Statement to Boston Meeting


It is sad to be here today. The concentration of power and wealth
that is public in nature that this private group is taking from
the public is a very sad commentary on the current times.

The Internet has been created via a great deal of public contribution
and tax money. And the public has a right to the fruits of their
contributions. Creating this private corporation which is in violation
of all the laws forbidden great concentration of economic power is the 
opposite of safeguarding the public purpose and access to the Internet.

For many years the statements have been made that there are no central
points of control of the Internet. That is known now to the false.
But for many years those central points of control were in public
hands with public obligation surrounding their use.

This has now all changed with the creation of this private corporation
to usurp these public assets.

This corporation has been created via a secret process and the board
members chosen by a secret process involving corporate entities
and government people serving those corporate entities.

That is contrary to the whole effort of people to build and develop
the Internet which has been successfully created to oppose the
creation of power and to make it possible for the people to speak
for themselves about their needs and visions.

This private corporation has been created by the U.S. government
and corporate entities who have ignored the vision that has built
the Internet and that has made it the hope of people around the world
for a better future.

The policy making powers that are being given to this private corporation
belong to governments or to cooperative public processes, not to any 
private entity. Thus this private entity is trying to usurp peoples's 
right to maintain their sovereignty.

There is no membership organizational structure that can change this
as the power will still reside in whoever behind the scenes
will control the board.  This is a centralized structure that is 
fundamentally hostile to the nature of the Internet as a participatory 
structure.

If the U.S. government and any other government that has helped the 
U.S. government to create this private corporate entity really had
any concern for the Internet and its users, they would have created
an online form that would have worked to solve any problems that exist
in the participatory way the Internet makes possible.

Instead this centralized control form has been created and can
only lead to more and more of the Internet being converted into
its opposite, a private commercial net to serve business needs
instead of the communications medium that has facilitated global
exchange and contributions of people around the world.

Ronda Hauben
ronda@panix.com

 
                  Netizens: On the History and Impact
                    of Usenet and the Internet
                http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook
                also in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6