[ga] Can You Budget for Elections? ICANN't

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@corliss.net>]

This is from TheStreet.com's MEDIA GROK newsletter.

Dawn

====================

Can You Budget for Elections? ICANN't

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is supposed to
run the domain-name system in an open and transparent manner, but
ICANN's critics accuse it of operating behind closed doors and
springing surprises at public meetings. So the editors and readers of
the ICANNWatch Web log resort to a kind of online dumpster diving,
scouring ICANN's Web sites, mailing lists and conference-call logs.
This week ICANNWatch turned up a draft of next year's budget proposal;
a couple of media outlets picked up the story.

Writing on the ICANNWatch site, University of Miami law professor
Michael Froomkin criticized ICANN for allocating zero dollars to run
an at-large election next year. Originally, half of ICANN's board was
supposed to be elected by members of the Internet community. The
organization has cut elected representation from nine board members to
five, and its critics accuse it of scheming to eliminate any openly
elected representatives.

The Register's Andrew Orlowski pounced on the budget's lack of funding
for elections, referring to the proposed budget's drafter, Mike
Roberts, as ICANN's "Maximum CFO." (Roberts is no longer associated
with ICANN.)

InternetNew's Brian McWilliams turned in a balanced look at the budget
proposal, even paraphrasing an ICANN spokesperson on the proposal's
status. McWilliams mentioned the lack of funding for at-large
elections, but spent more column inches arguing that ICANN's spending
priorities are set mostly by the domain-name registrars who pay the
bulk of ICANN's bills. McWilliams quoted ICANNWatch's Froomkin: "Why
do the registrars get the inside track and get to comment before the
rest of us? The answer is obvious. They've got lawyers, and they've
got money." - Keith Dawson

Leaked ICANN Budget Reveals Plans
http://www.icannwatch.org/article.php?sid=140

Leaked ICANN Budget Apportions $0 for Elections
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/18868.html

ICANN Proposed Budget Leaked on the Web
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_763061,00.html

Copyright 2001 Standard Media International

Dawn Rivers Baker, Editor
Wahmpreneur News Magazine
Business news online
for women who work where they live
P.O. Box 41
Sidney, NY 13838
607-563-8550/7523 (voice)
www.wahmpreneur.com





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