Tyranny of the Minority. As the originator of an online organization of Individual Domain name Owners, I am reading your draft document , the authoring of which was sponsored by the Markle Foundation (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/projects/deliberation/theory/index.html#Anchor -Rol-25915) with interest. For much of what you state, we can offer real-life experience. Please refer to the archives of idno-discuss, via our website. Whilst I concur with what you say about preventing Tyranny of the Majority, in the networked world there is an equal need to deal with Tyranny of a Minority. Such tyranny cannot initially be realized by the vote, but it can obstruct and paralyze any attempt to organize-- by way of abuse, slander, vilification, cyber-stalking and list-flooding. In some organizations it happens to be done by obsessive/vindictive persons, in others, by paid saboteurs. The result of sustained (say, more than 6 months) attacks against an on-line organization or its leading personalities is generally an attrition of the membership, until the resistance has weakened to the point that a few dedicated captors could hijack the central executive of the organization, (if there is one) when such is elected by the remaining active participants on a mailing list. If they are not able to take over, they will spread the message that the organization has withered into insignificance, due to the failures of its leadership. I am looking forward to see specific suggestions in your document on how such Tyranny can be prevented. --Joop Teernstra LL.M.-- , founder of the Cyberspace Association, the constituency for Individual Domain Name Owners http://www.idno.org (or direct:) http://www.democracy.org.nz/idno/
