Re: [council] GA Chair Nominations.DOC

[Victoria Carrington <vcarrington@shapirocohen.com>]

Caroline:

I agree with those who have commented to date in that you have prepared a
good, workable outline which includes the best features of the various
proposals.  It has my support, as do the comments made by others in
general, which, if incorporated, may modify the outline somewhat (i.e.
Elisabeth's observations about the timetable).

I just wanted to mention two of the other comments, in particular Hiro's
point about a potential conflict if members of the "watchdog" committee are
nominated.   We could use his proposed solution, however, rather than
barring the committee members from candidacy from the very start, perhaps
it would be sufficient if a committee member is required to step down from
the committee if nominated, or if s/he accepts the nomination.  (Unless of
course, the proposed members of the committee have already decided that
they do not wish to run for GA chair and/or have agreed to serve on the
committee.  Is this the case?).  I have no strong feeling about it either
way, this is just a suggestion.  

The second point that I thought was particularly good was Patricio's
comment about the impossibility of verifying GA membership at the time of
nomination.  Is this not the same "problem" we had during the Board
elections, and which basically renders having such a rule pointless?  If
memory serves, there were a number of people signing on and off the GA list
in quite rapid succession, indicating that they were likely joing the list
merely for the purpose of nominating or supporting someone, and then
leaving the list.  Not only was it impossible to track this activity on a
practical level, but the result was the rather unsatisfactory situation
where the rule was probably being complied with in letter, but not spirit.
While Patricio's suggestion acknowledges this difficulty, and I agree that
he is correct to a great degree, I can't help feeling that it nonetheless
reflects a certain resignation to the fact that there is simply no
satisfactory method of dealing with this problem at this point.  The
potential fraudulent activity and the rules that address it that the
watchdog committee will be looking out for, are even more problematic, and
fraught with similar difficulties of detection and enforcement.
Unfortunately I have no suggestion for adequately dealing with the issue on
a technical level.  The rules in the outline are therefore probably the
best solution in the circumstances.

Victoria






At 05:24 PM 24/11/99 , you wrote:
>Dear fellow NCers:
>
>In reading over the different proposals, I noted that there are numerous
>consistencies and similarities, which in the interest of getting
>discussion focused and done for a posting on Friday, I've outlined below
>(I have included the text at the bottom of this email, as well as an
>attached Word version of same.).  I have done my utmost to include all
>suggestions where feasible, but you are all encouraged to review the
>proposals yourselves to confirm that I have not missed something or that
>I have not excluded an idea which you feel has potential. 
>
>For the sake of expediency, I suggest that we use this as a basis for
>discussion, focusing on substantive points that are
>needed to improve the procedures. Also, the suggestion of a 'poll
>watching' group has been raised by several of the submitters, and in
>light of Kathy and Raul comments, I have suggested that a group be
>established at least initially consisting of those who submitted the
>proposals (of course we would need to confirm that these individuals
>accept such a responsibility first). Where I need the most help and
>input is in the area of this poll watching group.  Ideally, if you can
>suggest language that I can cut and paste into my document, it would be
>greatly appreciated.
>
>TIMETABLE: I need your comments by Friday, November 26th at 12:00 pm
>U.S. Central Standard Time (CST) (1 pm New York time), so I have time to
>turn it around and give it to Elisabeth no later than 4pm CST.
>
>
>
>Nomination Procedures for the Chair of the General Assembly (GA)
>
>
>1.	The nominations period shall take place starting November 26,
>1999 at 18:00 Central European Time (CET) through 16:00 CET, December 2,
>1999.
>
>2.	Any member of the GA may make a nomination.
>
>A member of the GA shall be any natural person who at the time of the
>nomination (or endorsement as set forth below) is:
>		(a)	subscribed to the GA or GA-announce lists;
>		(b)	subscribed to a working group list; or
>		(c)	a member of a DNSO Constituency.
>		Note:  A person with multiple email addresses is only
>counted once.
>
>3.	Nominations should be emailed to the DNSO Secretariat at the
>following email address:  [Elisabeth, please fill in].  The nomination
>should include at least the following information:
>		(a)	the name and email address of the nominee, 
>		(b)	the name and email address of the nominator, and
>		(c)	type of GA membership (i.e., GA subscriber,
>GA-announce subscriber, Working Group subscriber, or DNSO Constituency
>member).
>4.	Any nominee has until 16:00 CET on December 2, 1999 in which to
>accept the nomination.  Acceptances should be emailed to the DNSO
>Secretariat at the following email address: [Elisabeth, please fill in]
>and should include at least the following information:
>		(a)	the name and email address of the nominee, 
>		(b)	background information about the nominee, and 
>		(c)	a statement of the nominee's objectives in the
>role as Chair of the GA (including his or her views of the role of the
>GA and its relationship with the Names Council and Constituencies of the
>DNSO).  
>		A list of the accepted nominees shall be posted at the
>following email address no later than 24:00 CET on December 2, 1999
>[Elisabeth, please fill in].
>5.	Starting at 17:00 CET, December 2, 1999 and up until 16:00 CET
>on December 7, 1999, any member of the GA may endorse their support for
>any of the accepted nominees.  Endorsements should be emailed to the
>DNSO Secretariat at the following email address:  [Elisabeth, please
>fill in].  The endorsement should include at least the following
>information:
>		(1)	the name and email address of the endorser; and
>		(2)	the name of the accepted nominee he or she
>wishes to endorse.  
>		Specific statements of endorsements (i.e., how you know
>the nominee and why you believe he or she would make a good GA Chair)
>may also be submitted and are encouraged.  Members of the GA may endorse
>as many accepted nominees as they wish, but may only endorse any given
>accepted nominee once.  While the Names Council will consider the number
>of endorsements for each accepted nominee as valuable input into the
>selection process, given the potential for abuse in an online process,
>such numbers will not be definitive.
>6.	All accepted nominees that receive 10 or more endorsements by
>16:00 CET on December 7, 1999 shall be forwarded to the Names Council
>for selection.
>7.	A nomination watchdog committee shall be formed to police the
>nomination process to help detect and cure any instances of fraudulent
>activity in connection with the nomination process.  The committee shall
>consists of the authors of the nominations procedures proposals
>submitted to the GA, which includes Jonathan Weinberg, Kent Crispin,
>Javier Rodriguez, Roberto Gaetano and Bradley Thorton.  Any instances of
>fraudulent nominations or endorsements should be reported to this
>committee at the following email address:  [Elisabeth, fill in], with a
>copy to the Names Council at council@dnso.org.  This committee and the
>Names Council shall have the sole discretion as to how to deal with any
>such reported activity.
>
>
>
>
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Shapiro Cohen 
Group of Intellectual Property Practices
Ottawa, Canada

Telephone: (613)232-5300
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