Hi Roberto,
I had a long exchange with some Netizens
up in Canada about my call for *traditional*
American values. They felt that it was not
appropriate for me to hold our system of
government up as the ideal for the rest of
the world to follow, especially for the 75
or so other countries that have democratic
traditions.
I couldn't agree more!
In fact, the U.S. Government has been as
guilty as *any* government in abandoning
Netizens rights in this global power grab.
That's why my call was for *traditional*
values, the ones that helped define our
common traditions, and the ones that have
broken the chains of bondage that were
common before the emergence of government
for the people, and by the people.
So my call for traditional American values
was about just that -- values. Values like
no taxation without representation, due process,
protections of minority interests, etc. It was
also to get the attention of the two presidential
candidates that were cc:d on my original message.
In closing, my comments were meant as an ideal
to fight for. To the degree that the rest of
the world agrees, I hope that they'll join us.
Jay.
P.S. I will rewrite the PDNHA pages to better
reflect these sentiments. Thank you for your
comments.
At 06:39 AM 4/26/99 , Roberto Gaetano wrote:
>> Finally, to facilitate representation
>> for our clients, Iperdome has formed the
>> Personal Domain Name Holders Association
>> (http://www.pdnha.org). The PDNHA claims
>> membership in the non-commercial domain
>> name holders constituency, and any other
>> Individual based constituency that may
>> be considered.
>>
>What puzzles me most in PDNHA's approach (besides yet another unpronouceable
>addition to the alphabet soup) is the following excerpt from the program
>(see http://www.pdnha.org/about.html for reference):
>
> An American Perspective
> As a Representative Democracy, U.S. citizens have come to expect
>certain rights and civil liberties from our government. Unfortunately, this
>unique American perspective has collided with the governance philosophies
>found in the other 240+ countries throughout the world. Consequently, many
>of our most closely held beliefs about governance have not been incorporated
>into ICANN. Things like no taxation without representation, due process,
>consent of the governed, etc.
> The PDNHA will continue the fight for these truly American values,
>not just for Americans, but for all Netizens of the world..
>
>First of all, many thanks to Jay Fenello on behalf of the other 240+
>countries around the world, where rights and civil liberties cannot be
>expected ;>).
>
>I have heard before the statement about fighting for American values on
>behalf of the other peoples of the world, and even if often in good faith,
>not many times with good results (Viet-Nam is the first example that comes
>to my mind). I tend therefore to think at this attitude to fight on behalf
>of others in spite of what the others think the best example of non-respect
>of one of the primary civil rights and liberties, i.e. autodetermination.
>
>I surely think that Iperdome and PDNHA's point of view is very important,
>and may be helpful in building up a truly complete scenario for the future
>DNSO constituencies, but I doubt that a real claim for objectivity and
>fairness can be made if the "American Perspective" approach is to be
>privileged.
>
>Maybe this would be worth remembering when time will come to mediate among
>the different proposals in Berlin.
>
>Roberto
>
