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Re: [ga] Karl's latest
Mr. Sims,
I would only be shocked by this "ad hominem" attack and would
ask for apologies too on behalf of this GA, should we all not know this
is part of the only defense ICANN found: to abuse Mr. Auerbach and Mr.
Gilmore (and who else?) into an acid response to claim the whole case is
ad hominem against you, Mr. Cerf and Mr ... Pisanty (?).
I thank you for proposing us to reread the GAC document. I suppose this
is a way to convey that Mr. Auerbach and you do not play in the same
field and a way to flatter the GAC Members. I think the GAC Members are
not the dumb fools (to take an expression matching your style) you seem
to think they are: this document shows it or may one of us has actually
the English reading problem you claim. They have not misunderstood the
tricks you introduced against them in the Blueprint. Some of them are
already aware of the text of your post (it was fair game to broadcast it)
and have remarked that after all you are an employee of Mr. Auerbach: for
people accustomed to diplomatic language you have here demonstrated a
capacity for discourtesy and uncivilization which will worry them as
being your possible next target. To be clear, I think this "à la
drunken cow-boy" post has made more for the future position of the
GAC IRT ICANN than all what you may have discussed in Bucharest. I do
thank you for that.
This being said, you created the ICANN you now despise as an "old
ICANN" you say Mr. Auerbach supports for a long. a) this would make
Mr. Auerbach one of your earliest followers, a feeling I had not: it
seems you treat you fans in a strange way. b) this means that you call
your first attempt a failure, a wise opinion many share with you. Since
you also are among the leading fathers of the "New" ICANN, I am
sure we all are interested to know why you think this second attempt of
yours will be the success we wish. Even if I am the feeling - from other
circles than the US ones you navigate with Mr. Auerbach - that we
are now on a converging tack towards a third attempt, may be even before
you leave?
.
Regards. jfc
On 05:59 09/07/02, Joe Sims said:
Karl's
latest posting makes you wonder whether the self-imposed responsibility
for saving the Internet from the barbarians has finally gotten to him
(and even to his lawyers, if they in fact gave him the strange advice he
says they did).
What is most revealing, however, in this latest message is his obvious
contempt for his fellow Board members, who according to him are hapless
and helpless, in the steely grip of a domineering staff and unable (some,
according to Karl, because English is not their native language) to get
the real truth of what is going on. Karl, by comparison, is a
self-described big-time player, testifying before Congress and meeting
with important people in Washington. His comparison in the last
hearing to Senators and himself as being similar because both were
elected was another manifestation of this self-delusion, which is both
amazing and a little sad.
In fact, if Karl ever actually spent any time with his fellow directors
from outside the United States, he would discover that most of them speak
considerably better English than he (or I) do, as if that had anything to
do with their critical faculties. Indeed, the personal
accomplishments of Alejandro Pisanty, or Nii Quaynor, or Ivan Campos, or
for that matter Vint Cerf and the rest of the ICANN directors, compare
quite favorably to Karl's career record of accomplishment, I would
guess. And if he ever bothered to actually debate the merits of
issues with them -- which he does not, because, of course, he knows he
already has the delivered wisdom -- he would know how hard they have
struggled with these complicated issues. If he ever bothered to
listen, he would have heard his fellow elected directors explain why, for
example, they thought that online elections were not a good way to select
ICANN Board members at this time -- but since Karl knows better, he does
not listen or dismisses t[ga] Karl's latest.ems hese views as the result
of "fear of the US." But Karl tells us later that
ICANN is headed for a "collision" with the US because it is
failing to comply with its obligations (by which he means
elections). Which is it: fear of the US is buffaloing people
like Ivan Campos and Nii Quaynor into opposing elections even though they
really think they are a good idea, or the US is going to force ICANN to,
in Karl's words, "comport with their obligations?" Like
many owners of delivered wisdom, Karl is not troubled by internal
inconsistency.
I invite readers to review the GAC Statement on Evolution and Reform
issued at Bucharest. The US, unlike Karl, was present for an
intense 2 1/2 day meeting that produced a detailed statement basically
endorsing the Blueprint for Reform adopted by the Board. There were
some dissents or disassociations, like the ITU, but none from the
US. If we are headed for a collision, where are the signs?
Ah, perhaps from his meetings with important people in Washington, but if
so, who are they and why are they not speaking out? Could it be we
have a transparency issue with Karl? Horrors! Or perhaps he mostly
has a hearing problem -- zealots frequently hear what they want to hear,
and only that.
The real issue is not public input into ICANN; there is no dispute from
anyone that there must be effective mechanisms for the general public,
including individual users, to make their views known and to participate
if they choose to in the policy development process. Karl's
position, and that of some others, is that there is only one possible
acceptable way for that to happen -- by electing directors. The
views of many others are different -- that there are numerous ways it can
happen, and elections (at least today) are not the best of those
options. This may be an issue that reasonable people can differ on,
but to Karl, those who disagree could only do so because they are evil,
or inept, or so[ga] Karl's latest.ems mehow constrained in their ability
to think because English is not their native language.
This is either utter nonsense or the ramblings of a zealot. In
either case, it deserves the weight that it is getting. Karl asked
to be a member of the ICANN Board; nobody dragooned him. Once given
that responsibility, he has chosen to ignore his fiduciary obligations to
ICANN and to this fellow Board members, and to use that platform to feed
his ego and advance a largely incoherent personal agenda. Being an
ICANN director has given him prominence and attention, and apparently
that is what he wanted, since he has not even tried to do anything iwith
his fellow Board members that would possibly advance the cause he says he
espouses. He has never missed a Senate or House hearing, but he now
excuses his lack of attendence at one of the most important ICANN Board
meetings ever on the fact that it was inconvenient for him (as compared,
one supposes, to those other Board members from around the world that
were able to adjust their schedules to enable their attendence).
Other excuses for other absences were that he was up late and fell
asleep, and that he couldn't get the phone to work. In America,
every person apparently has the right to be irresponsible, but for
heaven's sake, the rest of us don't have to pretend that it is an
attractive character trait.
Karl is part of the old ICANN -- an organization that was as much a
magnet for every person with grandiose ideas about global democracy as it
was a serious working body. That old ICANN is gone -- and is being
replaced with an organization that still adheres to the core values of
openness and transparency, of broad public input and participation, and
of making policy by consensus whenever possible, but does so with the
knowledge that it still has to all work. For people like Karl, the
new ICANN may not have quite the magnetic attraction of the old, but that
is not a bad thing. It shou[ga] Karl's latest.ems ld help get the
decisions that must be made done in a timely and effective way. And
that will be a good thing.
Joe Sims
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
51 Louisiana Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Direct Phone: 1.202.879.3863
Direct Fax: 1.202.626.1747
Mobile Phone: 1.703.629.3963
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