<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16915" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="MARGIN: 4px 4px 1px; FONT: 10pt Tahoma">
<DIV>To be fair, I don't think the individual Councillor in question was speaking for the Constituency, only herself.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nonetheless, Dan's (and others') points are the main concern - there is no reason to have secret ballots in view of ICANN's commitment to openness and transparency. I plan to make a statement to the Council supporting Bill and reiterating the NCUC position on this shortly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cheers</DIV>
<DIV>Mary</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#800080>Mary W S Wong</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>Professor of Law & Chair, IP Programs</DIV>
<DIV>Franklin Pierce Law Center</DIV>
<DIV>Two White Street</DIV>
<DIV>Concord, NH 03301</DIV>
<DIV>USA</DIV>
<DIV>Email: <A href="mailto:mwong@piercelaw.edu">mwong@piercelaw.edu</A></DIV>
<DIV>Phone: 1-603-513-5143</DIV>
<DIV>Webpage: <A href="http://www.piercelaw.edu/marywong/index.php">http://www.piercelaw.edu/marywong/index.php</A></DIV>
<DIV>Selected writings available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: <A href="http://ssrn.com/author=437584">http://ssrn.com/author=437584</A></DIV><BR><BR>>>> Dan Krimm <dan@MUSICUNBOUND.COM> 10/15/2009 5:15 PM >>><BR>At 10:41 AM -0700 10/15/09, Robin Gross wrote:<BR>>Thanks to Bill for weighing in against this. I was surprised by the<BR>>strong reaction of the IPC member who threatens to NOT vote unless she can<BR>>vote in secret.<BR><BR><BR>I've got no problem if an IPC member chooses not to vote... ;-)<BR><BR>Sorry, that sort of comment makes me a little bit snarky.<BR><BR>Since ICANN voting is a restricted privilege (since membership in a<BR>constituency is a restricted privilege), and not a right granted to the<BR>general public as such, the whole secret ballot thing just doesn't apply.<BR>Constituency members are more like representatives than citizen-voters, and<BR>transparency is the guiding principle.<BR><BR>Actually, they are mostly like lobbyists.<BR><BR>In ICANN's efforts to resolve the problem of lobbyists influencing<BR>representatives, instead of deciding to do away with lobbyists, they did<BR>away with the representatives, leaving only the lobbyists.<BR><BR>An innovative choice by the founders, gotta give 'em that.</irony><BR><BR>Dan<BR><BR>PS: I do recognize that this makes *us* lobbyists, but if lobbying is the<BR>only way to get representation inside ICANN, then the general public needs<BR>its own lobbyists as well as all the other special interests, and we are<BR>about as close to that as there is at ICANN, with the sporadic exception of<BR>ALAC.<BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the author alone and do<BR>not necessarily reflect any position of the author's employer.<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>