We have an old saying in Washington: "Anyone from out of town is an expert."

Odlyzko is a big name who is not a usual ICANN player, so he's now a 
"neutral expert."

Milton is a well recognized expert who, anywhere but in ICANN, would 
also be regarded as a big name.  He is routinely consulted by the USG 
and other governments as well as respected by his academic 
peers.  But to all the ICANN regulars, he's just "Milton."

There are many folks who would have diametrically opposed views from 
Odlyzko who would be recognized as experts, because no one around 
here knows them.  If you could convince Eli Noam to show up, they'd 
respect his opinion.  Not just because he's well qualified, but 
because he's never been to an ICANN meeting.

Harold

At 09:13 AM 9/20/2006, Danny Younger wrote:
>Horacio,
>
>Allow me to supply some background on the issue of
>"experts".  Per PDP guidelines, the Contractual
>Conditions Task Force put out a "Call for Experts" in
>early April:
>
>"ICANN and the GNSO are interested in seeking the
>views of a range of different experts, in addition to
>hearing from its formal Constituencies and seeking
>public comments through the ICANN website.  We would
>be grateful if you could submit an expert opinion on
>any or all of the items set out in the response
>template below."
>http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-11apr06.htm
>
>No expert comments were submitted.
>
>Not surprising, as most "experts" don't spend their
>time perusing the GNSO website on a daily basis.
>
>Three months later, the BC's Marilyn Cade begins
>asserting that expert commentary is needed from
>competition and anti-trust authorities.  She puts
>forward a series of names including that of Dr. Andrew
>Odlyzko, University of Minn., USA.
>
>Prior to assuming a position at the University of
>Minnesota in 2001, Dr. Odlyzko devoted 26 years to
>research and research management at Bell Telephone
>Laboratories, AT&T Bell Labs, and AT&T Labs.
>http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/bio.html
>
>This renewed call for experts is nothing more than a
>thinly disguised attempt to buttress the views of the
>BC.
>
>If the TF accepts commentary from Dr. Odlyzko, then it
>should certainly equally accept commentary from Milton
>Mueller.
>
>
>
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