As secretary of the Internet Society's NY Chapter I'd like to back up Chris's appeal. We are in a position of familiarity and consultation with local government but definitely needful of the kind of technical expertise so abundant in Nanog. We'd very much welcome fresh blood. Steven - I believe you are in our neighborhood? joly http://isoc-ny.org On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Chris Grundemann <cgrundemann@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 20:28, Steven M. Bellovin<smb@cs.columbia.edu> wrote:
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
I don't know that a NagOn is the best way or the only way to make progress. I do know that the most likely source of that kind of funding is (many of) our employers, who may not have technical excellence on the top of their lists. But I'm even more certain that if technical people never speak up, their message will never be heard, except perhaps by accident.
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
I believe that this is exactly the kind of thing that the US ISOC Chapters should be (and are to varying degrees) involved in -- providing legitimate technical information and expert analysis of local, state and federal policies which impact the Internet, to those making the policies. The global ISOC already does this for ICANN and other international organizations, it seems fitting that the chapters do more of this here inside the USA.
I encourage everyone with even a fleeting interest in tech-policy to seek out their local ISOC chapter (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/list.php?region=worldwide&status=A) and let them know that you care. I can tell you as the founding chair of the Colorado chapter that my largest hurdle today is getting active members to participate - I have funding, etc, just no help... (I invite everyone to contact me directly with suggestions and ideas in this vein - I have some vehicles in place to start making this happen quickly with a bit of help)
</soapbox> ~Chris
-- Chris Grundemann weblog.chrisgrundemann.com www.burningwiththebush.com www.coisoc.org
-- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 917 442 8665 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com ---------------------------------------------------------------