Robin, Will do, though I may tweak the subject line :-) Bill On Jan 16, 2009, at 10:57 PM, Robin Gross wrote: > Don't think I can post to the GNSO Council list, so will an NCUC > Councilor please pass along this message. Thank you! Robin > > ---- > > Dear GNSO Councilors: > > It is completely unacceptable for the structure of the new NCSG to > be defined and shaped by commercial users and contracting parties. > Noncommercial stakeholders can and will define their own structure > suitable to themselves and not be manipulated by other stakeholder > groups who might seek to undermine its effectiveness. It is naïve > and disingenuous to pretend that the different SGs don't have > competing and often conflicting interests. > > We note that no one has invited NCUC or ALAC to participate in > defining a new structure for the Commercial SG, or the Registrar and > Registry SGs. This kind of discrimination among SGs will discourage > additional noncommercial entities from participating in ICANN's GNSO. > > Please note that NCUC has already proposed a structure for the NCSG > that has the overwhelming support of the noncommercial stakeholders > currently active in ICANN. We have conveyed it to At Large, > discussed its principles in public meetings in Cairo, and are in > conversations with staff about it now. While we welcome efforts to > amend it from new constituency proponents and relevant members of At > Large, that proposal will serve as the basis for any NCSG proposals > that go to the Board. > > We have no objection in principle to working with At large members > and RALOs in this process, and as noted before we have already tried > to include them in our ongoing process. But we also note that > individual or organizational At Large members may also be commercial > users and thus ineligible to join a future noncommercial SG, and > thus have no legitimate role to play in the definition of our > structure. > > The Board Governance Committee has made it clear on numerous > occasions that Stakeholder Groups themselves should play a leading > role in defining their structure. Explicit statements to that effect > have been made by Roberto Gaetano, former Board members and BGC > member Susan Crawford, and Harald Alvestrand. This is, quite > obviously, the right approach. > > Best, > Robin Gross > Chair of Non-Commercial Users Constituency > > > IP JUSTICE > Robin Gross, Executive Director > 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA > p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 > w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: [log in to unmask] > > > *********************************************************** William J. Drake Senior Associate Centre for International Governance Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, Switzerland [log in to unmask] New book: Governing Global Electronic Networks, http://tinyurl.com/5mh9jj ***********************************************************