Re: [wg-review] At large vs IDNHC

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

Karl Auerbach wrote:

> Don't forget that ICANN's management/staff has retained control of the
> membership list, hence controlling the channels of communication through
> which at-large members can organize outside the sight of, and potential
> control of, management/staff.  So the at-large's ability to act in any
> concerted way, unless corporate management approves, has been > crippled.

Any At-large member who can prove that he/she has voted for a Board
director can: 
1) Petition for a bylaws change. There are many obvious
possibilitites here, ranging from the at-large rules themselves, to
the constituency structure, to ICANN's funding mechanisms. For
example, a petition sent to the Board for proposing a bylaws change
and demanding that the proposal be made available to all members, if
it were then not made available to them, is grounds for immediate
legal action against the corporation that might go far to convince
the Board to give powers to the at-large membership;
2) Petition for the destitution of a Director. There are varios
substantive reasons for doing so in the case of certain Board
members, starting with those who have been on the Board since the
beginning and are in contravention of the byalws;
3) File a suit against ICANN in California. An example of a good
complaint would be for inadequate fiscal disclosure, for refusing to
make the membership list public (an excellent one), or even for the
conflict of interests between Board members, officers, and the NC
chair due to their involvement with new gTLD proposals.

These three actions - changing bylaws, destituting directors, and
suing the corporation - are the right of a member, and membership,
as Karl Auerbach has repeatedly said, cannot legally be denied
anyone, under California law, who has voted for a Director.

By taking such action, which is a member's right, the question of
at-large membership can be opened up and progress made on that
front. An at-large member who refuses to act as one has no
justification for complaining that he or she is not "being treated
like a member". Not exercising rights means giving them away.

M.S.
ICIIU.ORG
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