Dear List: I recently answered an Ester Dyson question with the following message. It explains my interests and involvement in ICANN's activities. I decided to post it to the ifwp list to encourage transparency. One element I'd have added, in hindsight, is that I hold a trademark and domain name for Communisphere(R). Tom Lowenhaupt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Monday, January 4, 1999 Esther Dyson ICANN Re: "but what "interests" *do* you represent?" ed Dear Esther, I bring a somewhat complex mix of official, professional, and personal interests into my intercourse with ICANN. The formal arises from the public office I hold as a Community Board member. In New York City the Community Board is the grassroots level of government. We have broad planning responsibilities and a small staff that fulfills an ombudsman role. My Board covers three neighborhoods with a population of 125,000 - Jackson Heights, Corona, and East Elmhurst. I've been a Board member for six years and am currently its vice-chair and co-chair of its communications committee. From our Board's everyday operation and through the investigations of our communications committee, we've concluded that our community's communications and decision support system is woefully inadequate. While we live in "the world's communications capital" we have no local TV, radio, or daily newspaper. Local communication is via snail mail and word of mouth. Our community hopes to improve our sorry communication system through the use of the Internet. But we're learning that the Internet's architecture doesn't lend itself to the governance of geographic communities and that it might even have a divisive impact on our community. We attribute this to the network's origin - being born of military design and not conceived for the betterment of geographic communities. Consequently, we fear the impact of features like distance-insensitivity and geographic-ignorance. My initial comments to ICANN on these issues, in fire and brimstone format, can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/comments.html. While our community might be on the wrong side of America's digital divide, we are working to make the Internet fit our needs. I represent these interests before ICANN. Another set of interests arise from my role as founder and director of The Communisphere Project, an endeavor to maximize Internet benefits for our community. Today we offer email, a Community Discussion Series, a BBS, sponsor a computer reuse effort, and other activities to make technology work for our residents. As Communisphere's representative I'm promoting the broad availability of suitable names for our varied community needs and community-friendly features that will allow all residents to partake of the Internet and participate in local governance. But to my mind, the most significant interests I represent come from my "brother's-keeper" responsibilities. I want to see that the Internet is used for the advantage of all people and fear that human needs are being forgotten in the scramble to control it, particularly the interests of those not now on the net. I hope this provides some insight into the interests I'm trying to represent, and that it will allow a response to my inquiry concerning the member(s) of the MAP (and on ICANN for that matter) that I might work with to represent these interests. While I see the member bios are now available - THANKS - I've been unable to discern a likely emissary for my interests. Your assistance in that regard will be appreciated. In closing I'd like to commend your curiosity about the "interests" that I represent. In the spirit of openness I urge you to promote such transparency by all participants in the RCS and other ICANN undertakings. Sincerely, Thomas Lowenhaupt Background: Thomas Lowenhaupt has been involved with designing and developing interactive telecommunications systems for two decades: cable TV 1978-82; electronic kiosks 1981-84; electronic marketing 1985-Date; founder and publisher QWIX Guide To Online Services 1988-91; founder and director The Communisphere Project 1993-date; consultant. Member and vice chair of Community Board 3 and co-chair of its communications committee. B.A. in government studies from Queens College and graduate degree in Interactive Telecommunication from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - sorry I didn't respond sooner, and I see you've been in touch with Jonathan Zittrain anyway. but what "interests" *do* you represent? Esther Dyson At 04:07 19.12.98 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ED>Esther Dyson ED>At 04:07 19.12.98 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ED>> ED>>December 19, 1998 ED>> ED>>Dear Ms. Dyson: ED>> ED>>Although I'd volunteered for the Membership Advisory I was somewhat ED>>relieved that I wasn't chosen - time being what it is. But with 80 ED>>"expressions" I'm certain you had a talented pool to select from and ED>>trust the committee will perform admirably. ED>> ED>>Not being an Internet insider, I'm unfamiliar with the MAC members. I'd ED>>appreciate your providing a short bio on each. And I'm certain the ED>>general public would also be interested. ED>> ED>>I'm particularly interested in learning of the members that represent ED>>the interests my candidacy represented, as I will direct my continuing ED>>efforts on behalf of a strong and representative ICANN through those ED>>members. ED>> ED>>Sincerely, ED>> ED>>Thomas Lowenhaupt ED>> ED>Esther Dyson Always make new mistakes! ED>chairman, EDventure Holdings ED>interim chairman, Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers ED>[EMAIL PROTECTED] ED>1 (212) 924-8800 ED>1 (212) 924-0240 fax ED>104 Fifth Avenue (between 15th and 16th Streets; 20th floor) ED>New York, NY 10011 USA ED>http://www.edventure.com __________________________________________________ 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____________________________________________
