Re: [ga] IDNO -- This affects you.

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

Except that this was never true.  How is a business group or an IP group a
technical constituency?  It isn't and never was.

Much as I like Amadeu, this is revisionism.  But it isn't credible.

On Sat, 13 Oct 2001, William S. Lovell wrote:

> Skipping past the personality issues, I think a bit of history will help
> explain the dilemma in which those who want an individual domain
> name holders constituency faces, and this background comes from
> some material posted by Amadeu Abril i Abril in the context of the
> recent election. He pointed out that ICANN was to be a technical
> body, and the original SOs were defined in terms of their technical
> function. The purpose was to set up, operate, and maintain a
> properly functioning internet system, including a domain name
> system, and that was all.  Consequently, no thought was given to
> any representation by users, domain name holders, or the like,
> since they had no technical role to perform, but only to make use
> of whatever ICANN created.
> 
> Mr Abril i Abril then went on to discuss the "policy" scene, and
> expressed some amusement over the fact that we GA types were
> (a) forever agitating over "mission creep" -- ICANN was getting
> itself into policy issues -- while (b) at the same time forever advancing
> policy issues ourselves out of the GA. We've had numerous instances
> of ICANN's policy activities, of course, but the latest definitive evidence
> of its stance on the matter comes from Joe Sims.
> 
> Karl Auerbach has correctly noted before that Joe Sims does not
> speak for ICANN, but in this case Sims expresses correctly the
> ICANN stance.  As most of you may know, Prof. Froomkin had
> published a seminal paper some time back that questioned the
> whole legitimacy of ICANN.  Last Friday, I attended the Seventh
> Annual Lewis & Clark Law Forum, at Northwestern College of
> Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, which had the
> title "Deciding ICANN Domain Name Disputes: Questioning
> Delegation, Fairness, and Consent," and a final paper included
> in the proceedings was a Working Draft by Joe Sims and Cynthia
> L. Bauerly (neither was present) entititled "A Response to
> Professor Froomkin: Why ICANN Does Not Violate the APA
> or the Constitution."  I recite all of that just to set out the following
> quote from that draft: "ICANN has a very important function --
> to manage what is essentially the phone book of the Internet, and
> to make policy decisions relating to it."
> 
> In short, ICANN (i.e., the BoD, NC, etc.) is having its cake
> and eating it.  On the one hand, it was formulated as a technical
> body and hence no consideration was given to mere Internet
> users or domain name holders, since they had no technical
> duties to perform, but on the other hand ICANN itself has
> presumed to absorb unto itself all kinds of policy issues that
> go quite beyond those technical matters that initially required
> only technology-related SOs.  It is thus no wonder that any
> attempt to form an individuals constituency of any kind is met
> with what appears to be mere disinterest, but is more likely
> a concerted opposition.
> 
> It is a matter of power, and if one wants to see irony, here
> it is: the original "technocrats" I would assume were selected
> on the basis of their technical expertise, and rightly so since
> there was in fact a fully functional, global Internet that came
> out of that.  But nothing suggests that any such persons had
> any special expertise in deciding global socio-economic,
> political, and other human-related issues as are involved in
> a global Internet policy. With Karl Auerbach (also an attorney)
> being the only exception I know of, the present BoD remains
> in the original "technocrat" mold.  The GA of the DNSO, on
> the other hand, has within it people from every imaginable
> walk of life, albeit it, too, has its share of technocrats whose
> political naivete is demonstrated on the GA lists every day.
> So what we are left with is an ICANN that seems essentially
> to be run by its business-related lawyers, the technocrats
> therein blindly following their guidance, while the one real
> source of that broad, people-related perspective that is most
> essential for the development of an Internet that would serve
> the public, as the Charter and the USG documents require,
> has no voice whatever and indeed is actively opposed. (It
> is no wonder that ICANN suddenly dumps everything else
> so as to take up the technical issue of security -- that is a
> field within which the BoD will be more comfortable, and
> so let the users and domain name holders eat cake.)
> 
> At this stage in the evolution of ICANN, it will only be
> through the development of a structure wherein domain
> name holders and users have a dominant voice in setting
> those global policies that directly affect them that ICANN
> can even pretend to act for the public good, and at present
> it is only the GA (and hopefully soon the At Large) and the
> broad-based expertise that these people represent that can
> demonstrate the reality-based perspective on global policies
> that is essential for the future functioning of the Internet.
> But don't hold your breath.
> 
> Bill Lovell
> 
> 
> DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > ...but let's talk for a moment about how this cause may be moved forward.  On
> > October 4, I sent the following note to the Council:
> >
> > With regard to an individual's constituency, Vint Cerf made it clear in
> > Stockholm that the Board noted the GA's communication on the topic, and
> > further stated that a "proposal should come through the NC."  He also
> > commented that, "We would entertain any reasonable proposal in accordance
> > with Bylaws."   As the current Interim report of the Review Task Force does
> > not appear to offer a reasonable proposal to expedite the creation of such a
> > constituency, perhaps the NC would instead consider adopting the following
> > language:
> >      "In recognition of the relentless demand for an individuals constituency
> > and the acknowledged need for better representation of individuals in the
> > ICANN process, the Names Council of the Domain Name Supporting Organization
> > resolves to advise the ICANN Board to create such new Constituency upon its
> > own motion, as such action would serve the purposes of the Corporation, and
> > would be in accordance with the spirit of the Bylaws."
> > http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/council/Arc06/msg00094.html
> >
> > The Council (as could be expected) has taken no action whatsoever to develop
> > a reasonable proposal on behalf of individuals even after sustained
> > encouragement.  They have once more, in their latest teleconference, chosen
> > to again ignore the issue.  The only action taken thus far has been the
> > proposal of "criteria" in the Interim Review Task Force Report that is
> > clearly designed to keep new constituencies out.
> >
> > Those of you that seek to establish a constituency will need to address this
> > issue.  And you will need to do it now -- the public comment period has just
> > opened and it will not be open for long.
> >
> > Even after you present your Charter/petition to the Board, you will still
> > need to await the Council's input to the Board on your petition.  That
> > "input" will be based on this bogus "criteria" unless you act now to thwart
> > the machinations of those whose goal is nothing less than to deny your
> > successful application.
> >
> > The Review report is in:
> > http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20011010.NCreview-report.html
> >
> > Comments may be posted to:  comments-review@dnso.org
> >
> > The Council is not your friend.  You represent a threat to the balance of
> > their power-clique.  You will need to fight them on this issue and break down
> > their barriers to entry if you seek to make any forward   progress.  Good
> > luck in your endeavors, and I certainly hope that your petition to the Board
> > will be presented in Marina del Rey.  Best wishes to all of you.
> >
> > --
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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." This
> page also includes much else about the DNSO.)
> 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 the Adobe Acrobat Reader,
> available for free down load at
> http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)
> Part III:
> http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BP-PartIII.html
> 
> 

-- 
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A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin@law.tm
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