Discussion of Cybersafety Constituency

[Cheryl Preston]

Dear Konstantinos,

With regards to your recent email (below):

I am a member of the GigaNet new members committee of which you are
chair.  Does that mean that member admission to GigaNet will be run with
a "CP80 or Mormon agenda," where I will succeed with an "imposition of
religious beliefs"?

You say: "We always have to bear in mind that these views only
represent a small fraction of the constituency and are designed to deal
with issues under a different, more religious, perspective . . ."  Who
do you think is the small fraction?  Do you know any other constituency
members other than Prof. Clifford and I?

You and I are colleagues in GigaNet.  We have met.  You can read the
breadth of my scholarly work, although you obviously not know nothing
about me as a person.  I have been a respected professional in law firms
and taught law both at the University of Utah and BYU over a 30 year
career.

I think your statements are unbecoming a professional.  Is this kind of
behavior that is condoned in an academic society?  In the GigaNet
academic society?


Cheryl B. Preston
Edwin M. Thomas
Professor of Law
J. Reuben Clark Law School
Brigham Young University
434 JRCB
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-2312
prestonc at lawgate.byu.edu

>>> Konstantinos Komaitis <k.komaitis at STRATH.AC.UK> 3/20/2009 5:05 am
>>>
I am also very much in favor of promoting issues of online and
individual
safety, however,  my main concern is that if such issues are promoted
under
the CP80 or the Mormon agenda only certain views will be expressed
that
reflect the culture and tradition of such groups. Everybody,
irrespective of
religious or personal beliefs, wants to see an Internet safe and
secure;
however, the means through which this will be achieved varies amongst
the
members of the constituency and this is not to say that these views
cannot
be expressed. However, we always have to bear in mind that these views
only
represent a small fraction of the constituency and are designed to deal
with
issues under a different, more religious, perspective that does not
necessarily comply with everybody¹s idea of how safety online is to be
achieved. To me this sounds like an imposition of religious beliefs
rather
than a  genuine concern about the issues discussed.

Konstantinos


On 19/03/2009 22:52, "Jeremy Geigle" <JGeigle at JACKSONWHITELAW.COM>
wrote:

> Hear, hear Professor Clifford, your comments are well-taken.
>
> I also agree with the need to look broadly at individual safety
online -
> including identity theft, destruction of resources, child safety,
individual
> choice/control.
>
> Jeremy S. Geigle
> President AZFC
> JD/MBA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Non-Commercial User Constituency
[mailto:NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU]
> On Behalf Of Ralph D. Clifford
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:49 PM
> To: NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Discussion of Cybersafety Constituency
>
> First the background: I am not a member of CP80. I am not a Mormon. I
have no
> connections to either group of any kind and, before today, I had
never heard
> of Mr. Yarro. Personally, I don't see pornography as a big problem in
society.
> Despite this, I am a member of the cybersafety constituency because
it is not
> the one-issue group that some seem to want to make it; instead, it is
a group
> of people who are concerned that ICANN's decision-making often
ignores issues
> of individual safety including such things as identity theft,
destruction of
> computer resources, etc. And yes, some others in the group are
concerned with
> the distribution of porn.
>
> Second, a comment: Today's "discussion" has been outrageous. The only
thing it
> reminds me of are the flame wars that used to erupt on Usenet
(although no one
> has called someone else a Nazi, yet, just implied it). Unfortunately,
that
> seems to be the norm in this discussion group. Almost always, ideas
are not
> exchanged; accusations of conspiracy are. This is too bad as it
certainly
> discourages the openness that ICANN allegedly wants.
>
> --
> Ralph D. Clifford
> Professor of Law
> S. New England School of Law
>

--
Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis,
Lecturer in Law,
GigaNet Membership Chair,
University of Strathclyde,
The Lord Hope Building,
141 St. James Road,
Glasgow, G4 0LT,
UK
tel: +44 (0)141 548 4306
email: k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk