[governance] september song... :)

[Milton Mueller]

Carlos:
Read our comments on the NTIA NOI. We need to develop new and better accountability mechanisms -- including (but not limited to) the return of global democratic voting for part of the Board. The improvement of accountability is hurt, not helped, by proposals to give some unaccountable, monopolistic and coercive "security council" of governments arbitrary power over RZF modifications. 

>>> ca at rits.org.br 7/25/2006 1:33 PM >>>
Well, aside from the fact that MM's methodological separation is just
academic (as there are no signs Bushland will relinquish its role on
ICANN), *if* ICANN, as it is now, goes to a situation of no governmental 
control whatsoever on its core operations, *then* we will still have 
another serious problem -- the objective fact that a private non-profit 
sustained by a quasi-monopoly of the global domain name business could 
hardly become truly independent.

--c.a.

Milton Mueller wrote:
>>>> apeake at gmail.com 7/20/2006 10:12 AM >>>
>> Thanks to Brenden Kuerbis and IGP for pointing to an interesting 
>> proposal from Becky Burr and Marilyn Cade on oversight of the root
> 
> A bit behind the traffic here, but please note that the proposal is
> Burr's. Marilyn Cade has simply endorsed it.
> 
> Another problem with this debate I have noticed is a confusion
> between two distinct things:
> 
> 1. The importance of Internet policies and the need, or even the
> inevitability, of governments playing a role in how those policies
> are rules are made.
> 
> 2. Control over modifications of the Root Zone File (RZF).
> 
> Let's create a sharp distinction between the two. Governments can
> have 1 without 2. Since ICANN is a global organization and needs to
> be accountable, governments can and should establish global rules
> that help to make it accountable. For example, if ICANN or its
> successor abuses its authority, breaks its own rules, cheats, steals,
> etc. it needs to be accountable. Governments need to work out how to
> apply competition policy and law, and trade rules to ICANN. That's
> all legitimate government business.
> 
> But that does not mean that governments need to have or should have
> some kind of veto power over modifications of the root zone file. It
> seems to me that giving governments*any one or any collection of
> them*some kind of final veto power over the RZF is just asking for
> trouble. The Burr proposal tries to deal with this by saying that
> governments can intervene only to protect technical stability and
> security. But this is like telling a fox he can only eat one of the
> chickens he is guarding when the stability and security of the farm
> is threatened. The fox will always want to eat the chickens, and will
> use any excuse he can to define something as a threat to the farm's
> stability and security.
> 
> Governments and their representatives are not likely to have any clue
> as to what RZF changes affect the technical security and stability of
> the Internet. But they will know how their political interests are
> affected. They will want to control or affect the RZF for political
> reasons, not technical ones.
> 
> 
> 
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> 

-- 

Carlos A. Afonso
diretor de planejamento
Rits - Rede de Informações para o Terceiro Setor
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