Re: [ga] FYI: "Overcoming ICANN"

[Eric Dierker <eric@hi-tek.com>]

I think it would be good to look at this larger picture.
ICANN is not evolving, the Internet Society is evolving.
Dinosaurs die off.  Woolly Mammoths become extinct.
Sharks and Cockroaches will endure but not rule.
Hopefully ICANN will survive as a strictly IANA function.
Hopefully a new group will emerge from the slime as a strictly
representative function.
But it does not appear that the two shall cross pollinate.
Good or bad is almost irrelevant, but moving forward is critical to
survival.

Eric

Thomas Roessler wrote:

> This was just forwarded by Jay Fenello to the CSIF list: Dave
> Farber, Peter G. Neumann, and Lauren Weinstein have published an
> Open Letter to the Global Internet Community, entitled "Overcoming
> ICANN: Forging Better Paths for the Internet."
>
> The letter is available at <http://www.pfir.org/statements/icann>,
> and required reading - in its entirety.
>
> Some tasty bits:
>
>  - "ICANN's lack of meaningful representation, and its continuing
>    pattern of drastic and seemingly arbitrary structural and policy
>    changes (among other shortcomings), have created an unstable and
>    suspicion-ridden environment that is detrimental to the interests
>    of the vast majority of Internet users around the world. The
>    resulting overly politicized situation not only threatens the
>    stability of the Internet itself, but also invites drastic and
>    undesirable interventions by a variety of vested interests."
>
>  - "Wide consensus has already been achieved on at least one key
>    point -- even by ICANN's current president -- ICANN is seriously
>    broken. We agree, and we additionally assert that ICANN's history,
>    structure, and behaviors strongly indicate that the most
>    productive course would be for ICANN's role in Internet affairs to
>    be discontinued."
>
> As a cure to the problems in ICANN, the authors suggest: (1) "all
> Internet policy, operational, and other [...] functions currently
> performed by ICANN should be transferred", as soon as practicable,
> to some other organization such as the IAB as a transitional
> measure.  (2) A study be started "with a mandate to propose detailed
> and meaningful paths for the Internet's development".  (3) Results
> of that study should be carefully considered and implemented.
>
> This statement is certainly demonstrating that public distrust in
> ICANN's board, and ICANN as a whole, has reached a new climax after
> the Lynn proposal and the Accra decisions.  To me, it seems
> unreasonable to believe that any kind of trust in the ICANN board
> could be restored by either keeping the current directors, or
> selecting new ones in a circular nomination committee approach.  In
> fact, this approach would perpetuate current distrust.
>
> Quite frankly, I do not see any other way to re-establish trust in
> this board than replacing a considerable number of directors (like
> those whose terms expire later this year) by way of public elections
>  - whatever be the mechanism used for these elections.  And even that
> doesn't have to work.
>
> --
> Thomas Roessler                         http://log.does-not-exist.org/
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