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ICANN Bid for Independent Status Gets Cool Reception
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You've hit on something here Ed that I am still trying to work out how to deal with.
Namely, how do you know what impact, if any, particular public comments have had on the finished product?
If you look at it from the most positive perspective i.e. that every comment contributed is discussed at length by whatever group of people are looking at the issue in hand -- how does that group get across that it has considered every piece?
The first solution that jumps to mind is that every comment is printed out and then gone through in the meeting. But you can see how if this was the set approach how it could very rapidly get out of hand and the meeting become stilted.
Equally can or should ICANN mandate how meetings are carried out? Seems a bit controlling and unhelpful.
But there needs to be some kind of system because if you assume the worst case scenario where the comments are ignored, such a system would mean that this wasn't possible and all comments would have to be involved in the process.
The question I suppose is: what is the system by which you can demonstrate that everything has been considered without making it a chore or cumbersome or reducing the efficiency of the actual meeting?
Is it a matter of staff producing a summary of comments and then making that publicly available plus insisting on open discussion of that document by the committee?
Or is there a technological solution where comments can be ticked off, brief comments added online to explain the committee's feelings?
Any and all suggestions welcome. I'm sure I can persuade someone to try out a pilot if I get such a system in place.
Kieren
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[ Reply to This | Parent
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Re:Pick up the phone!
by Kieren McCarthy
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No offense Kieren, but your naivete is probably one reason you were chosen for the postition you now hold.
Back in 2000 when Mike Roberts, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Esther Dyson, and those of their ilk were running the big show, true motives were never publicized. For instance, Image Online Design's application for .web was turned down at that time, because of Esther Dyson spewing nonsense like, "I don't like their (IOD's) business model." Meanwhile, behind closed doors, out of public earshot, Mike Roberts was more candid when asked if IOD had a snowball's chance in hell to have their application approved; "They (IOD) sued John Postel for Christ-sake."
Kieren, ICANN has spoken out of both sides of its mouth for years, and it seems as though you've been hired because you're a fresh face with some street credibility. But please don't come wagging fingers at skeptics who for years have been watching a vindictive, arrogant ICANN deliver the DNS into the lap of the TM lobby.
Before you tell us now wonderfully transparent ICANN now is, you should probably start digging into decisions made 7 years ago by the likes of Esther Dyson, who, in all her wisdom, took the application for .air and single-handedly changed it to .aero, telling the applicant (who shelled out $50,000.00 application fee for .air) to take it or leave it.
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Kieren asks, "how do you know what impact, if any, particular public comments have had on the finished product?"
The first step is to observe the discussion: read the mailing list of the body that is supposed to "consider" the comments. Observe or audit their meetings. Read their correspondence, minutes, and other documents.
If you can -- which with ICANN you usually can't. Does this commitee have a mailing list? Is it public? Even the Board of Directors doesn't have a public mailing list, although there have been repeated public mentions of the fact that they do have a (private) mailing list. Making Board discussions transparent would be a good place to start.
"How does that group get across that it has considered every piece?"
The way to get that across is to allow the public to observe its decsion-making process.
"Can or should ICANN mandate how meetings are carried out?"
Yes, ICANN's Bylaws do (and I think they should) mandate that ICANN *and* its subsidiary bodies must operate "to the maximum extent feasible" in an open and transparent manner. ICANN has to begin to engage with the meaning of that clause, especially the words "maximum extent feasible".
If someone asks to see documents, or to observe or audit a meeting, ICANN is required to allow that.
"Seems a bit controlling and unhelpful."
If that's what you think, propose that the Bylaws be changed. In the meantime, it's your duty, like that of all ICANN Board members, officers, and staff, to act according to the Bylaws.
"The question I suppose is: what is the system by which you can demonstrate that everything has been considered?"
Make the process transparent. It would be a radical change for ICANN, but it's pretty simple to implement, *if* ICANN wants to do it.
"... insisting on open discussion of that document by the committee?"
All discussion of any document by any ICANN committee must be open.
"I'm sure I can persuade someone to try out a pilot if I get such a system in place."
I look forward to seeing that happen. Start with opening up the non-transparent mailing lists and meetings, and designating points of contact for requests for documents and records.
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