[NCSG-Discuss] Should NCSG consider filing an ombudsman complaint against ICANN senior staff for violating the organization's policy development process?

[Alain Berranger]

Dear Robin, dear Colleagues:

I agree that GNSO should file too... but will they (Maria's question)? Two
complaints (GNSO + NCSG) are better than one (Avri's statement)...

3 questions:

1) From my little experience, I find the ICANN Ombudsman process
ineffective - it is time consuming (we are volunteers/the other side is
paid), a lot of pain for usually not much gain! Not saying we should not do
it, just wondering out loud if we have a chance at all of being successful?
or even partially successful? or if we should invest our time in other ways?

2) Robin, I fully understand your TM arguments and they make sense to me as
a non-specialist. Can you please elaborate a bit on who the  "*powerful
political interests"* you refer to are? This may help me and others at the
base of the NCSG pyramid understand the context and the issue better...

3) Did Maria fill a complaint to the Ombudsman? and where is it at now?

4) I also have a point of view or perhaps an hypothesis to share, from many
years of applied MS practice funding developmental and applied policy
research in developing countries - may not be relevant but here it is
anyway for feedback and reflexion...

I see the MS process as one of fundamental inclusion and participation...
It is more relevant than ever because of the internet and the networks that
spring from it...

...the more you are at the bottom of the pyramid ($, knowledge, assets like
land ownership, cash, access to resources, etc...) the more you seek
participation as a way of climbing up the pyramid (getting yourself out of
poverty). The higher you are in the pyramid, the less you welcome
participation because it is disruptive at the very least.

Inherent to this "MS model" is the power struggle between closely vested
interests (in our case the CHP and part of the NCHP) and higher level or
principled interests (in our case  the rest of NCHP). Not that there are
not closely vested interests as well as principled interests everywhere in
an MS organization, including ICANN.

Closely vested interests are very time sensitive (profits, status and
privileges are lessened by indecision and ambiguity - the rules of the game
are not clear driving the the "powerful political interests" crazy!) while
principled interests are less time sensitive (although short term costs are
usually huge too) because they are universal.

So here comes a question: How does an *operational organization* like ICANN
wishing to become better at MS behavior (we can assume that anyway for the
eternal optimist) resolves the issue of closely vested vs. principled
interests?

They are by nature in tension and should be... What is essential is to keep
a balance... For instance, taking just one of the financial dimensions, it
is the DNS supply side that keeps feeding extra cash into ICANN and the DNS
demand side does not have the means to bring this in balance, although it
is the market.... it is a bit of a class struggle (or concentration of
power differentials on the supply and demand sides) in the sense that if
you do not keep this delicate balance the system will eventually fail. It
is a matter of time!

I for one would like to see ICANN survive as an MS organization, being able
to keep the "rapport de forces" in equilibrium.

I would love to hear a criticism of this model's assumption and also
perhaps if it can help in bringing back balance... or is it simply a
theoretical treatment?

Best, Alain

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 5:51 AM, Horacio T. Cadiz <hcadiz at ph.net> wrote:

> I support filing a case.
>
>
> --
> Bombim Cadiz
> *******************************************
> *  Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) --  *
> * No windows. No gates. It is open.     *
> * No Bill. It is Free.                  *
> *******************************************
>



-- 
Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA
Member, Board of Directors, CECI,
http://www.ceci.ca<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/>
Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca
Treasurer, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation, www.gkpfoundation.org
NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org
Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/
O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824
Skype: alain.berranger


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