Fwd: Re: [ncdnhc-discuss] ICANN committee recommends votingrestrictions,fewerAt-Large directors

[Alejandro Pisanty - CUAED y FQ, UNAM]

Barbara,

I for one will not cling to the sexism track. It has proven almost
intractable in a previous discussion with you. Emotional reactions are
fine but they are not of much use in rational discussions. Never did I
perceive an intent of insult from Kent. Anyway, this will lead us nowhere
so I will go back to the real issues.

In the ALSC Draft Report, I think that the reasoning is as important as
the conclusions. BTW  this is something you learn right form the first day
you teach, which I've been doing since I was 17.

Even more, the discussion of yesterday and today shows that even the
premises are important. Milton has challenged the
developers-providers-users trichotomy, for example (I do not agre with him
on this point but that will be separate).

The point of disageement between you and those that have been discussing
with you this last couple of days seems to be that you and others assume
too much, or load too much, on the concept of the wide representation of a
large (almost universal) public, while some, like me, believe that this
universe is rather bounded, and further, that for the preservation of
reasonable democratic process, some restrictions in the integration of the
voter list for the at-large representation are necessary.

This is coupled with a second part of the disagreement. I, and some
others, perceive that you ascribe too large a role and too much importance
to ICANN's reach and power. This I find especially contradictory since you
also want ICANN to have a very limited function and mission, and have
already pointed this which I consider a very special flaw in your
resoning. If we want a "small" or "thin" ICANN concentrated as much as
possible on technical coordination issues, making its decisions through a
transparent process which endows ICANN with a policy environment which
facilitates such decision-making, it follows for me that we have to
focus the community which informs ICANN's decisions onto those more
directly connected with them and those more prepared to take part in its
processes.

If on the other hand we want a wide, open, universal representation in
this body, it will almost necessarily follow that the body will be
progressively more and more subject to unlimited political forces and
made to take part of processes and decisions far beyond the coordination
of a few subsystems of the Internet.

Besides this, the practicalities of the wide, open representation,
including the fact that it would not be less in risk of capture, etc.,
have already been explained and illuminated by other constituency members
like Kent and Dave so I won't dwell on them.

There remains only to analyze what specifically is the interest and point
of view of non-commercial organizations in the at-large issue, beyond the
short statement "we believe that half the board is the right fraction".

Alejandro Pisanty




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     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
UNAM  -  Educacion Abierta y a Distancia
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
Tel. (+52-5) 622-8713, 622-8633 Fax 550-8405

http://www.cuaed.unam.mx
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