[ncdnhc-discuss] Election statement

[Marc Schneiders]

Why I run in this election for NCDNHC-reps?

The NCDNHC is the only body within the DNSO representing non-commercial
interests. As such it is of prime importance.  Further exclusive
commercialization of the internet will turn users into mere customers and
consumers. At
present non-commercial users (which is the bulk of all internet users!)
have not really a voice within ICANN, and it is doubtfull they will soon.
Therefore the NCDNHC has to grow in order to be able to become more
professional.

I think the new AdCom has to put a lot of time into just that. I commit
myself to invest sufficient time into the process, which is possible since

What I thinking is needed for the coming period, is active campaigning for
more members. Right now members are mainly internet related organizations
or they joined because someone in them was interested in the DNSO. This
makes the membership basis unbalanced.

More members also means more financial means, resulting, we may hope, in a
more professional handling of the constituency, avoiding such pitfalls as
our own domain that no longer works, because registration and dns are not
taken care of properly... Things like this should be handled better by the
new AdCom. And if elected, I will make sure they will.

All in all, the NCDNHC has to become a more serious player within ICANN,
esp. now that the .ORG registry will be 'given' to a new body. Though I do
not think, that the NCDNHC should take a part in this body, let alone be
this body, a serious monitoring of the process by ICANN staff and Board is
called for. And there may be some off spin from this process in the form
of more members for our constituency.

Apart from the above, I think key interests in the coming period for the
NCDNHC and its AdCom are: the revision of the UDRP, consumer protection,
more (and also non-commercial) gTLDs, At Large Membership.

Finally: ICANN has not succeeded in making true the goals it set itself.
Too often the so-called bottom-up consensus process is mere rhetorics.
Important decisions are taken without it, or opposing views are simply
ignored. The voices of those making money with names and numbers are often
the only ones listened to. Since ICANN is in fact (if not also in theory)
regulating a market, this is unacceptable. A regulated market cannot be
governed by those who offer their goods on this market. Users must be
represented too. "Let the market decide" is impossible, when the market is
heavily regulated. So, things have to change within ICANN to make it more
democratic and include the voice of (non-commercial) users.  Opposition
within ICANN can hardly be expected from those who benefit from its
decisions, like awarding lucrative new TLDs. So it must come from us.

I am located in the Netherlands, Europe. Recently I participated (as rep
from the GA) in the Names Coucil Task Force on the divestiture of .ORG.
More about me and my activities (research, writing, editing, DNS, UDRP)
may be found at

http://www.bijt.net/
http://marc.schneiders.org/

I speak (in alphabetical order) Dutch (my native language), English,
French, and German.

If you have any questions about me or my positions, please, do not
hesitate to contact me, or email to this list.

Thank you for your time!

Whoever you vote for, _do_ vote, please...