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

["Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>]

After private discussion with Michael, I realize that I was in error, in
applying a narrow understanding of the law to a wider scope, wrt,
corporate disclosure restrictions.

Apologies to Javier on this one point.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-discuss@dnso.org
> [mailto:owner-discuss@dnso.org]On Behalf Of
> Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law
> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 1999 12:10 PM
> To: Roeland M.J. Meyer
> Cc: Javier SOLA; discuss@dnso.org; council@dnso.org
> Subject: Funding [Was RE: [discuss] RE: [council] Re: [IFWP] regular
> exprssionof the general assembly of the dnso]
>
>
> 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
> +1 (305) 284-4285  |  +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)  |  http://www.law.tm
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