[ALSC-Forum] Quick late comments

[Vittorio Bertola]

[I sent this message on Friday to the ALSC, but not to the list - so I'm
sending it again]

I know I am late, so I didn't feel like sending a 5-page document. I only
felt like focusing on a few points.

1) It must be made clear in the ALSC report that, in principle, any active
and informed Internet user owns a stake in ICANN and a right to take part in
its Board elections. Any instrument that is introduced to verify his/her
identity and allow for practical management of the membership, such as the
domain name ownership, is fine but must not be exclusive. Any instrument or
procedure by any third party that meets a minimum set of requirements about
identity verification, voting account management, and (eventual) membership
fee collection should be accepted by ICANN. ICANN should support and welcome
any effort to make member registration easier, for example by establishing a
technical and operational system to accept registrations from third party
web sites and invoice such parties for the related membership fees.

2) No clear reason has been shown for the reduction from nine to six of the
At Large Directors' number. Anyway, IMHO even imperfect action is better
than an endless discussion that would make the At Large cause weaker and
weaker as time passes by. So even that reduction is fine, if promptly
implemented, and if elections can be kept in the shortest amount of time
(Spring or at most Summer 2002). For the same reason, an effort to
immediately start an Interim At Large Supporting Organization should be
made, so that when elections will happen, there will already be a group of
people working to make the membership stronger, more informed and more aware
of itself. I am sure that many people here would like to contribute to this.

3) The particular climate that the United States and other countries of the
world are undergoing due to the Sep 11 events must not interfere with the
full implementation of an international Internet governance body as ICANN
wishes to be, based on values like democracy, globality and personal
freedom. These same values are the ultimate and very target of those events,
so it would be a huge mistake to stop implementation of globality and
democracy in ICANN because of them. So the Board should keep the commitment
to establish whatever solution it thinks feasible to have a working At Large
membership, in a short and clear timeframe. Failure to do so would
fundamentally undermine ICANN's right to claim its role as an international
Internet governance body.

That's all.
Regards,
-- 
.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo vb.
Vittorio Bertola     <vb@vitaminic.net>    Ph. +39 011 23381220
Vitaminic [The Music Evolution] - Vice President for Technology

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