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<p>Hi,</p>
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<p>2 quick comments: </p>
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<p>I hate to say it but $500k on lobbying in DC amounts to a minimalist self-defense budget for an organization of ICANN's scale and scope. Especially for one with ICANN's global remit it could be - dangerous - for Rest of World if ICANN wasn't practicing -
self-defense in DC.<br>
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<p>Leaving that aside re digital divide issues, best fit imho within ICANN's remit is to focus on greater inclusion and participation, which I think is where John's comments were trying to steer folks.
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<p>Which to be blunt could amount to more travel $ for more folks on this list for participation in ICANN activities. Personally, that avenue to closing somewhat 'internet governance' participation strains/divides is basically more or less what ISOC, RIRs,
ICANN, etc have been doing all along, so it bis reasonably straightforward to scale up.</p>
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<p>On other hand, anything that can be construed as a general a tax on ICANN's - taxes - I mean fees - I mean non-profit revenues ; ) - for generic non-core ICANN issues well that gets complicated and controversial real fast. (Speaking as someone who proposed
- taxing - ICANN's gTLD revenues and setting up an ICANN Foundation, way back when in an article with Milton, before the $$ really started to stream into ICANN coffers.)</p>
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<p>And look how well that idea survived over the years up til gTLD launch - or not ; ).</p>
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<p>Lee <br>
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<div dir="ltr" id="divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>From:</b> governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org <governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org> on behalf of John Curran <jcurran@istaff.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, June 20, 2014 5:33 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Daniel Pimienta<br>
<b>Cc:</b> <governance@lists.igcaucus.org><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [bestbits] [governance] Your key ICANN issues as a user</font>
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<div>On Jun 19, 2014, at 9:56 PM, Daniel Pimienta <<a href="mailto:pimienta@funredes.org">pimienta@funredes.org</a>> wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div><font color="#000000">...</font><br>
Maybe it is just that a global citizen,being netizen or not, can ask, with some genuine concern, why a body which is supposed to serve public interest in the area of Internet have to spent a little more that half a millon US$ in one year to 2 US based lobbying
(*) consulting companies and if that money could not be used in a way more profitable to the general and global public interest.</div>
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<div>That's a perfectly reasonable question relevant to ICANN's execution of its</div>
<div>mission... However, Ian was proposing that some form of structural tax be </div>
<div>imposed for "addressing social issues associated with the Internet". The latter</div>
<div>would be seen by many readers as a very different proposition than whether</div>
<div>ICANN's has committed sufficient funds to enable the participation of Internet</div>
<div>global citizens in ICANN's decision making processes; processes which are</div>
<div>focused on ICANN's existing mission of Internet identifier coordination.</div>
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<div>The CS IGC should advocate for whatever position it feels appropriate; I pointed</div>
<div>out the distinction entirely to note that the perception of what you are seeking may </div>
<div>hinge on the explanation of why it is appropriate ICANN to commit funds in this </div>
<div>manner, and whether the issues to be addressed are those directly part of ICANN's </div>
<div>mission or simply Internet-related in some manner.</div>
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<div>Best wishes of your efforts!</div>
<div>/John</div>
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<div>Disclaimer: my views alone.</div>
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