Re: [ga] french candidate Eric Jonvel - ICANN meetinginMontevideo

["William S. Lovell" <wsl@cerebalaw.com>]

I'm afraid that what we are seeing here is "good old American politics."
What happens in American politics is that "warchests" are put together,
by which is meant piles of money from the backers of the candidate.
And who are those backers?  Other citizens who happen to have
money, have some sympathy with the aims of the candidate, perhaps,
but often want the candidate to do something for them if elected.  This
latter kind of problem is not likely to arise in an ICANN context --
what power to do anything to aid an individual backer would a
winning candidate ever have? -- but the rest remains.

By that "rest" I mean that the less wealthy candidates are coming
into a role in which they must "campaign" not just for votes, but
for financial backing. That may seem unfortunate, but not to do so
is to leave the field to the rich, as it is said that Rockefeller "bought"
his elections out of his own pocket, Ross Perot certainly tried to,
and JFK, of course, "bought Richard Daley and Cook County
to gain the Presidency."  There must be developed enough of an
interest in these elections, and enough commitment to the goals
of some particular candidate, to ensure that such candidate will
be able, not in this case to buy "air time" on the tube, or ads in
the newspapers, but at least (at this stage of the development
of ICANN) to show up at various international meetings.

The candidate that has the "platform" that will best serve the bulk
of Internet users,  "Individuals," "Registrants," "Domain Name
Holders," and the like, and has made those principles and goals
clear, should be acknowledged and recognized for such efforts
by General Assembly members through the development of private
"warchests" that would support the "candidate of their choice."
It is enough of a sacrifice of a candidate to put in the many hours,
over months and indeed years, that it takes to encompass the issues
that ICANN faces, develop sound policies to address those issues,
and then articulate those policies in these pages, while at the same
time trying to keep body and soul together.  If the members of the
General Assembly are not willing to back that kind of effort at
least to the extent that a candidate can have an even playing field
(just to be able to "show up" at a meeting, for heaven's sake!), well,
the old saw is that "people get the kind of government they deserve" --
the rich will continue to reign.

In principle, Joanna is quite correct in what she says below.
However, it seems evident to me that ICANN is not going
to loose a dime for less wealthy candidates, so it is again the
job of the GA membership to make itself known.  These are
indeed  a good cross-section of the stakeholders to whom
Joanna refers, and for whom she is fighting, and I now feel
that "the ball is in their court."

The dominant feature of ICANN, from its formation, has been
its control by the rich and powerful, and what we have got out
of that is such things as the UDRP for the trademark lobby,
Registries and Registrars were necessarily given SOs but
nobody ever heard of the Registrants (who, being the "public,"
are really those for the benefit of whom the Internet is supposed
to be run), and the whole rest of that sad litany.  If the members
of the General Assembly really want to change that, they will
have to do it in the old fashioned way: select a candidate that
will represent your interests well, and then back that candidate
to the hilt -- both with your vote and with your check book.
This is the real world here, the seat of power is the Board
of Directors of ICANN, and over time it must be filled with
people such as Joanna (and Karl Auerbach) who have been
captured by no one, are not corporate puppets, and truly
have the interests of the stakeholders at heart. There must
be the same kind of "power play" that gained advantage to
others who were willing to join together to make that effort.

(It should be added, of course, that "puppets" can be found
throughout the ICANN structure, so what is said above does
not just apply to Board of Directors elections.)

Bill Lovell

Joanna Lane wrote:

> on 8/24/01 9:49 PM, Nilda Vany Martinez Grajales at vany@sdnp.org.pa wrote:
>
> > ICANN has being honest in not show any favoritism for any
> > candidate in any means.
>
> Honesty is not the issue. Participation by all affected stakeholders in the
> process is the issue. Without wishing to put words into Jefsey's mouth, I
> think he is saying that ICANN discriminates against those with few material
> gains. By upholding a policy that insists every participant is responsible
> for their own funding, which policy favors the wealthy and those who are
> subsidised by corporate funding, ICANN is not offering equal opportunities
> for all affected stakeholders. The evidence is there for all to see.
>
> The bottom line is that, under the current structure, if a person seeks to
> participate fully, including at top level, they have to "pay to play", and
> for some affected groups, that is simply not possible (witness the NCDNHC
> difficulties). Assuming that most of the public are not wealthy, ICANN has a
> duty to develop a policy, and the practical means to implement such a
> policy, that does not discriminate against any financially disadvantaged
> group. The Bylaws, under which ICANN operates, are there to protect the
> public benefit, and ignoring the issue of unequal wealth in this world
> doesn't make the problem go away.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joanna
>
> The URLs for Best Practices: DNSO Citation:
> http://www.dnso.org/dnso/gaindex.html
> (Under "Other Information Documents"; "August 2001:
> Proposal for Best Practices for the DNSO GA")
> Part I:
> http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BestPractices.html
> Part II:
> http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BP-flowchart.pdf
> (Access to the .pdf file requires installing the Adobe Acrobat
> Reader, which is available for free down load at
> http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)
>
>
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The URLs for Best Practices:
DNSO Citation:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/gaindex.html
(Under "Other Information Documents"; "August 2001:
Proposal for Best Practices for the DNSO GA")
Part I:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BestPractices.html
Part II:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BP-flowchart.pdf
(Access to the .pdf file requires installing the Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which is available for free down load at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)


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