[ncdnhc-discuss] The Business of ICANN

[Jim Fleming]

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200203/msg00144.html
From: "Karl Auerbach" <karl at cavebear.com>
"As you know, I am a Director of ICANN."
--

Karl,

It seems to me that the Board of Directors of ICANN need to start
making sure that they understand what is going on....on a daily basis.
Here are some basic questions and suggestions:

1. Does each ICANN employee have an office in Marina Del Rey ?

2. Are physical time-cards punched with time-stamps on a daily basis ?

3. When was the last time you inspected the employee time records ?

4. Is there at least one office for a visiting Board member ?

5. Do the Board members make it a point to stop by each week, announced
or unannounced ?

6. Could the Board members divide up the time so that one Board member
is in the office at all times ?

7. Are there daily written employee reports on what they are doing each day ?

8. Is there a weekly consolidated report from #6 that is sent to all Board members ?

In my opinion, you need to start with the business basics, and the Board
members must take the lead. The Board is responsible for hiring the staff.
If the staff is not there, or has nothing to do, then they have no reason to
continue to be paid.

With respect to the ICANN financials, one of the clear problems is that ICANN
is apparently not charging for address allocations. Many large companies and the
address registries themselves are getting a free ride, while ISPs pay annual fees for
the allocations. When assets like address blocks change hands between ICANN and
ARIN, that is likely a taxable transaction. A /8 used to be worth about $12,000,000
many years ago. If ICANN thinks they are leasing the /8s, then they should be
collecting rent from all of the companies and agencies that have those blocks.
http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space

With a Board member in the office every day, and Board members dropping by
from time to time. You might find that you have better access to the information that
you need to make informed decisions.

Jim Fleming