EVAN LEIBOVITCH: The counter is already going before I even get up. Maybe that's a sign.
(No translation to scribes) it's a pleasure to be here with you at the At-Large Summit -- the planning and the staging of the first-ever global gathering of ICANN's public constituency. Soon after my ALS was first recruited to join ICANN At Large about two years ago, I was exposed to a diversity of opinions and emotions about ICANN, most of which I was not prepared for. It was curiosity and confusion, augmented by an unusual amount of cynicism. My first meeting, in San Juan, was what I considered to be the birth place of the current At Large, for it was the first time that every region had formalized and we finally had an ALAC that was mainly elected by and representative of the community. Between then and now, I've come to see that the vision that created the at-large infrastructure was, complex though it may be, it is the best long-term path to providing ICANN with high-quality, diverse, and genuine direction. In the six days that have just passed, I've come to see that that vision is in the right hands. In the time I've been involved, the ALAC has evolved dramatically. As an example, two years ago, I would have told you that AGP actually means a graphics card that you would put in a PC. In the time since then, I've come to know it as something also called the add-grace period, a seemingly benign tool with few equivalents in the normal world of business. At Large had witnessed that the AGP had become the core of a particularly nasty form of name space abuse, domain tasting. It was At Large that identified the tasting as contrary to the public interest, initiated processes to study it, and eventually drove measures that would ultimately lead to a dramatic reduction in its use. Since then, At Large and its representative ALAC have become increasingly involved in other areas of ICANN policy. We have become a primary supporter of Internationalized Domain Names as well as IPv6. We've asserted ourselves into the domain on WHOIS data accuracy and also into gTLD creation. We continue to study the various parts of the RAA, to identify areas of domain abuse, of registrant abuse, and especially of end user abuse. We're holding ICANN increasingly accountable as to its transparency, its enforcement activities, and its respect for the rights and needs of registrants and the billions of Internet users worldwide. The level of maturity, enthusiasm, and talent evident within At Large has clearly been evident in the events being held this past week in this, our first-ever summit. In workshops and thematic sessions, we've not only identified challenges, but we've also proposed concrete solutions that will ultimately benefit both ICANN and the public it is charged to serve. Yesterday's workshop on e-crime, another summit initiative, attracted interest throughout the ICANN community. The vision that's inspired these events was a bold one, and it was not without risk. And it has also not been easy to achieve. It is a continuing challenge to engage the interest of organizations and individuals who do not have a primary interest in Internet governance. It is an even greater challenge to be informed in languages other than English. And sometimes we still find within ICANN that merely having the ability to speak does not guarantee that we get listened to. [ Applause ]
EVAN LEIBOVITCH: These changes can be addressed, and they are being addressed.
The board governance report on the ALAC review has demonstrated admirable understanding of the vision that created At Large. The quality of At Large's policy input has, I believe, naturally led to a heightened awareness of and respect for the voice of what is ICANN's largest constituency. Some of our largest challenges, though, come from within. We need to be more active, more assertive, more educated, and more engaged, both within ICANN and within the greater community of Internet users. We cannot be intimidated by those who care not for the public good, but we must also be constructive and progressive in our approach. Some healthy cynicism is always useful. But we cannot and must not allow ourselves to be obsessed by it. We are well on our way. The summit has been a critical milestone in the maturation of At Large. I hope many of you have had a chance to participate in our many events, and I invite everyone here to go to the Web site that I hope will be on the slide that comes up soon. There we go. Anyway, I encourage you to go to that Web site to read about the constructive and realistic policy work that came out of this week's events. In it, you'll find creative and positive approaches to WHOIS, how ICANN can operate better in a global environment. And you'll also find that, in some ways, we are amongst the strongest advocates of new gTLDs. To me, the summit is an end of one phase of At Large and the beginning of another. In its success, we see a very clear point of transition. From here, that we've demonstrated that we have not only turned vision into mission, but also mission into action. On behalf of the 88 at-large structures attending here and the many more still operating at home, I want to thank ICANN staff -- and you all know who you are and where you are here -- Your help has been invaluable in helping to create an event that has been a complete success by whatever metric you think of. I want to give a special acknowledgment to summit chair Wolf Ludwig and his extraordinary talent at herding cats. [ Applause ]
EVAN LEIBOVITCH: And I'm delighted to see Nick Ashton-Hart in good enough shape to spend some time with us and finally see the fruits of our collective sweat.
[ Applause ]
EVAN LEIBOVITCH: Stand up. Come on.
[ Applause ]
EVAN LEIBOVITCH: As we prepare to close the summit today, I hope my fellow members of At Large leave here with a strong, clear, and simple message: This is our ICANN.
What happens next depends on ICANN's holding true to its vision and our communities' determination to fulfill it. Now, let's go make it happen. Thank you. [ Applause ] -- Glenn McKnight 868 Corbetts Road Oshawa, Ontario L1K 2E1 905-434-6655 mcknight.glenn@gmail.com skype gmcknight http://newsocialmedia.wordpress.com