For a long time I was watching and waiting: all the questions and
arguments against splitting NCSG had been raised properly -- why should
I add my voice? But all this did not seem to lead to any substantial
response from those proposing the creation of NPOC. When I say
"substantial" I mean: in direct response to specific, direct questions.

Thanks to Milton for summing up the concerns raised, looking back on a
history (I have been involved and representing an NGO in Cambodia among
the non-commercials of ICANN since 1999) which is difficult enough to
understand -- like the fact to which Milton points here; I do not
believe in re-inventing the wheel, so I repeat what he wrote:

"Note that ICANN Inc. is currently paralyzing new constituency formation
in NCSG because it won't approve a charter that was approved
overwhelmingly by its noncommercial participants. Note how it uses the
alleged lack of widespread participation in NCUC to manipulate our
representation in GNSO, but ignores a far less diverse showing in the CSG."

Or, as Avri said on NPOC:

"- does it have a specific non commercial focus on some aspect of ICANN
issues
- does it avoid overlap with existing constituencies
- is it international in scope"

I will take up another point which Bill Drake had raised some time ago
-- again, I have not seen any effort to respond to that (if there was a
response to the point, and if I missed it -- apologies. Please send it
again. Here, we sometimes miss some mail.

Here -- that is in Cambodia.

Bill had asked:

"I will simply reiterate what I've been asking for some time 
now without ever getting a response.  If their proposed 
members are mostly humanitarian and service provisioning 
orgs, what would be the problem with call it the Humanitarian 
and Service Provider Organization Constituency, or something 
similar?  What's wrong with a title that accurately described 
the membership and focus, rather than one that attempts to 
colonize the broad rubric applicable to all NCSG members 
exclusively for a subset thereof?
"

Does anybody really think -- I mean also including people on the ICANN 
board -- that there is a genuine interest among a substantial number of 
non-commercial organizations, in the different geographical regions of 
ICANN, who have a track record of working together for some time, so 
that they now want to have their common not-for-profit cause 
(representing commercial entities) formalized in an ICANN related 
platform in the NPOC structure?

But there are many non-commercials and individuals, concerned with 
and struggling to get their voices heard - corporately and operationally - 
in the field of Internet development, regulations, and use, to strengthen 
the stability and security of the Internet (the ICANN raison d'etre) in a 
context where we face quite some other kinds of problems, related, for 
example, to the freedom of expression on which the member 
governments of the UN have agreed -- but which are fragile and 
under threat in a number of these same countries in our, and in 
some other regions of the world. 


Norbert Klein
Open Institute
Cambodia