Re: [ga] THIS FRIDAY end the nomination's time... Part I

[Bob Davis <bob.davis@netzero.net>]

Ellen and all DNSO'ers,

  Very aptly stated Ms. Rony, and also very good observance.

Ellen Rony wrote:

> >On Thu, 2 Dec 1999 R.Gaetano@iaea.org wrote:
> >
> >> Because I can't believe, not even for a moment, that people like Roeland
> >> Meyer, Mikki Barry, Ellen Rony, Karl Auerbach, and so on, and so forth, are
> >> giving up.
> >
> >Roberto,
>
> It is flattering to read that my reduced participation has been noticed.
>
> No, Roberto, I have not given up in the broadest meaning of that term.  I
> still spend the majority of my productive hours monitoring domain name
> issues, updating the domainhandbook.com website, and reading these e-mails.
>
> When the discussion descends to banter among personalities competing for
> attention, I withdraw.  I wish all list members would be more respectful of
> our time, since this voluntary participation for most of us must be
> squeezed into a day that includes income-producing activity and other non
> dns-related obligations.  I use the delete button a lot, which means that
> if there are pearls of wisdom contained in the plethora of unsubstantive
> banalities,  I (and many others of similar disposition) don't see them.  It
> comes down to time constraints.  If one must shuck a whole ear of corn just
> to get a single edible nugget, why bother?
>
> I join those who question where in this new byzantine, bloated ICANN
> structure we can have even have a voice.  Despite the thousand+ pro bono
> hours I have contributed to this discussion--responding to public calls for
> comment, making presentations to WIPO, posting unofficial notes of
> meetings, archiving and posting links to key documents and articles about
> this process--ICANN's initial legal counsel calls me an outsider.   If I am
> an outsider, actively involved in these issues before he even knew the
> meaning the term dns, then he is an "insider" and that us/them is the crux
> of the PR problem with ICANN.
>
> >From what I have seen since ICANN's inception, calling this transfer of
> administrative functions to the private sector a "bottom up, self
> governing" effort is a sham.  It's just smoke and mirrors, a dog and pony
> show or window dressing while the real decisionmaking occurs in private
> meetings a teleconferences.
>
> The *only* example I can provide where bottom-up work actually got ICANN's
> ear in a direct and public manner was when registrars articulated their
> concerns with the DOC/ICANN/NSI Agreement at the November ICANN board
> meeting. The agreement approved on November 4 included changes that
> reflected the palpable concerns expressed by the registrars.  See
> http://www.domainhandbook.com/icann-nsi.html for a before and after
> November 4 comparison of changes the Agreement among DOC/ICANN/NSI.
>
> It is unclear how the GA fits in concert with the constituencies and
> working groups.  Even though I monitor these mailing lists daily, one needs
> a road map to understand the path to affect policy (see
> http://www.wia.org/icann/after_icann-gac.htm for a fascinating chart that
> reveals the obfiscation better than these words can convey).  I believe
> this labyrinth is intentional.  By dividing up the process into many
> distinct but somehow connected components, we are left feeling powerless
> and dazed when matters proceed beyond ICANN's initial charter.
>
> I am deeply disheartened and how the events of the past year have unfolded.
> I won't recount my own litany of grievances with the interim ICANN board,
> but I feel that as an unelected body, it had only one obligation: to set up
> the membership structure so that the users of the DNS could elect their own
> representatives.  Instead, this unaccountable body has made sweeping policy
> decisions on the most contentious issues of the day. A year down the road,
> individuals still cannot affect this process, yet individuals--including
> families, students, entrepreneurs and innovators--will be the largest
> constituency of the Internet community, if they are not already.  Every
> time this point surfaces, we are told that the At Large Membership will
> elect 9 representatives to the ICANN board and thus have substantial power.
> But a threshhold of 5,000 members must first be met, then an At Large
> Council must be elected and they, in turn, select the At Large board
> representatives. In other words, individuals will have to jump through
> hoops to have a voice in the process.
>
> No, Roberto, I have not given up, and here is why.  When I was young, I was
> terrified of spiders.  They could emerge from their secret hiding places
> and bite me when I wasn't looking.  This was my overarching fear, although
> it manifested itself only when I had reason to believe that spiders were in
> close proximity. I was never inclined to squash the spiders I so feared; I
> felt safe from harm when I was able to keep my eyes on the offending
> critter.  By monitoring its movements from a distance, I was denying it the
> opportunity to surprise me, to crawl onto my body, to hurt me.
>
> I am not terrified of ICANN, just wary.  It is my modern-day spider. So I
> monitor its activities, inform myself on the issues and share that
> information with others who do not or cannot invest the time required to
> follow the process.   I am certainly disheartened.
>
> I'll spare you my complete litany of grievances with the interim/initial
> ICANN board and its insider/outlier mentality, ever-changing bylaws, and
> expansion of technical coordination into policy-making activities.  I am
> disheartened that the DNSO GA cannot elect its own chair, that the At Large
> memberhips must face significant hurdles before having any board
> representation whatsoever, and then only indirectly.
>
> If wishes were horses, I would have the initial/interim ICANN board resign
> immediately, ride off into the sunset with drafts of their memoirs of this
> historic experiment in hand, and leave the reigns of Internet
> administration to the newly elected nine. I would put all policymaking on
> the back burner until the At Large membership was established and
> represented on the board.  I earnestly want this to be a public, inclusive,
> responsive and accountable process.
>
> ............................................................................
> Ellen Rony                         ____             The Domain Name Handbook
> Co-author                      ^..^     )6     http://www.domainhandbook.com
> +1 (415) 435-5010              (oo) -^--                     ISBN 0879305150
> Tiburon, CA                        W   W               erony@marin.k12.ca.us
>            DOT COM is the Pig Latin of the Information Age
> ............................................................................

Bob Davis...

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