Wallpapering the WHOIS Comment Forum

[Dan Krimm]

I would personally comment, though as a participant in the WG I already had
lots to say, but the privacy advocates were simply outnumbered in terms of
showing up to phone calls and submitting comments on the e-list, etc.

As to who would submit comments, it would require an outreach via email and
perhaps web, with follow-up.  Human resources, that is.  Existing
coalitions of like-minded orgs/individuals help too.

As for Norbert's skepticism, when any entity that is not genuinely grass
roots (like a corporate lobbying group or a totalitarian government)
presents a 'public campaign', here in the US we call that "astroturf" (with
regard to the artificial turf sometimes used for football and baseball
stadiums in place of living natural grass).

I would distinguish between genuine grass roots and astroturf.  What Kathy
is proposing here is real grass roots, IMHO, similar to the 'Keep The Core
Neutral' campaign.  Any time any institution opens up a comment channel, it
begs for coordinating forces to martial constituent participation.
Sometimes those "coordinating forces" are simply the mass media, but
increasingly the Internet has enabled more bottom-up and interactive
communication modes.

I see no reason not to avail ourselves of this potential.  If a democratic
society cannot use this power of distributed communication to full
advantage, then the persistence of democracy itself is in serious doubt.
Power to the edges, because you can't get rid of power altogether.

Dan


At 2:45 PM -0400 10/24/07, KathrynKL at AOL.COM wrote:
>It doesn't surprise me.  They hate the idea of privacy.
>Would anyone like to work with me on a set of comments that organizations
>in NCUC might submit?
>
>Would anyone submit comments if we wrote an outline of the key issues and
>the supports for the direction of the Whois WG and our NCUC
>representatives (pro-OPOC, pro-privacy)?
>
>Best, Kathy
>
>
>Another orchestrated campaign by the Intellectual
>Property Community -- see the posts at
>http://forum.icann.org/lists/whois-comments-2007/index.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
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