[IIU] Re: [ILUG] OT But esat unlimited has been scrapped

[Chris Higgins]

> Chris,
> 
> Perhaps you're not adequately familiar with the charter or aims of the 
> ISOC. Take a minute to look at their web site.

Alex - you missed the point - ISOC might be ideal for Ireland, but without
a ground-swell of community support those involved in the Irish charter will
neither have the respect or support of the community.. In the same way
that the .ie Usenet committee has become something of a joke.. It was
full of promise that hasn't been delivered. (No reflection on the committee
members - if you'll re-read my original mail you should see the context
in which I placed my comments on the .ie Usenet process).

I'm not for a minute suggesting that Ireland doesn't setup an ISOC chapter.
I'm just saying that setting up a chapter needs to be done because we want
an ISOC chapter..

> 
> As for petitions and letter, it all sounds nice in practice, but I think 
> it's a naive view to think that the regulator gives a toss about a few 
> disgruntled netheads, I'm sorry to say. This goes way beyond that, and is 
> mostly a political issue. What is needed is a body that can play in the 
> same circles where these decisions are being made.

Again, if you re-read my email, you'll see that I not disagreeing with you, 
it takes more than a petition and a letter, it takes a community of users 
standing
up and shouting for local loop unbundling. 

Only when you have a crowd can you start to form a representative body... so
it's people first - then body..

Let's not create another lifeless organisation which doesn't have community
support or interest.. It'll just be a waste of peoples time.. (Unless as I
said earlier, the people involved are motivated by the political step up it
gives). In which case the organisation (be that an Irish ISOC chapter, or
any other organisation) is being used as an umbrella for political posturing..

(The first person that suggests we need a polticial as a front to give this
'credibility' deserves to be shot).

This is a democracy, and I think that it's the people on the ground, suffering
with 56k dialups (and slower) that should be sat in front of the reporters
and TV cameras not another representative of an organisation that most of the
irish users have never heard about.. You run the very strong risk of getting
the same in-fighting that happened with the IIA (got it right this time), where
they originally claimed to support all irish internet users, and then it became
just those that will pay the membership fee, and now it's settling into being
one of the usual 'old-boys-club' that we see far too often.

Oh, and thanks very much - I know what the ISOC is :)

> 
> Alex.
> 
> At 10:04 28/03/2001, Chris Higgins wrote:
> > > Perhaps IIU, or some of its people are interested in setting up a local
> > > ISOC chapter? There is no operational Irish chapter at the moment (Alex
> > > Gogan made a stab at setting on up a few years ago). ISOC carries much
> > > international weight, and Ireland is one of the few civilized countries 
> > not
> > > to have a chapter.
> > >
> > > An ISOC UK rep will be in Dublin in a couple of weeks if anyone's
> > > interested in meeting him to discuss.
> > >
> > > Alex.
> --
> Alex French
> Product Architect                         Europe: +353 (87) 818 
> 8118
> VIA NET.WORKS, Inc.                 US voicemail: (703) 464 8668
> afrench at vianetworks.com             Fax: +353 (875) 818 8118

-- 
** Chris Higgins                         e: chris.higgins at horizon.ie **
** Technical Business Development        tel: +353-1-6204916            **
** Horizon Technology Group              fax: +353-1-6204949            **