[governance] ICANN - Request for Proposals for Independent Evaluator for GNSO Review

[Danny Younger]

Returning to the topic of periodic review of ICANN
structures and operations by independent evaluators,
while the ICANN bylaws call for the examination of
each Supporting Organization and its respective
Council, each Advisory Committee and the Nominating
Committee by such an evaluator, the bylaws do not
require the review of the ICANN Board itself by an
independent entity.  

Instead, the Board has decided that its own evaluation
merits a review process conducted by means of a Board
Governance Committee, and the Board undertakes a
self-analysis and evaluation of its own performance
every two years.
 
Although I haven't seen the publication of the last
such self-review, I feel confident that the Board's
commitment to "transparency to the maximum extent
feasible" implies that such a review has been posted,
and that I simply missed seeing it.  Perhaps Veni (who
sat on the Board Governance Committee) can provide a
link to the last such review.

One might ask why ICANN is using two different review
procedures.  Why, for instance, isn't a Supporting
Organization conducting its own self-review (as does
the Board) instead of relying on the services of an
independent evaluator.  Conversely one might ask why
isn't the Board subject to an independent evaluation.

If I were independently evaluating the Board I might
have the following question to ask:

1.  Why aren't your internal policy discussions
public?  In my country, publicly-elected
representatives debate policy matters on the public
record in Congress.  The people get to know the views
of their representatives and are in a position to
lobby for effective policy changes.  How is the public
advantaged by having the Board operating free from
public scrutiny as a Star Chamber?

I'm sure that many on this list would also have
questions to pose.  But those questions never will be
answered, because the Board is not an accountable
body... and we can't "vote out the bums" when there is
no voting process that allows the public to express
it's ire.  

We remain the victims of what Charles Costello
described as the ICANN "Palace Coup" -- a reform
process that, counter to WSIS principles of
democraticization, saw the end of democratic
representation within ICANN.

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