Re: [ALSC-Forum] The at-large is not just about voting and directors' seats

[Jeff Williams]

Vittorio and all stakeholders and interested parties,

Vittorio Bertola wrote:

> On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 16:36:17 -0700, you wrote:
>
> >ICANN, besides being obligated to being "open and transparent" is required
> >to be "accountable" - which raises the question: Accountable to whom?  The
> >answer is obvious - To the At-Large.  But what does "accountable" mean?
> >It's a word that implies something beyond an abstract and meaningless
> >right; it implies something with sharp teeth.
>
> I agree with the above (though I think that ICANN should be accountable to
> all its stakeholders, not just the At Large), but:

  But what??

>
>
> >I've appended the list below.  These all seem reasonable things for the
> >at-large members to have beyond the mere right to participate once every
> >couple of years in an election for someone to sit on the Board of Directors.
> >
> >1. A meeting of members must be held in each year in which directors are to
> >be elected.  Members may apply to the Attorney General to order such
> >meeting if not timely held.
>
> I think that this is absolutely inapplicable to a worldwide organization. Do
> you think that 100'000 members could actually meet somewhere?

  Yes they can.  Online!  Our members do it twice a month at least.

> If the meeting
> is physical, as this law says, this would favour members living in
> California, that could easily take part to the meeting actively, while it
> would be very difficult for people of the rest of the world to get there and
> be heard (also because we are talking of people whose "daily focus", as the
> ALSC says, is not on this matter, and that can't afford to travel to
> California for that).
>
> By the way, what language would be spoken in such a meeting? How would you
> deal with that majority of the world that doesn't speak English?

  Voice translation software has been available for quite a few years now
that can handle that with great ease...

> (and even
> among those who speak it, many can read and write it with the help of a
> dictionary, but cannot understand a normal English speech in real time)
>
> >2. Special meetings of members may be called by 5% of the members.
> >
> >3. Members are entitled to written notice of member meetings.
> >
> >4. Members may act by written ballot.
> >
> >5. Proxies are allowed unless withdrawn by bylaws or articles. Proxies may
> >be limited by articles or bylaws. Proxies are revocable.
>
> In Italy, we have a sort of At Large membership for the .it policy board,
> with around 300 members that meet physically once a year to elect the board
> and approve significant changes. During last assembly, a single person
> collected some 30 proxies by people he didn't even know, and basically any
> difficult decision was decided by him. This made our assembly seem
> ridiculous in front of anyone...

  This would depend on the nature of the specifics of what the proxy
allows for.  If the proxy is a broad one that people agreed to, that was
a unfortunate mistake.  If however those that give out their proxy's
are careful and want only that person to speak for them on certain
things, that is a much better situation.

>
>
> The general assembly method, however, has big flaws. It is impossible to
> manage an assembly of 200 people (let alone 200'000) and get something out
> of it: it often ends up in noise, in contradictory decisions and in endless
> useless discussions.

  I disagree.  We have 4 assembly's that make up our organization.  None
are located in close proximity to one another, and yet we manage to
be very productive.  What is really missing in ICANN is integrity.

>
>
> >6. Members may bring derivative actions.
> >
> >7. Most amendments to articles must be approved by Board and members (and
> >any other persons specified in articles).
> >
> >8. Board must send annual report to members.
> >
> >9. Membership lists and accounting books and records and minutes must be
> >made available to members for proper purposes.
> >
> >10. Members may amend the bylaws; however, the bylaws may provide that the
> >amendment may occur only with the approval of a specified person other than
> >the Board. (e.g. SOs).
> >
> >11. Directors elected by members may be removed by members.
> >
> >12. The bylaws must specify a quorum requirement.
> >
> >13. Members can bring legal actions to determine the validity of elections.
>
> Most of this is fine.
>
> >I recommend to the At-Large Study Committee that they enumerate the
> >specific rights that At-Large members are to have to make the At-Large a
> >meaningful body and the At-Large elections an opportunity for meaningful
> >and informed decisionmaking.
>
> I agree with this. But I think that the At Large members should have
> accountability rights that can work on a virtual worldwide basis. For
> example, rather than a general meeting of the members, there should be the
> possibility for a given number of members to promote a general online vote
> among the members to ratify or veto certain kinds of issues.

  I disagree.  What you suggest would disenfranchise the membership
as a whole.  It is easily possible for all members to make their own
decisions, with or without debate online on issue related votes.  I don't
want, and certainly don't need anyone to vote for me as a stock holder
member of a number of stocks that I hold along with millions of
others.  Most of this voting I do online, by the way.  So as an example
that is quantitatively comparable as well as geographically and linguistically
comparable, the need to do as you suggest simply does not exist.

>
>
> I also think that the very concept of "ICANN member" should be introduced.
> I'd evaluate the possibility of making also SO members "ICANN members"
> exactly equal to others; then, when joining, any members should choose the
> constituency (or constituencies?) to be part of, be it an SO constituency or
> an At Large (sub)community. This would help in bridging that sense of
> contraposition between the At Large and SOs and make everyone feel they are
> a part of the same thing. This, if it is held useful, would also help in
> preventing "conflicts of interests" when a SO member also tries to be
> elected as an At Large Director and so on.
> --
> .oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo vb.
> Vittorio Bertola     <vb@vitaminic.net>    Ph. +39 011 23381220
> Vitaminic [The Music Evolution] - Vice President for Technology
> .it Naming Authority, Executive Committee Member
> ICANN At Large Interim Coordinating Committee, Member

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
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