Re: [wg-d] WG Principles

[Mikki Barry <ooblick@netpolicy.com>]

At 12:50 PM -0700 8/4/99, Karl Auerbach wrote:
>As you know, I consider mixing organizations and people as something that
>is very bad.  It essentially gives organizations a vote size that is based
>on someone's arbitrary guess as to the size of the organization.
>
>That gives an enormous power to whoever it is that makes that guess.
>
>And organizational votes are based on the assumption that all of the
>organization's members would speak with one voice.

I definitely agree with Karl here.  We have already seen the misuse of the
organizational system.  INTA claims to speak for its members, yet has never
asked its members' opinions.  (INTA previously claimed in writing to speak
for all domain name holders, but hasn't repeated that claim).  The ABA
Intellectual Property Section claims to speak for all its members, yet has
never asked the members' opinions either.  As far as I know, neither has
ISOC or the IETF.
>
>Plus there is the fact that organizational votes multiply the votes of a
>person who is a member of multiple organizations.
>
>People, individual people, are the atomic unit of voting.

Well said.