On 15/09/2016 03:54, John R. Levine wrote:
Might a narrowing of the idea of the end-user down to those who play an active role in the evolution of end use towards social ends help with framing ALAC’s real role?
I'm sorry, but this is a terrible idea.
Back when I was on the ALAC over a decade ago, it wasn't clear whether ALAC represented individual vanity registrants (of whom we certainly have a lot on the ALAC) or actual end users. We finally realized that we represent end-users, the billions of people who actually use the Internet but will never register a domain. I would be strongly opposed to anything that back-tracked from that.
I do not think we "represent" end users, as none of the people on the ALAC have been elected by end users worldwide, but selected by a subset of organisations that are diverse enough to be a small, balanced sample of interested end users worldwide. Thus, the correct term would be to say that the ALAC represents the interests of end users - with hopefully enough input from the edges so let ALAC members take decisions based on a large enough sample of end users that this indeed if a fair reflection of end user needs. Kindest regards, Olivier