On Fri, Mar 05, 1999 at 03:34:13PM -0500, Milton Mueller wrote:
> Karl's claim has a specific, concrete, non-metaphysical meaning, in the
> context of the trademark constituency in particular. If there is to be a
> trademark constituency, why not also a free expression constituency?
What on earth makes you think that "free expression" is the opposite
of TM? It is perfectly consistent for a TM holder to favor "free
expression". I wager you $100 that 3 out of 4 TM owners favor free
expression.
That's what makes Karl's statement metaphysics -- there is no
meaningful opposite to a TM constituency. There is no meaningful
opposite to a registry constituency. There is no meaningful opposite
to a constituency composed of one person, for example me. If you
think about this 30 seconds you will probably understand my point.
>The DNRC,
>and individual domain name holders and advocates such as Karl and myself are
>very real, non theoretical entities. We have participated actively in the
>process. We are not ghosts or figments of your imagination. We have put
>forward specific, real proposals: to have individual memberships or, if that
>is not possible, to at least balance the constituencies. Why hasn't this
>happened?
The DNRC, you, and Karl do not form a meaningful constituency,
because 5 loud people do not make a meaningful constituency. OTOH,
individual DN holders as a class don't form a meaningful
constituency, either, for the same reason that all right-handed
people do not form a meaningful constituency.
>The answer to the "why not" is simple:
>The TM interests have more time and
>money to spend on this, and they have courted (and been courted by) other key
>participants in the dnso process to form an alliance which guarantees each
>other representation while excluding others who might challenge or threaten
>their dominance. Political relationships can indeed be "complicated," but as
>someone who studies them for a living I can tell you that this one is not
>complicated at all.
You should find some other way to make a living then, because you are
missing some very obvious things.
--
Kent Crispin "Do good, and you'll be
[EMAIL PROTECTED] lonesome." -- Mark Twain
