<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div class=""></div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:9FADCAC3-B6C8-4725-BA10-12553AE6E2B2@gmail.com" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""></blockquote></div></blockquote></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Feb 19, 2020, at 4:20 PM, Ayden Férdeline <<a href="mailto:ferdeline@protonmail.com" class="">ferdeline@protonmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Thank you for sharing this document, George.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Can you please expand upon why there was a desire for this meeting to happen in a closed environment? I thought one concern about the sale - expressed over and over again since November - was the whole lack of transparency and open consultation. </div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div>Yes.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Open meetings discourage frank and open discussion when the situation is polarized, and therefore discussants generally play to their constituencies who are watching. That results in arguments, not discussions. You can consider the posts on this subjects on this list to have been an open meeting of sorts, and the tendency for posters has been to posts strengthening their side of the argument rather than trying to work with the other side. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is a good case to be made for open meetings and for transparency much of the time, but not always. I judge mechanisms like that on the basis of the outcome of the process involved rather than on the tools used to get there.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The proposed meeting was to be a group of colleagues, admittedly with dirreent and conflicting goals, to explore whether there were solutions that hadn't been considered that could make everyone better off.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Closed meetings allow discussants to take chances with ideas, to know that their explorations into areas that are perhaps dogmatically held by their group won't be used to discredit them later. There are opposite sides represented, and the temptation in an open meeting to remember what the opposite side said and to use it in a negative way against them later often seems too good to resist. </div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class=""> <br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">You say that this meeting "wasn't secret", but when the first time that many of us are hearing about this proposal was in the media, it certainly seems like it was some sort of secret.<br class=""></div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div>Let's differentiate between 'secret,' locally informed and globally uninformed' and 'broadcast to a larger community .' There are gradations here in the extent to which information gets distributed. If I get a group of colleagues together to brainstorm informally, I see no need to tell a large number of people that I am doing it. That was the sense in which we proceeded.. Most of us do this informally much of the time, including our side conversations at larger meetings which are open, such as ICANN meetings. There's nothing wrong with it since we're not making decisions that affect people or institutions who are not there.<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best wishes,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="protonmail_signature_block"><div class="protonmail_signature_block-user"><div class="">Ayden Férdeline <br class=""></div></div><div class="protonmail_signature_block-proton protonmail_signature_block-empty"><br class=""></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Feb 19, 2020, at 5:42 PM, Ayden Férdeline <<a href="mailto:ayden@ferdeline.com" class="">ayden@ferdeline.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Dear all,<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Regarding the sale of .ORG, in <i class="">The Register</i> today it was reported:<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">"... word has reached us that Ethos Capital attempted to broker a secret peace treaty this coming weekend in Washington DC by inviting key individuals to a closed-door meeting with the goal of thrashing out an agreement all sides would be happy with. After Ethos insisted the meeting be kept brief, and a number of those opposed to the sale declined to attend, Ethos's funding for attendees' flights and accommodation was suddenly withdrawn, and the plan to hold a confab fell apart, we understand."</i><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/19/internet_society_org_sale/" class="">https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/19/internet_society_org_sale/</a><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I asked on an internal ISOC mailing list if any additional information was available on this "secret peace treaty." For information purposes and because it is not otherwise accessible to those not unsubscribed to one particular ISOC list, I am attaching the document that was shared with me and which can be made public. <br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is incredible, in my view, that after three months of criticism for putting forward a secret, backroom deal to sell .ORG and sustained criticism over a lack of transparency about the sale, that ISOC would default here to a closed process in order to try to muzzle critics.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best wishes,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="protonmail_signature_block"><div class="protonmail_signature_block-user"><div class="">Ayden Férdeline <br class=""></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><span id="cid:4DDD1790-F2EE-417A-918B-50D77BCD0237@fios-router.home"><Meeting plan for .org.pdf></span>---<br class="">To unsubscribe: <<a href="mailto:igc-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net" class="">mailto:igc-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net</a>><br class="">List help: <<a href="https://riseup.net/lists" class="">https://riseup.net/lists</a>><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">George Sadowsky Residence tel: +1.301.968</span><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">.4325</span></div><div class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">8300 Burdette Road, Apt B-472 Mobile: +1.202.415.1933</span><br style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">Bethesda MD 20817-2831 USA Skype: sadowsky </span><br style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><a href="mailto:george.sadowsky@gmail.com" class="">george.sadowsky@gmail.com</a> <a href="http://www.georgesadowsky.org/" class="">http://www.georgesadowsky.org/</a> </span><br style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""></div><div class=""><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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