[ncdnhc-discuss] Board conflict of interest on .org

[Barbara Simons]

Dear Dave,

I looked up "slander" in the dictionary.  The definition reads:

"The utterance or spreading of a false statement or statements, harmful to
another's character or reputation: legally, slander is spoken, as distinct
from libel, which is written."

Aside from the detail that Milton's email was written and not spoken (at
least as far as this list is concerned), an obvious defense against slander
and libel is demonstrating the truthfulness of one's comment.

Therefore, if Mr. Blokzijl's wife was hired by Neulevel a few months after
they were married, and if Lynn Blokzijl is the Neulevel representative
in the Netherlands, then Milton's comments cannot in any way be viewed as
either slander or, more precisely, libel.

Do you happen to know whether or not Lynn Blokzijl was or is an employee of
Neulevel?  

As others have said, the reason for conflict of interest rules is to avoid
even the suspicion of inappropriate behavior.  I hope that the good folks at
ICANN will quickly implement strong conflict of interest rules for all Board
members and staff so that we can avoid such discussions in the future.

Barbara 

P.S.  Even if Milton were wrong, which I doubt, anyone attempting to bring a
libel case against him for this posting would be laughed out of court.  I
would urge you to be a bit more cautious about accusing someone of
committing a crime.  By your logic such an accusation, if untrue, could be
viewed as libel.

On 5/13/02 6:00 PM, "Dave Crocker" <dhc2 at dcrocker.net> wrote:

> At 04:10 PM 5/13/2002 -0400, Milton Mueller wrote:
>> Now it is possible to understand better what happened.
>> ...
>> And guess what? Mr. Blokzijl has a special relationship to
>> Neulevel. His wife was hired by Neulevel a few months after
> 
> 
> You're great.  There is no limit to your willingness to slander people and
> misrepresent or invent facts.
> 
> What is particularly ironic, here is that the last time you sought to
> pursue purported conflict of interest concerns it was YOU who engaged in
> gross misrepresentation of the facts.
> 
> So now you are directly asserting that Rob violated ICANN rules.
> 
> Please document what he did that did not conform to Section 7 of the ICANN
> Bylaws.
> 
> Or are you more interested in inflaming emotions than in dealing with facts?
> 
> 
> At 05:34 PM 5/13/2002 -0400, Milton Mueller wrote:
>> One does not refute concerns about a very clear and
>> direct conflict of interest
> 
> Since it so clear, you will have no difficulty documenting exactly how Rob
> violated ICANN conflict of interest rules.
> 
> This means that you will:
> 
>        a) show the basis for claiming that spousal employment constitutes
> conflict of interest in this case, and
> 
>        b) show that Rob did not follow ICANN Bylaws Section 7.
> 
> Until you document both of these facts, Milton, you are simply engaging in
> gross slander, as is your wont.
> 
> d/
> 
> ----------
> Dave Crocker <mailto:dave at tribalwise.com>
> TribalWise, Inc. <http://www.tribalwise.com>
> tel +1.408.246.8253; fax +1.408.850.1850
> 
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