[chapter-delegates] next steps after the board meeting

Mon Mar 14 20:06:26 PST 2005

I think Mike summarise well the situation.

The objective is one member = one vote

The financial support of ISOC via individual membership contribution is 
something else... I would have like to see ISOC requesting chapters to 
push their member to contribtue and report back to chapters who was 
paying what (a kind of merit system). but the free membership would 
stay. Then ISOC would have looked at setting up a system where everybody 
can vote (free and paying).

I think you will notice a lot of people dropping their membership to 
ISOC from the Pacific. We do have a schism now which was not helped by 
the last statments after the board meeting.

I think, James said it, "if you don't like it you can go" when I was 
asking him the value proposition of ISOC to chapters and members. So 
Pacific Islands members are just doing that.

I'm siding with Mike and other members that we will be able to reach out 
the ISOC board and make things happen. This is only a bump on the road...

Cheers

Mike Todd wrote:

>James Galvin, David McAuley and other Chapter Delegates,
>
>What we have experienced on this list over the past couple of weeks is a
>massive misunderstanding and/or lack of effective marketing and/or - well,
>you fill in  the blanks, chances are we have hit that wall too.
>
>As a past vice president for membership for the Internet Society I think I
>have some knowledge of the history of ISOC Individual Membership.
>
>James is right when he states that ISOC has always been a membership
>organization.  Whether it is the institutional members, individual members
>or chapter members we talk about there has always been ISOC members.
>
>While I was VP Membership, I strongly advocated free individual membership
>because of so many of the reasons that have been brought up on this list,
>recently.  The only real stumbling block I was never able to obliterate was
>the need to ensure that each individual member had the means to vote and
>that there was a way to ensure that individual members could only vote once,
>leading to a strong member identification system.  Since we live in an
>electronic world, electronic means of making and verifying that
>identification seems most reasonable.
>
>I have heard and understand all of the arguments about why this will not
>work, why it is not logical, why technology is not a democracy, and on and
>on...
>
>The basic issue is that "Internet is for everyone" dictates that we are a
>system of citizens that all deserve a vote.  It implies a political system.
>That is hard for us technologists to swallow and brings in issues we would
>rather not address, nor have the responsibility to manage.  It is also tough
>for us to imagine a way to base individual commitment without some kind of
>financial commitment but this is one of the biggest barriers to the "global
>democracy" of the Internet.
>
>If there was an easy solution, we would have done it years ago.  It is not
>easy.
>
>If the ISOC Board or the ISOC Top Management had done a bit more in terms of
>education and marketing before announcing the paid membership program, it
>may have been accepted as the reinstatement of a way for Individual Members
>to provide voluntary, monetary support to ISOC.  It did not have to be
>called "Dues" or "Membership".  It did not have to be the only way for an
>individual member to vote directly for Board members.  It did not have to be
>presented in such a way that "Global Members" or "Chapter Members" would
>feel that they were losing something.
>
>I have been an Individual Member of ISOC for a long time and will continue
>to make that personal commitment.  I don't expect everyone in the World to
>be able to, or to want to, make that kind of commitment.
>
>I have been a Chapter Member of ISOC for as long as the Los Angeles Chapter
>has been in existence and will continue in that status as long as the Los
>Angeles Chapter exists.
>
>I have not been a direct employee of any Institutional Member of ISOC but I
>have provided consulting and other support to many of them and am pleased
>that many of them have continued to support ISOC as Institutional Members.
>
>I am not a member of the IETF but I do try to support the development and
>implementation of Internet Standards in every way I can, including taking
>every opportunity to promote and protect the open and free development of
>the Internet as the only true way to make it available to everyone in the
>World.
>
>My own feelings are that we all have a lot more to agree about than to fight
>about.  We also have many opportunities to reduce the perceptions of
>barriers and to breech the artificial barriers that are blocking our
>progress.  I guess this is a plea for positive criticism, positive actions,
>and a sharing of positive feelings about the good we are all trying to
>accomplish.
>
>Mike Todd
>President, Mike Todd Associates - www.MikeTodd.com
>Supporting the Digital Coast
>
>President, Internet Society Los Angeles Chapter - www.ISOC-LA.org
>
>Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Law
>Pepperdine University School of Law - mltodd at pepperdine.edu
>
>Technology Expert Witness - ExpertWitness at miketodd.com
>
>  310-321-5706  Office Phone
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>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "James M Galvin" <galvin at elistx.com>
>To: <chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org>
>Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 1:17 PM
>Subject: [chapter-delegates] next steps after the board meeting
>
>
>Dear Chapter Members,
>
>As you know, the ISOC Board met this past Friday and Saturday and they
>discussed, in addition to other matters, the recent dissatisfaction that
>a number of you have very strongly expressed regarding the new paid
>individual membership level.  Historically, especially in recent years,
>the Board has strongly held the position that there should be a paid
>membership level and that this should be a vehicle through which
>individual members could have a direct vote in ISOC Trustee elections.
>
>We summarized your criticism as the following:
>
>1. that a paid membership level was in direct conflict with the ethos
>   that the "Internet is for everyone"
>
>2. that the payment level is a barrier to full opportunity around the
>   world for people to participate
>
>3. that we failed to seek your input for this decision
>
>...
>
>Thank you, for your comments and your continued participation in ISOC.
>
>Jim Galvin
>David McAuley
>
>  
>

-- 
Franck Martin
ICT Specialist
franck at sopac.org
SOPAC, Fiji
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"Toute connaissance est une reponse a une question" G.Bachelard

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