Re: [ga] FYI: Working Paper on At Large Advisory Committee

[Karl Auerbach <karl@cavebear.com>]

On Tue, 23 Jul 2002 kent@songbird.com wrote:

> > And it is accountability to the public that is so completely lacking from 
> > ICANN.
> 
> How is Microsoft accountable to the public?

I am surprised that you don't know this.  Please turn to page one of
Shareholder Rights for Dummies:

Call up a stock broker, buy one share of Microsoft common stock (which you
can do today for a few dollars) and you get:

  - A vote for directors (and often a vote to recall a director.)

  - Access to corporate information.

  - A right to bring lawsuits to compel directors and management to
    operate the corporation properly.  (In some cases the cost of this
    lawsuit must be borne by the corporation itself.)

  - The right to vote on certain topics, including amendments to the 
    Articles of Corporation and other parts of organic documents.

  - The right to put measures before the shareholders that, if accepted
    by the shareholders, will supersede acts of the board.

  - The right to gather with other shareholders to call meetings.

  - The right to know who the other shareholders are so that you can
    aggregate your voice and form voting blocs or to solicit proxies.

  etc.

That's called accountability.

And it only costs a one-time price of a few dollars.

Enron, Andersen, Global Crossing, and Worldcom are discovering the force
of that public accountability.

ICANN, on the other hand, has repudiated its obligation to serve the
public and be accountable to the public.  And that is a very strange thing
indeed for a corporation that is organized as a "public-benefit"  
corporation, particularly one that obtains a subsidy from the public via
its tax exempt status.

		--karl--

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