On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 at 05:41, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro < salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro@gmail.com> wrote: Paul Wilson, APNIC's DG, a member of the ASO in ICANN likes to use an
analogy of what we do as a technical community and he uses an analogy of a car but I am going to use his analogy and build on it. The average end user just enjoys the vehicle but behind the scene, there are manufacturers, standards and those who develop standards, monitor and implement standards at all levels of manufacturing, there are others who deal with insurance and product liability and guarantees and warranties. There are trade rules etc. However, those who work behind the scenes in the ecosystem and engage in vigorous debate, testing act as stewards and the average passenger or driver could'nt care less and would not be knowledgeable about the standards, they are just concerned with affordability and functionality.
Internet end-users who are not registrants have no purchase decision to make. They didn't have to choose the domain, registrar or TLD. They just have to live with the consequences. The closest one could come in the car analogy to At-Large would be passengers. They have no say in the choices being made of car make or repair shop, yet they are impacted by the choices of everyone above them. They care about safety and stability and reliability but have little stake in whether they're riding in a Ford or Lada or where it was purchased, And while all car owners are passengers too, their interests as car consumers are different from those of passengers who only care about the transport. ALAC is charged with speaking for the Internet's passengers. the NCPH for the owners and drivers, and the CPH for the auto industry. This is not a difficult concept. Each group has its distinct voice within ICANN. - Evan