IPC calling for secret ballots

[William Drake]

One might add to this that the council voted, unanimously except Mary
and I (I think Avri was not voting on anything at the time due to a
CSG attack on her for joining NCUC), to have a Sunday morning conclave
that will closed door and off the record.  This was framed by
proponents as a gripe session where councilors will be able to vent
about our "pet hates" and grievances against each other.  No joke,
we're actually doing this. I suggested we bring a Festivus pole. Maybe
Frank Costanza could facilitate. Originally they wanted to start off
the week of collaboration with this on Saturday morning, so I guess
Sunday's a slight improvement.  Our biz colleagues insisted, with a
straight face, that it had to be secret inter alia because of possible
legal actions and effects on share prices, and suggested calls for
transparency were just empty rhetoric.

Anyone with a macabre taste for examples of the council's community
dynamics should have a look at the thread called GNSO Meet and Greet
at http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/thrd123.html.
It's pretty priceless and gives new meaning to bottom up.

Cheers,

Bill



On Oct 15, 2009, at 7:41 PM, Robin Gross wrote:

> Thanks to Bill for weighing in against this.  I was surprised by the
> strong reaction of the IPC member who threatens to NOT vote unless
> she can vote in secret.
>
> Now a Commercial Constituency member wants to keep all non-
> counselors silent during the weekend sessions in Seoul.
>    http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg07642.html
>
> Our members have not yet had an opportunity to dialogue on many of
> these issues: - they are new, Seoul will be their first meeting,
> etc.   The idea that we must be kept silent and can only watch the
> counsel would be a terrible precedent to set for the new "reformed"
> GNSO.   These meetings have been open and allowed for participation
> from any member of the GNSO before now, so I hope we don't move in
> the direction of silencing the community who is traveling to Seoul
> (most on their own dime) to work on these issues.
>
> Robin
>
>
> On Oct 15, 2009, at 9:02 AM, Robin Gross wrote:
>
>> I noticed that on the GNSO Council email list, the IP Constituency
>> is calling for secret ballots for the chair/vice-chair positions on
>> council.
>>
>> That is really surprising to me considering how ICANN claims to be
>> "open and transparent" in its activities.   And it is a bit
>> disturbing that elected representatives in a governance
>> organization are afraid the public will know how they vote on an
>> issue.   I thought when a person is elected to represent a group of
>> people on policy issues, those people have a right to know how
>> their elected representatives are voting and handling that
>> representation given to them by the public.
>>
>> What part of open and transparent public governance does the IPC
>> not understand?
>>
>> Best,
>> Robin
>>
>>
>> IP JUSTICE
>> Robin Gross, Executive Director
>> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
>> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
>> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
> IP JUSTICE
> Robin Gross, Executive Director
> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
>
>
>

***********************************************************
William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
  Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
***********************************************************


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