[ncdnhc-discuss] Nominating Adam Peake

[Dave Crocker]

At 05:12 PM 2/6/2002 -0500, James Love wrote:
>Hi Dave.   I am a bit surprised to see that you don't see the DNSO as part
>of the ICANN governance structure.  ICANNiss supposed to be a "bottom up"
>organization, and the NCC is at the bottom of the DNSO, which is one of the
>SO's that elects members to the ICANN board of directors, and certainly some
>policies are deferred to the SOs.

Jamie, I am surprised that you are so casual about confusing general 
concepts with specific details.

If one is going to make concrete proposals, it is necessary to pay 
attention to those details.  As such, using a word as strong as 
"governance" for a body that provides recommendations rather than rules, is 
problematic.


>The conflicts of interest with the staff would include the fact that the
>staff is supposed to be accountable to the board and the SOs, and if they
>vote in the SOs, there is an element of being accountable to themselves that
>leads to problems.

You have delineated a purist construct that makes intuitive sense.  That 
is, it works well as a general concept.

The problem is with carrying it through to show real potential for actual 
damage to ICANN activity.  The real world is not viable if we demand 
perfection, so we need to choose strictures carefully.  They are expensive.

Conflict of interest is only meaningful if that conflict can cause real 
damage.  How does one staff member voting in a constituency do 
damage?  What true authority does this person have, sufficient to make 
their supposes conflict at all interesting?

And please make sure to note the tendency with which this particular voter 
has been in the minority.  This makes it even more difficult to claim 
negative effect.


>But if the ICANN CEO wants to greenlight Kent and other staff persons voting
>in the DNSO, and formally meddling with internal politics of the DNSO,

Meddling.  My what an interesting choice of terms to use in a group that is 
supposed to be both oriented and concerned with civil society interests.

For a perspective that is typically claimed to be inclusive, the word 
'meddling' is oddly EXclusive.

d/


----------
Dave Crocker  <mailto:dcrocker at brandenburg.com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking  <http://www.brandenburg.com>
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