On 27 Nov 2010, at 11:16, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
Do these activities make me a "business interest"? How has my involvement in multiple for-profit companies adversely affected my approach to ICANN policy, such as my extensive involvement in the Morality and Public Order issue, the WG creating policy on support for applicants in developing economies, etc.?
I must strongly object to the inference that "business", in and of itself, is a dirty word and I take offense that merely being in business taints one's approach to ICANN's effect on end-users of the Internet. The fact is that far more adult Internet end-users run and/or work for businesses than non-profits. If At-Large did not have participants actively involved in businesses we would not reflect the reality of the end-user public for whom we claim to speak.
I agree that within the ALAC context, the commercial perspectives as well as the non commercial perspectives of being an end user are equally valid. Often one sees that those two sides of the users' interests have a lot in common, but sometimes, they don't. Within the choice facing those few in the At-large who have been blessed with a vote, there is a choice between those two aspects of the user's world view. The extent that someone believes they can predict that one candidate's view is more likely to be colored by the commercial side of users interests seems to me, to be a relevant topic. a.