On Wed, Jan 13, 1999 at 01:10:12PM +1200, Joop Teernstra wrote:
> If proxy votes would be disallowed (on the Net, with members who are
> joining because of their interest in self-governing, who needs proxies?)
> would that persuade CORE to give up your resistance against a DN holder
> flat membership?
> Probably not, but I think it would persuade others.

I don't think it would persuade CORE and I know it wouldn't persuade 
me.  Proxy votes are only one problem, and not decisive, in my mind.

[...]

> For me , the logic remains that a very wide membership is the best
> protection , both against capture and against abuses.
> Constituencies that stack the vote in favor of those who already have
> considerable power due to their position in the industry, are sure to
> discourage very wide membership.

Constituencies and wide membership are actually orthogonal issues -- 
you can have wide membership and constituencies, narrow membership 
and constituencies, wide membership and no constituencies, and 
narrow membership and no constituencies.

As I said before, constituencies are a method of preventing tyranny 
of the majority -- there are other alternatives, but they have been 
considered, and the minorities who stand the most to be affected 
prefer constituencies.

Consider a flat membership model.  Suppose there are 10000 members
total.  Someone proposes that all the expenses of the DNSO should be
born solely by NSI.  Under a flat membership model, 5001 votes carry
the day.  Arguably, this isn't fair to NSI.

I personally think a "Bill of Rights" model that protects NSI in this
case is the best solution.  However, it isn't the solution preferred
by the groups that have concerns -- eg registrars and registries. 
And it does have the problem of coming up with the appropriate Bill
of Rights. 

Despite your bland assurances to the contrary, there is no doubt that
a BoR in this situation is a difficult problem.  It may very well be
true that the arguments surrounding the crafting of such a document
would make the present ones over representation look mild.  [Because
basically all the policy issues would have to be argued up front --
everyone would try to game the BoR so that their interests were
completely protected.]

Consider also that some constituencies, namely the registries and
registrars, really are in a special relationship to ICANN in this -- 
they will be the ones most heavily impacted by by ICANN policies; 
they undoubtedly will be the ones under some form of legal 
obligation to ICANN.

> I propose to modify the membership article with a clause that prohibits
> voting by proxy.

I agree that the proxy clauses should be examined very closely.

-- 
Kent Crispin, PAB Chair                         "Do good, and you'll be
[EMAIL PROTECTED]                               lonesome." -- Mark Twain

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