[At-Large] [BMSPC-2020] Board seat 15 selection

Wed Nov 20 04:52:39 UTC 2019

No number of repetitions of this revision of history will make it any more believable without disclosure of your previous involvement in the "Boston Working Group" and its competing, not awarded, bid for the ICANN function, nor the lack of understanding of fundamental electoral theory  it shows. Elections are a process to identify the preferences of a given electorate and no election is better than its voter registration. Rallying voters on fake arguments, unrelated to their interest or stake in the election, and forming with them the voter registry is, has been, and always will be a sham. 

Alejandro Pisanty

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
Facultad de Química UNAM
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico

+52-1-5541444475 FROM ABROAD

+525541444475 DESDE MÉXICO SMS +525541444475
Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty
Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614
Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty
---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

________________________________________
Desde: At-Large [at-large-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] en nombre de Karl Auerbach [karl at cavebear.com]
Enviado el: martes, 19 de noviembre de 2019 10:13
Hasta: Wolfgang Kleinwächter; Adam Peake; Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond; Kaili Kan; Alan Greenberg
CC: at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org
Asunto: Re: [At-Large] [BMSPC-2020] Board seat 15 selection

I like your story.

I have been involved with ICANN since before it was formed.

In that swirling of events around the formation of ICANN there was a
bright belief and requirement that ICANN be structured, after a short
initial interim organizational period, so that it would be controlled by
the community of internet users.

But as we look on the ICANN today only a small splinter remains of that
obligation.  And that small relic was regained only through long and
hard work and over much opposition.

Much of this is reflected in our 2009 report at
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/final-report-alac-review-09jun09-en.pdf
Take a look at my "concurrence" that begins on page 33.

Today's ICANN is an epitome of a regulatory body captured by those who
it purports to regulate.

In the 20+ years since ICANN was formed not even one new organization
has chosen to model itself upon ICANN.

This thread of e-mails mentions the year 2000 elections.  I am certain
that there will arise at least one voice that tries to besmirch that event.

One should not forget that ICANN has a long held allergy to elections,
and even to the word "election" itself.  ICANN, or rather the law firm
that created ICANN, fears what are some reasonable obligations that are
triggered by organizational elections.  The list of those obligations,
as well as ICANN's dance of evasion, is visible in ICANN's own 1999
document:
http://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/santiago/membership-analysis.htm

The year 2000 elections were an initial attempt to organize an election,
or to use ICANN's word, a "selection".

For an first-time effort that election went reasonably well.

There are those who will focus on the difficulties or problems of that
election - not unlike a new parent who obsesses on the disruption, mess,
and noise of a new baby yet fails to remember that that child represents
a new human, and new person, a new potential, coming into the world.

It is easy to forget some of the events of that election:

An electorate formed quickly without ICANN support or funding -
ultimately there were, if I remember correctly, well more than 200,000
voters who tried to register to participate (many could not consummate
their registrations because ICANN's registration system was an abysmal
failure of design, implementation, and operation.)

There was a robust campaign and debate in the North American region
(less so in other regions.)  My own campaign platform is still online at
https://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/platform.htm  (I still hew
to most of that platform with the exception of my mistaken view of Louis
Touton, a man who I came to know as one of the bright lights of ICANN.)

The entire process was disrupted by at least one ICANN-related person.
And there was general institutional hostility (by ICANN) against the
process once the ballot was opened to allow candidates not chosen by
ICANN's "nominating" committee.

There were some problems with those elections.  But in general they were
a success.

The problems that did occur could have been addressed on the next round
that would have occurred two or three years later.  But that opportunity
was lost and destroyed.

If ICANN is to survive as anything more than a regulatory relic it needs
to return to its root conception as a body that is unambiguously
controlled by the public for whose benefit it purports to exist.

         --karl--

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