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<div>Below is a draft statement on ICANN's proposal to fund half of GNSO to participate in mtgs. </div><div><br></div><div>Please suggest any changes or edits by Friday when the comment period closes. </div><div><br></div><div>And by all means, send in your own comments on the issue to ICANN here:</div><div> <a href="http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#travel-support-draft">http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#travel-support-draft</a></div><div><br></div><div>ICANN proposal to fund half of GNSO to participate in mtgs:</div> <a href="http://www.icann.org/topics/travel-support/draft-procedure-22may08.htm">http://www.icann.org/topics/travel-support/draft-procedure-22may08.htm</a><div><br></div><div>Thank you,</div><div>Robin<br><div><br><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Statement of the NCUC on ICANN's Travel Funding Proposal<o:p></o:p></span></p> <div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>ICANN is currently revisiting its policy on providing support for travel expenses, and is considering extending the support it currently offers to the ICANN Board, ALAC, and NomCom to supporting organizations, including the GNSO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The travel expenses of the councilors of these organizations are inherent costs of ICANN's work, and paying these expenses should be a priority use of ICANN's resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Currently ICANN is subsidized by volunteer councilors who provide not only their personal time and effort, but also the funds to travel to meetings on the other side of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>This change is especially important as the GNSO moves to restructure its constituencies and strives to increase participation by individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>High costs present a bar to participation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those costs may well seem reasonable or incidental to those parties who have a large direct financial interest in ICANN policy, but they are disproportionately burdensome to individuals and non-commercial interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Since NCUC is the only constituency not supported by commercial interests and large industries, the under-funding of the GNSO has been the single most significant barrier to NCUC participation in ICANN policy making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ICANN is financially self-sufficient and should bear the costs of its own operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Otherwise, only those who can routinely pay thousands of dollars to participate in policy discussions will be able to influence ICANN policy-making.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>ICANN should fund the reasonable travel expenses of all GNSO councilors, who are all needed to carry out ICANN’s policy work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The current proposal to pay the travel expenses of half of the councilors is insufficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Funding only a fraction of the councilors leaves the process open to gamesmanship and favoritism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Face-to-face council meetings are essential to the work of the GNSO, and the expense of keeping the GNSO running is as much a cost of ICANN's operation as the travel expenses of the Board or SO chairs. <o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:35.45pt">The Internet community would not accept a policy in which only half of the board members were funded to participate in board meetings, but ICANN proposes providing support for only half of the GNSO Council to participate in policy meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The GNSO is supposed to represent all of the various stake-holders or interest groups who belong at the table in Internet policy negotiations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As the supposedly “bottom-up” part of ICANN, the GNSO should be a fully-funded and fully-supported organization within ICANN.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Otherwise, all the talk about “bottom up” policymaking at ICANN is empty rhetoric meant only for press releases, while the same commercial and governmental interests continue to dominate actual policy decisions.</p> <div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div> <!--EndFragment--> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; 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-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div>IP JUSTICE</div><div>Robin Gross, Executive Director</div><div>1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA</div><div>p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451</div><div>w: <a href="http://www.ipjustice.org">http://www.ipjustice.org</a> e: <a href="mailto:robin@ipjustice.org">robin@ipjustice.org</a></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></body></html>