I would like to follow up on the Stephanie/Klaus opening on
an agenda for the Intersession with a suggestion that there be a
reflection and
discussion on the potentially poisonous implications of the issues
around the
.xxx registry contract renewal.
The core issue is not whether the proposed changes are good
or bad. The core issue is: Does this supersede ICANN’s bottom up
multistakeholder policy making processes? Superseding ICANN’s processes poses a triple threat:
to policy
making; to stakeholder collaboration within ICANN; and to ICANN’s
stature as a
multistakeholder policy making organization. It opens the door to ad
hoc (board/staff)
policy, to strategic lobbying rather than collaboration, compromise
and
consensus among constituencies, and to threats to ICANN’s
legitimacy. There
should be enough in there to constitute an agenda item for the
intersessional.
I will even go so far as to get myself in trouble by suggesting
that topics in this area are more critical for an intersessional
venue than are
the wider ICANN issues of human rights and anti-harassment policies.
Hope I don’t
get harassed for exercising my freedom of speech suggesting that. :-\