Conspicuous by their absence is the Noncommercial Users Constituency and any other civil society representatives of privacy rights. This is an unfortuantely typical example of how policy making gets done in ICANN. Behind the scenes, the major players get together with the US Government and cut a deal. The formal policy making process is bypassed, it is just a charade.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: We wish to make it clear that ICANN management/staff did not initiate this meeting and was NOT initially invited to it either, and as far as we know has no plans to attend. It is the interest groups behind GNSO, particularly Marilyn Cade, who turned this meeting into an exclusive bargaining session.

We'll see how pathetic and powerless this all is when it runs up against the privacy legislation of numerous countries. The US, and Austraiia for some reason I have never been able to fathom, are virtually alone in their rightwing worldview(s) and one of these days it's all going to jump up and bite them. -g