[At-Large] [RAA-WG] Fourth possibly final draft of RAA comments

[John L]

> Glass, namely "to add, there should be a 3rd party representative, like 
> an ombudsman within ICANN that could handle a registrant's 
> inter-registrar problems."

> The notion of a registrant liaison with adjudicating powers is a good 
> one.  Perhaps this could be put forward as a recommendation.

Given our experience with ICANN's current Ombudsman, I can't say I'm 
enthusiastic about the idea.  Although the Ombudsman is nominally 
independent, in practice he has consistently acted to defend ICANN's staff 
against all comers, including spending quite a while explaining testily to 
numerous complainants why it wasn't ICANN's job to do anything about 
Registerfly's failure to perform.

Perhaps someone else would be different, but this guy has a sterling 
pre-ICANN resume, and I don't see why anyone else who knew that his 
reappointment depended on formal or informal staff recommendations would 
act differently.

R's,
John