<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Time for some reality based thinking here.<br><br></div>ICANN has a lot of money, sure, however, they are spending it on IG conferences (NetMundial, IGF, and others that you folks are happy to participate in) at a prodigious rate. <br><br></div><div>MOST of the money they have on hand is budgeted fro legal fees in case/when they get sued, so it is a 'war-chest" they can't touch.<br></div><div><br></div>They have spent so much so fast that they are actually cutting the budget for 2015, as new gTLD revenues are significantly lower than what was anticipated. <br><br></div>The latest in this saga is that the Gala, a staple of ICANN meetings has been cut from the Agenda.<br><br></div>So not wallowing in cash, actually fairly strapped for it. These auctions reveneues don't go into the regular budget IIRC, but are put aside in the new gTLD kitty, in other words, they aren't really free to spend it as and when they wish.<br><br></div>So it's not all fancy lunches/dinners/biz class travel for ICANN staff. In fact, on the way home from Durban I saw several ICANN VPs in Economy.<br><br>-- <br>Cheers,<br><br>McTim<br>"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel
<br><div><div><div><div><div><div><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 8:03 AM, parminder <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" target="_blank">parminder@itforchange.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span class=""><br>
On Thursday 18 September 2014 06:10 PM, Norbert Klein wrote:<br>
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Thanks, Louis.<br>
<br>
How long will it still be possible to LOL?<br>
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As long as a certain section of IG civil society remains so ingratiated with ICANN that they will never speak up anything that can lead to any real structural change in the ICANN, and make it really responsible to the global public. The quid pro quo of course being that ICANN spends a part of the money currying favour with this section of the civil society.<br>
<br>
I know this kind of thing is normally not said in the polite society of global IG, but what the heck... The loot cannot go on. And if those who are supposed to be the watch dogs turn pets, it must be called out in the larger public interest...<span class=""><font color="#888888"><br>
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parminder</font></span><div class=""><div class="h5"><br>
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And how transparent is it where these dollars go?<br>
<br>
I remember there were some time not conclusive discussions about staff perks (some working on TLD system development), and some discussion about staff salaries or "benefits" - ICANN is a non-profit.<br>
<br>
So am I.<br>
<br>
What I have done from 1994 to more recently to connect the country to the Internet, to get the Cambodian script into Unicode, to help to organize the creation of localized Khmer Open Source software (now the official software for the Ministry of Education and everything under it in Teachers Training Colleges, Provincial Offices of Education, and schools that have computer), all that was also non-profit.<br>
<br>
But at the end, ICANN seems to have a lot of money.<br>
<br>
<br>
Norbert Klein<br>
Cambodia<br>
<br>
<br>
On 9/18/2014 7:17 PM, Louis Pouzin (well) wrote:<br>
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Results Available for 17 September 2014 Auction.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-2-17sep14-en" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/<u></u>announcements-and-media/<u></u>announcement-2-17sep14-en</a> <br>
<br>
Four applicants for BUY participated in the Auction. Amazon EU S.à r.l. prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of *$4,588,888.<br>
*<br>
Six applicants for TECH participated in the Auction. Dot Tech LLC prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of *$6,760,000*.<br>
<br>
Five applicants for VIP participated in the Auction. Top Level Domain Holdings prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of *$3,000,888*.<br>
<br>
Remember. ICANN is non-profit and no tax. LOL.<br>
.<br>
Louis<br>
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