[At-Large] ITU versus ICANN

[Sivasubramanian M]

Dear Evan

Thank you for posting my article here at the atLarge list. There is so much
that at-Large can do deal with the ITU imbalance, independently as well as
in consultation with GAC, but we will wait for some comments from the
community on this article.

Will it be in order if I make a translation request for this article?


Sivasubramanian M




On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 7:56 PM, Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org> wrote:

> There has been quite a bit of news lately regarding noises made about ICANN
> at the recent meeting of the International Telecom Union (ITU).
>
> One proposal from Russian-speaking countries has gone so far as to call for
> scrapping the GAC, and have ITU give itself veto power over all ICANN board
> decisions. Even a compromise would essentially undermine the finality of
> any
> ICANN Board policy.
>
> I want to call your attention to a very thoughtful article in
> CircleID<
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/on_the_need_to_separate_the_telecom_business_agenda_from_government_policy/
> >written
> by ALAC's own Sivasubramanian Muthusamy, as well as the comments by
> former Board member Karl Auerbach to another CircleID
> piece<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20101004_plutocrats_and_the_internet/
> >written
> by Gregory Francis.
>
> I am very interested in hearing the views of others here on this topic. In
> some ways it seems that ICANN has practically begged for such intervention,
> through a history of opacity and an agenda driven by business and
> self-aggrandised senior staff rather than the public interest. Our own
> difficulty within At-Large to advance policy -- seen most recently through
> Board pushback on two important cross-community initiatives -- offers
> plenty
> of evidence of that.
>
> Then again, I have serious doubts that the ITU's oversight will be any
> better for the public interest, but rather just assert the worst of all
> levels of government control.
>
> Does ICANN At-Large have any role in this debate? Can we help save ICANN
> from such capture? Should we welcome it? Should we care?
>
> I welcome any comment that will help guide my own approach to this,
> including (especially!) from Karl and Sivas.
>
> - Evan
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