Re: [ICANN-EU] Re-opening the funding debate

[Jefsey Morfin <jefsey@wanadoo.fr>]

Dear Kurt,
This is a very interesting topic.

1) The ICANN has a budget which is $.33 per domain name under
     the legacy TLDs.

2) the budget should be kept much lower through the innovative
     concepts discussed by the Members of this lists. I do not try
     to bargain but I feel the cheapest the most clever it will be and
     therefore the most indepedent and democratic.

Two possibilities (added to a leaner management of ICANN):

1) either the contract between ccTLD and ICANN takes care of that
    budget

2) or the UE copies the USG and the DGXIII sponsors an e-root the
     european NICs delegate to and to which they pay their $.33 due.

In a nutshell I do not whish the @large process to be a replication
of the DNSO management. BTW I would support the @large
international management to sit in Versailles with the DNSO
secretariat for lowering the costs and showing its international nature.
Jefsey


At 21:30 01/10/00, you wrote:

>ICANN Europe needs funding
>
>ICANN in Europe needs funding to set up sound and representative
>decision-making structures. A prerequisite of this goal is to make
>ICANN better known among European countries and to encourage participation.
>
>Furthermore, Europe has to pay its share for the next
>At Large registration process. The first election's budget depended
>solely on a USD 200000 donation by the American Markle Foundation.
>
>The ICANN director elected by its european constituency has as
>its first and most urgent task to communicate about the topics
>and responsibilities of ICANN with the european constituency.
>Real life meetings beyond email communications are a necessary
>means to this end.
>
>According to ICANN, affluence is a necessary condidition for
>candidates to serve on the board. Such a condition may well reflect
>the American political tradtion, however, it is cleary at odds with
>European priniples of democracy.
>
>Funding is needed to ensure that all European citizens independent of
>their financial situation and employers are able to run for ICANN
>elections.
>
>To do so requires independent money to not blurr the message
>with other interpretations.
>
>So let us discuss how to set up an neutral fund to pool sufficient money
>for those tasks, independent from any influences and transparent for
>all internet users to understand what is going on.
>
>How much money is required ? Estimates are that roughly 20 KEUR
>are required each month to fund the costs for the infrastructure
>to run a communicative ICANN european directors office.
>So, in total approx. 500 KEUR will be required for the two-year term.
>In addition, for each new At Large Member, we need one EUR for
>the PIN letter.
>
>What will be paid with that money ? Phone bills, internet
>fees 8-), air plane tickets, general office infrastructure, hotel
>bills, printing costs for brochures, conference/exhibition fees, etc.,
>whatever is required to do the ICANN director job.
>
>Who will collect the money ?
>- volunteers should campaign in their communities, companies and regions
>   for donations
>- one bank account to allow people to donate money
>- some neutral organisation should handle the cash flow with a small
>   staff to handle bills and accounts
>
>Who decides on where to spend ? The person that will be elected
>is probably the best person to decide where to spend the money.
>This person will probably choose to have some controlling institution
>to balance against abuses. The money not spent after two years
>might go to the general ICANN budget, but this is just an idea...
>
>How to ensure transparency of the money flow ? It sounds a little
>radical, but technically, it does not sound very difficult to
>have a website online with the full electronic transaction
>record of the banking account, together with scans of the
>relevant paperwork. Yes, it might frighten a few potential
>funders from giving money. It will not allow anonymous contributions.
>With the latest european experiences in transparency topics (namely
>Santer, Kohl, Chirac, maybe others), it might not be a bad
>idea, after all 8-)
>
> >From talks I had in the last 4 weeks it looks like some diverse
>scientific, political, economic and business groups might be willing
>to support such a funding model for now.
>
>So with this mail I explicitly ask
>
>     all the candidates, especially those that already seem
>     to be well-funded 8-), the following question:
>
>         Will you lobby your backing institutions to give at least
>         some amount of money you are willing to spend for your
>         candidate, even if your candidate is not elected ?
>
>     all those willing to participate in the funding debate:
>
>         Will you help raise some funds by giving a few speeches
>         at local/regional groups (be they political, scientific,
>         businesses or whatever), asking them to pay into the fund ?
>
>If this plan sounds acceptable, lets start doing it. Its
>late, but not too late.
>
>
>
>
>P.S.: If you wonder what my non-exclusive role in this will be:
>  a) find some bank account held by a neutral fund collection organisation
>  b) find fundraisers
>  c) support this fund with some money of my own
>
>And, no, there's no webpage for this effort right now -- maybe soon.
>If you want to ask private questions about this proposal, send mail to me
>at pi@LF.net.
>
>--
>MfG/Best regards, Kurt Jaeger                                  20 years to 
>go !
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