[ALSC-Forum] Re:Restriction of At Large to domain holders?

[Mike Roberts]

Alexander -

Excellent!  See comments below.

At 23:04 +0200 9/5/01, Alexander Svensson wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>my two cents on this issue:
>
>1. POSITIONS AND THEIR RATIONALE
>
>In his paper, Mike Roberts argues that an "At Large SO for
>individual users of domain names and addresses" should be
>created. If I understand this correctly (and perhaps Mike
>Roberts can correct me if I'm wrong), this does not refer
>only to "domain name holders", but to individual Internet
>users in general -- with an emphasis on "more informed
>participation" by "an explicit membership and an explicit
>connection to a recognized and verifiable local
>organization" instead of an "open, worldwide At Large
>election process with an electorate of all Internet users".

Your interpretation is correct.  Both ALSC and NAIS were forced to 
adopt restrictions in order to make their definitions of the ALSO 
membership workable.  Both reject a "cyberspace only" definition as 
too open to fraud.  ALSC suggests the high but less than perfect 
veracity of the admin contact fields of a domain name registration. 
NAIS suggests a continuation of the postal mailing despite its many 
and uneven deficiencies depending on the quality of national postal 
systems. Roberts suggests a connection to a local organization where 
truth about identity is more easily found.

Alexander suggests a focus on the principle that an ALSO member 
should be willing to support his or her organization (with presumed 
fees at a small fraction of what the user is already spending to use 
the Internet) and that the means for efficiently assembling a large 
number of small fees do not have to be singular.

If there is to be a second option to collection via registration 
transactions, then it is likely that it must be based on national 
[or, in some cases, regional] organizations, otherwise the language, 
postal, banking, and cultural differences create too much overhead. 
Those involved in the mechanics of such an option ought to come 
forward to suggest some specifics.

- Mike


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