[governance] "Oversight"

[Milton L Mueller]

I really dont find any real difference between what I said you say, and what you claim you say. Ok, lets say, you think US law is the best form of political oversight, given the present circumstances.

[Milton L Mueller] Ah, now I see why what I am saying drives you crazy.

You are confusing two fundamentally different things: "political oversight" and the law ICANN is incorporated under. Political accountability has less to do with which jurisdiction ICANN is incorporated in than you think. The best form of _political_ oversight is ICANN's own MS processes, which are transnational, assuming we make the Board more accountable through a better appeals process and membership. In other words, the polity is global, and political accountability means that ICANN makes and enforces policies that its global constituents want, that its representative processes are actually representative and its elected officials get thrown out if they do the wrong things. California corporation law is merely a mechanism for giving it a legal personality and making it follow certain procedural rules. Yes, it does make a difference that it is in the US rather than, say, Luxembourg or Tanzania, but that should not affect the policies it adopts through its own processes. Once you cut the cord to the US Commerce Department, the fact that it obtains its legal personality in California is not all that relevant.

You are saying US law is more accessible and offers better accountability than international law to non US people!!! What a high-handed claim to make!
[Milton L Mueller] nothing is more high-handed and inaccessible than international law, my friend. When have you ever used international law to do anything important for yourself or other people? I see a few African dictators convicted of war crimes by the ICJ 10 years and millions and millions of dollars in court costs after the fact.

Are you sure you will like to seen saying that kind of a 'silly' thing (a term you use often :) ). May we just have the basic decency to ask non US people if this is what they think :).

[Milton L Mueller] Sure. Ask anyone you like. But provide a real basis for comparison, i.e., the comparison is about legal personality and not political oversight, and don't wriggle out of the issue by contrasting US law with something that doesn't exist.

I propose a multiple-choice survey question to be circulated among multinational domain name service operators located in developing world countries:
Would you prefer that ICANN be incorporated under
a) California corporation law,
b) an unspecified international organization host country agreement developed by a collection of governments guided by a new international treaty you don't know the content of, which hasn't been tested in adjudication, and which won't be in place for 10 years;
c) Indian corporation law
d) Chinese corporation law
e) Russian Corporation law or
e) the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Go ahead and ask. I'd be as interested in the results as you. We'd all probably learn something.
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