problem is either solved, or it becomes obvious that their problem will not be
solved by their participation.
While I support that fact that we need to provide means for open participation,
don't expect it to be that vast by any stretch.
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E-Mail: William X. Walsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 08-Feb-99
Time: 16:44:55
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"We may well be on our way to a society overrun by hordes
of lawyers, hungry as locusts."
- Chief Justice Warren Burger, US Supreme Court, 1977
