[governance] USG on ICANN - no movement here

[William Drake]

Hi MM,

On 8/7/08 3:49 AM, "Milton L Mueller" <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:
 
> While the epithet "neo-imperialist" may not be a productive way to move
> forward, Levine did not just talk about "powerful political forces in
> DC," he tried to defend the arrangement, and when asked what value US
> oversight added, he replied in a dismissive way that anyone who had been
> at an ICANN meeting had to conclude that it needed "adult supervision."
> Why is he exempt from criticism here?

There's an distinction between disagreeing with someone's views and personal
attacks with epithets etc.  If we maintain it probably most will be happier
here and the conversation more productive. Pretty obvious.
 
> That is why, ahem, IGP developed and proposed a workshop on the JPA for
> the Hyderabad IGF. Keep in mind that the progression is clear. USG can
> start by terminating the JPA, which doesn't cost it control of the root
> and still gives it life or death power over ICANN, but ending the JPA
> removes the most direct and egregious forms of US intervention. And we
> have made very specific proposals as to what conditions would justify
> termination of the JPA, although, like you, we are routinely
> disappointed with the level of attention those issues tend to draw from
> this crowd. 

While Iike all good citizens I normally commit all IGP utterances to memory
(just kidding), and recall reading your NTIA submission, I can't say that
I've ever seen anyone really make the sort of case I was asking for.  There
is for example a difference between saying the JPA should be ended in order
to depoliticize things and bring cheer to people who just don't like the USG
role, and making a case that will resonate in the beltway, Silicon Valley,
etc that there are no significant risks to doing so in terms of security,
stability, 'foreign dictators asserting control,' etc.  WSIS-speak etc won't
cut it, there are probably like five people on K St. or Capitol Hill who
could tell you what the Tunis Agenda says.  A compelling case would need to
be anthropologically attuned to the tribal customs, communicative practices
and collective memories of the target audiences, and promoted in a manner
that works in the local institutional ecology.  Or, we can just stand back
and say screw 'em, they're insular and don't get what people elsewhere are
thinking, in which case the prospects for change remain dim.

Not defending it, just saying that's how it is.  There's an almost total
disjuncture between life worlds here.

Bill 


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