[discuss] Transparency and Accountability vis-à-vis ICANN and the IANA functions

Sun Apr 6 20:03:54 UTC 2014

Stephen two points:
1. I don't follow your first point :0 ... You can and do have the pursuit of
private interests to the exclusion of (and in many/most cases in opposition
to) a public interest -- (that is a most lamentable outcome of 20 years of
concerted post-Thatcher/Reagan neo-liberalization efforts by various
ideologues and their political allies... and we see its effects in a number
of contexts and sectors to the harm of many, particularly the most
vulnerable.

2. my own feelings on the subject which are clear have, I think, nothing to
do with my overall argument or its presentation as below.

However, of course my overall position is that the Internet should be
understood and treated as a global public good and managed/governed in the
global public interest,. 

M

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Farrell [mailto:stephen.farrell at cs.tcd.ie] 
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2014 5:02 AM
To: michael gurstein
Cc: '1Net List'
Subject: Re: [discuss] Transparency and Accountability vis-à-vis ICANN and
the IANA functions

Michael,

On 04/03/2014 10:55 PM, michael gurstein wrote:
> As I see it there are two possible and mutually exclusive goals that 
> these processes might be pursuing:
> 
> 1.       The “public interest” i.e. ensuring that the operation of these
> processes maximize benefits for the broadest range of those concerned 
> with the Internet i.e. (in the current context) “everybody”/in 
> Parminder’s phrase, the public
> 
> 2.       The reconciliation of the interaction of a range of “private”
(I.e.
> sectional or “stakeholder”) interests

You seem to me to be making an error here.

You are attempting to establish #1 via #2 (i.e. discussion on this list),
yet you have claimed these are mutually exclusive.

For me, that makes your claim that #1 is qualitatively better as a goal
pretty unconvincing.

S.