[At-Large] Auction Proceeds - where we are and what you can help

[Evan Leibovitch]

I'm not sure that there's really a disagreement between Ken and John.

Informing the world of the function of the DNS -- and of ICANN's crucial
role in that piece of infrastructure -- is both within scope and of high
value. There are ways that this can be deployed in ways that don't
constitute vanity and self-aggrandizing.

---

Personally I'm a little surprised and disappointed by the fact nobody in
this list, especially my civil society colleagues, are advocating use of
auction proceeds to seed an ongoing endowment for the IGF. There are many
important parts of Internet governance, but ICANN is the only one of them
that attracts so much money and speculative/entrepreneurial behavior. ICANN
could almost overnight render itself one of the global heroes of the
Internet ecosystem if it provided ongoing support of other related bits
such that the IGF could maintain vitality and independence.

Furthermore, it is in ICANN's selfish best interest to promote
multi-stakeholderism throughout the universe of IG. If government
multilateral activity can successfully encroach on the ecosystem due to
weakness/failure of the IGF, then ICANN will surely be a target next.

Just a thought. If ALAC got behind this and the idea gained broad support,
ICANN will find a way to define such action to be within scope.

(Disclosure: I have never even attended an IGF, so I am hardly acting in a
self-serving manner in proposing this endowment. One doesn't have to be in
the IGF to see its value.)

- Evan
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