[ga] Selecting an ICANN Board Member

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 23:50:27 +0100, Jefsey Morfin wrote:
Re: [ga] Re:  Discussion Draft -- ICANN Reorganization

> At 20:26 17/03/02, vint cerf wrote:

> >The idea is to find the best candidates filling a variety of
> >criteria - geographic dispersion, board experience, Internet
> >awareness, fund raising ability, appreciation for the wide
> >range of interests and opinions among the Internet's constituents,
> >etc.
>
> tst, tst... Let just think about what it relly represent.

<snip>

> These candidates are supposed to represent every area of the globe in
> proportion of 300.000.000 people each, to be a former member of the BoD of
> something large such as IBM, ATT, MS, SAIC, BT, Bank of America, the Fed or
> may be the Red Cross or the Vatican, to be a former IETF Member and to know
> how to write an open root DNS file, to have a lot of friends fool enough to
> donate big money for no return in order to manage a system where others
> make millions, to have published a book or two on the complexity of the
> Internet social impact on the current world.
>
> Why not? We could find a former Primer Minister from Sweden. We could find
> a Cardinal php developer or an SAIC Admiral out of the Interconnected
> Flying Saucer business. Let suppose that every of them have been cleared by
> the CIA. Let accept that none has been refused by any government because of
> his nationality, his past positions, his education, etc...

<snip>

> Don't you think that selecting every three years 6 @large directors will be
> as much complex and costly as choosing every 12 years an UN General
Secretary?

Hi Jefsey

Nice point.  Choosing a UN General Secretary involves a lot of back room
"wheeling and dealing".  I prefer direct elections myself.

That way the electorate can decide, for themselves, what the "selection
criteria" are and whether or not the candidates meet those criteria.

Thus, if somebody wants to vote for a Vint Cerf because he is the "father of
the internet" or because he "has a sexy voice" or because he "presents like an
elder statesperson", that is entirely up to that voter.

With a large enough electorate, the person elected is most likely to be
reasonably competent, sufficiently wise and quite popular ala Karl Auerbach,
Andy Mueller-Maguhn or even Vint Cerf himself.

Of course, whether ICANN wants that or not is another story :)

Best regards
Patrick Corliss


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