[ncdnhc-discuss] Esther Dyson on the Agenda Change

[Norbert Klein]

Barbara Simons wrote:

> I agree.  Esther's article is also accepting of other outrageous
> provisions of the ALSC report, such as requiring people
> to have domain names in order to vote and charging them
> "a small fee ($5 to $15) to cover the costs of registering
> voters and running the election."  She then goes on to say that
> they will try to find "outside organizations" to cover the fee for
> those who can't afford it.  Yea, sure.
>
> In the Southern United States during the time that African
> Americans were not allowed to vote, one of the techniques
> used to disenfranchise them was a poll tax.  People had to
> pay in order to be allowed to vote.  It's a terrific way to
> prevent the poor from voting.
>
> Not only is $5 to $15 a significant sum of money for people
> living in some countries, but the entire notion is poorly
> thought through.  How does the ALSC propose that the
> funds be collected?  Through credit card transactions?
> How do they propose to deal with weak local currencies?
>

The monthly salary of a teacher in Cambodia is around US$30.

Since the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications took over the DNS
administration (which I had done for free) in 1998, the registration of a
domain under .kh cost $200, then "only" $160 for the first two years. (And
there were no international credit cards available in Cambodia to pay the $70
for a registration abroad.)

Now, since you can get a domain for $8.95 from GoDaddy at .com etc., the DNS
registration in Cambodia goes down since 1st of October to $70 for the first
two years.

To get "assistance from outside (from whom?) organizations for those who
cannot pay" - the administration of such an effort might cost more than the
costs. To cash a check in Cambodia coming from abroad costs often $20 to $25
(even if the amount on the check is less).

Just to share what this means for people in situations similar to ours.

Norbert Klein
Phnom Penh/Cambodia

====

>
> The ALSC committee was stacked by the conscious
> decision not to include any strong supporter of
> strengthening the voice of the At-Large through
> representation (at least half of the ICANN Board
> members should be elected by the At-Large) and
> democratic elections.  The final report demonstrates
> how very effective this stacking was.
>
> Barbara
>
> "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" wrote:
>
> > Actually, the essay is really annoying: it presents the six (basically a
> > ratification of the decisions ED voted for when on the Board) as a
> > COMPROMISE, when in fact it's siding with one side.
> >
> > On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, Milton Mueller wrote:
> >
> > > >From her newsletter:
> > >
> > > (I hope this is "fair use"!)
> > >
> > > ICANN has just announced that the agency's annual
> > > meeting next month, which was supposed to include
> > > a decision on the ALSC's recommendations, will focus
> > > on security issues. That sounds very nice -- responsive
> > > to current conditions and so forth -- but it ends up delaying
> > > more pressing issues.
> > >
> > > Security is important, and ICANN's member organization¯
> > > -- technical developers, Internet service providers,
> > > address and domain name registries and registrars -- should
> > > certainly work together on security issues. But most of
> > > what they need to do is fairly specific and beyond the
> > > purview of a policy and standards body. ICANN and its
> > > members do need to be aware of security issues, but the
> > > details -- especially for ensuring the integrity of the root
> > > servers, which are the foundation of the Domain Name
> > > System probably should NOT be discussed in public.
> > > Regardless,accomplishing these things requires staff and
> > > technical expert time ¯ not a lot of discussion at the board
> > > level.
>
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