AW: [NCSG-Discuss] Questions/Options for Protection of IOC/Red Cross Names at Top Level

[Dan Krimm]

Seems to me we are at a classic choice point: is it productive to try to
work within the system or not?

If we participate and push back against the worst, and perhaps succeed in
avoiding the worst but still end up with something bad, does that start us
on the slippery slope to ruin, institutionally?

Can we "have our cake and eat it too" -- simultaneously finding some way to
make a meaningful statement against the "process" as a whole, while still
working within the process such as it is to ameliorate the downside to the
extent possible?

If not, then is it more effective in the long run to actively recuse
ourselves from the process in protest, to try to de-legitimize the
institution and policies that result from the process, abjectly?

Or is it more effective to participate, and try to push back against the
worst while making what could be an ineffectual protest statement?

I agree with those who say there should be no special (especially no ad
hoc) consideration for IOC/RC in principle.  At the very least, it should
not be ad hoc under any circumstances -- if so, say goodbye to the "rule of
law" such as it ever existed at ICANN.


At the end of the day, if I thought total recusal would make a difference,
I would favor it.  But I'm not sure it would do anything other than make
NCSG (or perhaps only NCUC?) even less relevant in the total scheme of
things, and certainly within GNSO.

For those who still believe in the principle of "the consensus process" how
do we use whatever influence we have to shift the consensus in our
direction?  If we abandon the ad hoc process, by virtue of that we also
abandon the consensus process and effectively declare it absent and void.

I'm not sure what the correct source of action is, here, but it's sounding
as if this choice may have lasting institutional ramifications, at least
with regard to NCSG's relationship to GNSO and ICANN as a whole.

Just how extraordinary is this ad hoc process, compared to prior BoardStaff
actions?  Is it really unprecedented?

Is it worth really recusing, or do we play and protest the best we can?

Dan


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