Euralo selects first board and ALAC representatives

The EURALO has finally voted and chosen its representatives and Board members. It has been a long and sometime acrimonious process, and some participants have been very disappointed.

Here's Thomas' blog entry:

And here's Patrick's

Here's my response to the disappointed members:


I understand that it may seem as if the signing ceremonies are pure PR, but really, the idea that we had in ALAC was to get going on the primary task of the Interim ALAC which was to form the REAL ALAC. We want this to happen so that we can STOP spending time and effort on getting the regions organised (this has been dragging on and distracting everyone for over 3 years), and start getting going on the policy issues and getting user feedback. In my first 3 meetings with the Board as a member of ALAC, they really didn't want to hear anything coming from the Interim, they wanted us to tell them what the global users thought, and how we knew what they thought. Implementing the structure seemed to be the best way to get that legitimacy in the eyes of the Board and the rest of ICANN.

I think that if we can get a position on a policy issue that we can show is backed by 100,000 or more internet users from all over the world, then we will be able to get a better hearing than if we continued to be the interim committee, with 15 people who have no linkage to the end users globally.

I think that the RALOS will give the ALAC some legitimacy and will, with some work, give us more people to do policy work, more views on the issues, and more ability to effect some sort of change.

We will see if I'm right or wrong, but it's early days yet.

I agree that the NA and EU regions have not started off well, but I hope that when the voting is done people can put aside the bitterness and work together on the issues that brought them together in the first place.

Given that you have been active for so long and are such a valuable member of the community, I hope that you can put aside the bitterness and disappointment that you feel and continue to make your valuable contributions to the AtLarge community in ICANN. Personally, I hope that you will continue to give me and the rest of the ALAC the benefit of your knowledge, intelligence and expertise.

Domain Tasting lawsuit

Check out this story from MSNBC. Nieman Marcus is suing people for domain tasting on names that are similar to theirs! 5 day add/grace a good idea? The AtLarge Advisory Committee of ALAC will be requesting an investigation into this process very soon.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17762760/

Neiman Marcus sues over domain names
Retailer accuses companies of registering over 40 Internet addresses
By Anick Jesdanun
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:03 p.m. ET March 23, 2007
NEW YORK - Neiman Marcus Group Inc. is suing a pair of domain name companies, accusing them of improperly registering more than 40 Internet addresses that resemble the department store chain's trademarks.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of domain name tasting, or taking advantage of a five-day refund period to sample which of the addresses might generate traffic — and thus potential ad revenues, before committing to buying them.
Name.com LLC and Spot Domains LLC, two Denver-based companies that share offices and employees, were named as defendants. The companies told The Associated Press on Friday they do not comment on pending litigation.
The complaint, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Denver, seeks injunctions and damages of at least $100,000 per name.
The lawsuit comes weeks after Neiman Marcus settled a similar lawsuit against Dotster Inc., in which Neiman Marcus accused the registration company of tasting hundreds of names meant to lure Internet users who mistype Web addresses. At one point, the lawsuit said, the misspelled NeimuMarcus.com featured ads for Target, Nordstrom and other rivals.
As part of the settlement, Dotster agreed to stop registering names similar to Neiman Marcus or sister chain Bergdorf Goodman. The registration company also agreed to suspend use of automation to register domain names in bulk.
Experts estimate that up to 6 million names are tied up at any given time through domain name tasting, thanks to computer automation and a burgeoning online advertising market.
The practice takes advantage of a grace period originally designed to rectify legitimate mistakes, such as registrants mistyping the domain name they are about to buy. During the grace period, registrants generally put up a generic search site with advertising and keep the ones that might make more than the $6 annual cost of a name.
Neiman Marcus isn't alone in fighting back.
Earlier this month, Microsoft Corp. filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against Mountain View, Calif.-based Maltuzi LLC, which, according to its Web site, registers large numbers of Web domain names using automated processes, and profits from ads placed on those pages.
Maltuzi did not return an e-mail seeing comment, but its Web site says, "We deliberately exclude registered trademarks and known common law trademarks from our buying program."
Microsoft filed another suit, in Seattle, naming as defendants unknown "John Does." Lawyers often use such suits as the basis for obtaining identities through subpoenas and other means.

URL:

Female power slogans

A friend sent me these... thought I would share.

BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL WOMAN IS HERSELF

A WOMAN IS LIKE A TEA BAG... YOU DON'T KNOW HOW STRONG SHE IS UNTIL YOU PUT HER IN HOT WATER

I HAVE YET TO HEAR A MAN ASK FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO COMBINE MARRIAGE AND A CAREER

COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN. SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH

I'M OUT OF ESTROGEN And I HAVE A GUN

WARNING: I HAVE AN ATTITUDE AND I KNOW HOW TO USE IT

OF COURSE I DON'T LOOK BUSY... I DID IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

DO NOT START WITH ME. YOU WILL NOT WIN

ALL STRESSED OUT AND NO ONE TO CHOKE

And last but not least:

IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST IN BED, SLEEP IN THE KITCHEN

More pics of mine being used...

I haven't checked out my Flickr comments etc for a while. Nice to see that the photos are being used - New Bunji Garlin / David Rudder collabo at de cooler : soca news

Policy Innovations - Creative Industries as Growth Engine

Interesting how things work. I posted this pic on Flickr. It was used to illustrate this article, written by Keith Nurse, with whom I work!

Empty seats baffle Ponting

This is so true. The WI has not got the support from the fans turning out. We need to go to the matches and support the team. With little local support, we aren't doing well. The WI team needs the crowds to do well.
Jacqueline
Cricinfo - Blogs - World Cup Monitor

Empty seats baffle Ponting

Posted by Sriram Veera

Ricky Ponting is used to playing in front of some massive crowds but the
low turnout at some matches in the Caribbean has left him nonplussed.
The first day of Australia's rain-interrupted match against West Indies
at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium attracted only 9000 fans, despite the
ground's capacity of 19,000.

Ponting believes if West Indies crash out during the Super Eights, the
spectator-count will diminish further. "I couldn't believe there wasn't
a full house for the West Indies-Australia game here the other day," he
told AFP. "I'm not sure what the reason was for that. But then,
if the West Indies do go out, there probably won't be much support
around the grounds at all which will be disappointing in a World Cup.

"Getting towards the latter stages there will be a lot of visitors
coming in from around the world but it would be nice if a lot of the
locals got out and supported the games as well. It would be great for
the Caribbean if the West Indies could make it through to the final
stages of the tournament."

ICANN Lisboa - Day 1-3

SO I got to Lisbon, but my luggage remained in Heathrow. This seems to be a major problem with this meeting - I've met more than 30 people whose luggage decided not to come with them to Portugal! However, I was lucky and only lost my luggage for 1 day. It was finally delivered on Sunday. In the mentime, it was cool that we got ICANN tshirts in our registration pack. Socks and undies would also have been useful!
ICANN Lisboa has some really cool giveaways in the participant pack. I even got a full length apron - to wear while I see what .cat is "cooking up"! :)
Now I'm in the Registerfly session. This is really important to the end users that ALAC is reponsible to. I have to do a whole post on that - it's important.
Now - ICANN now has loads of really cool innoovatins specially for people who cannot make it to the meetings in far-flung areas of the world. There's the public participation website at http://public.icann.org and they are also webcasting the meetings.
Documents are often translated, and there is simultaneous interpretation for people who do not speak English (something that esp LAC has been asking for)
We'll see how the whole thing pans out. There are some very very important issues on the table at this meeting.
All for now!