Funding [Was RE: [discuss] RE: [council] Re: [IFWP] regular exprssionof the general assembly of the dnso]

["Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin@law.miami.edu>]

I am aware of no law that prevents a corporation from announcing how it's
spending its money (so long as it tells the truth).  The only exception
might be in the run up to a public offering of securities, when it can
hardly say anything. Otherwise, a corporation has a right of free
expression much like a natural person's.

I agree that it would be to everyone's benefit if NSI were to disclose who
it is supporting and/or if recipients of funder were to make the
disclosure themselves from time to time (indeed, some do, and we should
admire that). That said, armed with this info I would not instantly and
inevitably impute the status of "NSI shill" to every recipient of (small
amounts of) funding -- especially those whose positions are consistent
with what they said before being funded.  The fact is that ICANN has
chosen a modus operandi that appears (from here) to heavily favor those
who are able to attend expensive meetings in expensive places.  I cannot.  
I have chosen not to accept funding to do it (my constraints are not just
financial), but the result is to be reduced to what feels like relative
irrelevance.  I can sympathize with those who accept a plane ticket even
though I choose not to do it myself.

On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, Roeland M.J. Meyer wrote:

> > [mailto:owner-discuss@dnso.org]On Behalf Of
> > Javier SOLA
> > Sent: Sunday, June 27, 1999 7:49 AM
> > To: discuss@dnso.org; council@dnso.org
> >
> > Don,
> >
> > Thank you for the clarification.
> >
> > My advice is that if you want accuracy, all you have to do is to be as
> > transparent as you are asking us to be. That way we can be
> > accurate. Quid pro quo.
> 
> For a commercial, for-profit, publicly held corporation to meet to your
> demands, for openness, would probably be a violation of US law on their
> part, on some level or multiple levels. I believe that you know this and
> are simply grand-standing.
> 

-- 
A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin@law.tm
U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
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