[At-Large] Multistakeholderism Explained (was Re: ICANN75: Mandatory Funded Traveler Registration for Roberto Gaetano)

Tue Aug 2 03:35:40 UTC 2022

Please consider that we speak about global democracy, with 8 billion people. 
Multistakeholderism is one of the many ways of finding a - still crippled - solution. Better ideas are needed, no question, but bear in mind that getting sufficient participation in online voting seems still illusory. 
In the world of international law, trying to include all stakeholders, is a strong improvement to one state, one vote - that is still dominates but does not produce much results anymore, moving to the liberum veto of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Engaged groups (parties, trade unions, lobbies etc.) dominate democracy nowadays, and the BWG is one of them. Let's focus on then and improved the dialogue with these engaged groups, e.g. lobbyismus with transparency and also a strong say of groups representing at-large (trying to do a better job than now).  

Erich 

SCHWEIGHOFER Erich                    Prof. (Uni Wien, Legal Informatics, European Law, Multistakeholder Law) MBA  Dr. (law) Dr. (informatics) "pre-MAIS" (International Studies)
(on leave for the European Commission, Rue de la Loi 130, 1040 Brussel BE, erich.schweighofer at ec.europa.eu, Tel.  +32 2 29 52283)
Legal Informatics at Vienna University   chair: ARI Arbeitsgruppe Rechtsinformatik, Juridicum, Universität Wien  chair: iris-conferences.eu   President:     RI@   LII-Austria   CEILI   RARI   SLib  WZRI
Department for European, International and Comparative Law, Schottenbastei 10-16/2/5, Zi. 546, 1010 Wien AT, Tel. +43 1 4277 35305
https://rechtsinformatik.univie.ac.at, https://rechtsinformatik.ACADEMY, https://iris-conferences.eu, https://wzri.eu
office at rechtsinformatik.ACADEMY; office at iris-conferences.eu; Erich.Schweighofer at univie.ac.at
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________________________________________
Von: At-Large [at-large-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] im Auftrag von Karl Auerbach via At-Large [at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 2. August 2022 03:02
An: Antony Van Couvering; Evan Leibovitch
Cc: At Large
Betreff: Re: [At-Large] Multistakeholderism Explained (was Re: ICANN75: Mandatory Funded Traveler Registration for Roberto Gaetano)

First, I agree with Evan L. that one physical meeting a year would be a
good thing.  DNS names are slowly fading from popular view; consequently
ICANN's footprint is diminishing (despite attempts by the corporation to
expand into new areas.)  And in this era of viral risks, bouncing
economics, miserable travel ('cept for those with their own G6 or 400'
yacht), and brinkmanship politics people are worn out and their purses
are getting light.

However, it does seem that those of like mind (or better yet, of
compromising/inventive mind) ought to gather of their own accord and
means; there is no need to wait for Mother ICANN to call people to
meet.  For decades, ever since before ICANN came into being, a small
group of us, the Boston Working Group (BWG), have chatted and sometimes
have physically met, to express and perhaps work out differences, share
ideas.  There is no reason why arbitrary groups interested in ICANN
matters can not do that and afterwords present the results of their
work, which would be all the more compelling because of the weight of
their distillation of thoughtful discourse.

Second, regarding Antony V.C.'s comment about the ALAC - and the ICANN
interested public in general - speaking with one voice.  It could.  And
that voice ought to carry the weight of a steel driving sledge in the
hands of John Henry.  But it does not.

And why not?  Because ICANN has drowned that public voice under the
diluting force of stakeholderism (multi or not).

ICANN's non-public "stakeholders" are pre-formed, much like a
MacDonald's "chicken" MacNugget is forged out of similar parts into a
single entity.  In the case of MacNuggets, the pieces are arguably all
from chickens.  In ICANN the pieces are put into pigeonholes on the
basis of economic interest or type of business - trademark owners go
here, domain name registries go there - And each of those "stakeholder"
groups, in the ICANN universe, gets a voice that paraphrase Bob Dylan's
words, does not merely talk, it swears, it screams, at volume level 11.
It's no wonder that the voice of the public is drowned out and not heard.

One piece of the theory of democracy is that every person is a cauldron
of competing interests that seethe, fight, and blend. Only each person
can speak as to the result of that process.  That is why each person
gets one vote.

Stakeholderism, however, follows another track, a track that, to my
mind, that is unstable and that ultimately degrades into governance by
most affluent.

To my mind stakerholderism based decision making is like asking me what
I'd like to do next Saturday night.  My left leg might respond "we
should go the the Ibis on Lake Como" while my right leg might say
"there's a beach party at Cabo, let's go!" and my arms might say "but we
have great tickets for Twelfth Night in Santa Cruz!"  That's not going
to lead to good decisions or a peaceful acceptance of whatever does
burble out of that chaos.

Ultimately all of ICANN's commercial "stakeholders" are composed of
people - corporations are composed of people, bodies of lawyers are
composed of people.  Those people are totally free to join ALAC (or the
public voice of those interested in ICANN) and express their points of
view - the sum of their interests - as their one individual and single vote.

Commercial interests need no encouragement from ICANN to form aggregates
- they will do so of their own accord and interest. There is no need for
ICANN to help or to pre-recognize and award those aggregates with a
voice in addition to that of their individual human members.

         --karl--

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