Diane Cabell wrote:
>I support most of the MAC recommedations, Mr. Cook. Not all of them, but
>most of
>them. I want the At-large Membership to be a large, open, democratic
>body; not a
>selective, wealthy group. I want any Internet user to be eligible to
>serve on the
>Board of ICANN, not just the people hand-picked by a Nominating Committee. I
>think membership should be fee-based, but our study indicates that
>adjusting fees
>for developing nations ends up costing more than it brings in.
IMHO, a membership that is all-inclusive moves ICANN closer to center stage
as a governance body -- a thought which makes me shudder. While we know
that ICANN was established *solely* as an administrative body for the DNS,
I can imagine that a universal, no-barrier membership body may have
different assumptions or expectations of ICANN's corporate role -- turning
to it for complaints about spam and porn and copyright infringement, none
of which are issues for ICANN. ,
DNS administration includes profoundly complex issues, and IMHO, the most
basic qualification for membership would be some connection to the system
ICANN will be administering. Why should ICANN membership be thrown open to
my elderly mom just because I sat her down at a computer once to view our
family website, or to my young son just because he likes to use the
Internet to find new Pokemon cheats?
The people who have made an investment in the domain name system -- through
infrastructure, management, registration, hosting, etc. -- are the ones who
rightfully should be involved in decisions about its administration. For
those who remain unconvinced, realize that it is always easier to relax the
qualifications later than to tighten them once this new membership
experiment is underway.
And yes, IMHO, there should be a minimal membership fee because it creates
a more responsible, authentic, committed membership than one with no
requirements or obligations.
To answer the concern of the poorer nations, create a membership fee tiered
to some annual monetary index (GNP, median hourly wage, cost of a gallon of
milk) so that membership ranges from, say, $4 to $25, depending upon
residency.
Ellen Rony Co-author
The Domain Name Handbook http://www.domainhandbook.com
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ISBN 0879305150 *=" ____ / +1 (415) 435-5010
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On the Internet, // \\ no one knows you're a dog.
