Public participation in the ARIA WG and the new public-aria mailing list

I am completely confused by why I (or any member of the public) cannot
subscribe to the new ARIA working group's "public" mailing list.

The normal subscribe/unsubscribe lists in the email archives are not
present.  When I tried the usual email address format
(public-aria-request), the auto-reply told me that subscriptions could
instead be managed via http://www.w3.org/Member/Mail/.  But that link
returns a 403/Insufficient Privileges error, even when I'm logged in on
w3.org as an "Invited Expert without Member Access" (which is all you get
when you're invited into a public working group such as SVG).

As such, the only way for me to monitor posts to the new list is via the
web archives.  From there, I can see that Léonie Watson brought up this
issue last week[1] to which Michael answered that it is an intellectual
property issue, that anyone can *post* to the list, but only group members
who have agreed to the intellectual property policy may *subscribe *[2].

This seems rather backwards.  If you were concerned about people making IP
claims against the W3C, the action to limit would be the public's ability
to submit proposals, not their ability to monitor the discussion in a
convenient format.  However, I would also be greatly concerned by a choice
to limit all public participation in the discussions.

As far as I know, the new working groups should be operating entirely in
public view according to their charters.  I had therefore been hoping the
switch would reduce, not increase, the frequency that I hit password blocks
when trying to contribute.

For myself, I've put in my request to be added as an Invited Expert to the
ARIA WG.  I've already strayed beyond the SVG-specific specs anyways.  But
this really should not be a minimum requirement for public feedback and
monitoring of the group's work.

When you join a W3C working group, as an IE or as a member rep, you confirm
a willingness for regular participation in meetings and other work;
according to the ARIA WG's charter, participants should commit 2-4
hours/week.[3]  There are many people who are interested in the group's
work, and may be able to offer important advice or real-world feedback, but
who cannot in honesty make that commitment.  I myself am trying to reduce,
not increase, my time spent on W3C projects.  It does not help when I spend
over an hour on mundane administrative tasks like trying to subscribe to a
new mailing list.

Furthermore, I'm not sure adding someone as an Invited Expert will overcome
the technical roadblocks in the W3C's database.  ARIA WG is supposed to be
a public group and Invited Experts therefore are not supposed to need
member-only privileges.

Sincerely,
Amelia Bellamy-Royds

[1]: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-aria/2015Nov/0003.html
[2]: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-aria/2015Nov/0011.html
[3]: http://www.w3.org/2015/10/aria-charter.html#participation