On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 9:29 AM, William Drake <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > One might add to this that the council voted, unanimously except Mary and I > (I think Avri was not voting on anything at the time due to a CSG attack on > her for joining NCUC), to have a Sunday morning conclave that will closed > door and off the record. This was framed by proponents as a gripe session > where councilors will be able to vent about our "pet hates" and grievances > against each other. No joke, we're actually doing this. I suggested we > bring a Festivus pole. Maybe Frank Costanza could facilitate. Originally > they wanted to start off the week of collaboration with this on Saturday > morning, so I guess Sunday's a slight improvement. Our biz colleagues > insisted, with a straight face, that it had to be secret inter alia because > of possible legal actions and effects on share prices, and suggested calls > for transparency were just empty rhetoric. There won't be any 'irreconcilable differences'? > Anyone with a macabre taste for examples of the council's community dynamics > should have a look at the thread called GNSO Meet and Greet > at http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/thrd123.html. It's > pretty priceless and gives new meaning to bottom up. Amazing! I never mind "in-camera" of anything, but for no record to exist? Heard somewhere that "democracy dies behind closed doors" > Cheers, > Bill > > > On Oct 15, 2009, at 7:41 PM, Robin Gross wrote: > > Thanks to Bill for weighing in against this. I was surprised by the strong > reaction of the IPC member who threatens to NOT vote unless she can vote in > secret. > Now a Commercial Constituency member wants to keep all non-counselors silent > during the weekend sessions in Seoul. > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg07642.html > Our members have not yet had an opportunity to dialogue on many of these > issues: - they are new, Seoul will be their first meeting, etc. The idea > that we must be kept silent and can only watch the counsel would be a > terrible precedent to set for the new "reformed" GNSO. These meetings have > been open and allowed for participation from any member of the GNSO before > now, so I hope we don't move in the direction of silencing the community who > is traveling to Seoul (most on their own dime) to work on these issues. > Robin > > On Oct 15, 2009, at 9:02 AM, Robin Gross wrote: > > I noticed that on the GNSO Council email list, the IP Constituency is > calling for secret ballots for the chair/vice-chair positions on council. > That is really surprising to me considering how ICANN claims to be "open and > transparent" in its activities. And it is a bit disturbing that elected > representatives in a governance organization are afraid the public will know > how they vote on an issue. I thought when a person is elected to represent > a group of people on policy issues, those people have a right to know how > their elected representatives are voting and handling that representation > given to them by the public. > What part of open and transparent public governance does the IPC not > understand? > > Best, > Robin > > 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] > > > > > > > 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] > www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html > *********************************************************** > > >