Re: [ICANN-EU] US Government's ultimate control.

[Joop Teernstra <terastra@terabytz.co.nz>]

At 23:01 1/10/00 +0200, Alf Hansen wrote:

>When I use the word "own", I mean the entity with the power to shut
>ICANN down as a company. That is what "owners" can do. "Owners" of a
>company can do lot of things, but usually they do not manage the day to
>day business, like running the roots.
>

O.K. Then under that definition the "owner" is the Attorney General of the
State of California.
It's stretching things a bit, because this is a political function and
shutting down ICANN would be a political act.


>> But we are still left with the problem of definition, mechanism and proof.
>
>Yes. I am trying to focus on the transition-from-USG-process. The
>transition will never take place until WE are able to present an
>alternative structure. 


Alf, may I presume that you mean:  to fix what we already have? 

Providing an alternative structure  is exactly what I have done
bootstrapping the IDNO, with the help of a few dedicated volunteers.  The
structure is for a specific interest group (the Ind DN holders) but the
effort of building it and guarding it against capture during the
rule-building stage is the same. 
It is non-trivial effort.
You will find out when we in ICANN Europe try to structure ourselves.

>That is why I am starting to ask: Who can be the
>"owners" after a trannsition? ISOC? May be not, but we have to work out
>something. 
>
Yes,  ISOC is too controversial, also due to the role its leaders have
played in the IAHC coup attempt.
It has no mechanism to consult the members for major policy decisions.

>If the ICANN Board could present a plan with a timescale,
>based on advice from the At-Large and/or the SOs, that would be nice...

How can the At-Large give advice before it has any structure?

( Rather than having this dialogue with Alf alone, I would like to hear how
Jeanette and Andy MM see this dilemma) 

-- if the Board cannot be trusted to dictate a balanced structure from the
top down,  how much time would you give the At large body  to come up with
a structure from the bottom -up?
Would the EU elected Board member be willing to act as bootstrap?
--Joop Teernstra LL.M.--  
the Cyberspace Association and 
the constituency for Individual Domain Name Owners
http://www.idno.org