Siavash Shahshahani ha scritto:
This vote is an administrative function. We have criteria to apply. Either the organisation meets the criteria or it doesn't.
You make it sound like an automaton could handle this. Why bother with ALAC vote then? There may be some formal criteria that the staff should check before the case comes up for discussion.
Let me explain what is meant by saying that this is an administrative function and not a political one. The difference is the same between being judges in a jury (administrative function) or politicians in a parliament (political function). In the first case, the judges in the jury do not make or change the rules, and do not have any freedom in terms of policy; they take the policy that someone else decided, and apply it by the letter in the most objective possible manner; they have to be uniform and accountable on how they apply the law. In the second case, instead, parliamentarians are free to take whatever position they like, change or make new policy, and even act differently in similar situations; they are accountable not through objective criteria, but through the system used to select them. In our case, the criteria for accrediting ALSes are not decided by the ALAC, but by the Board (even if the ALAC proposes them). The ALAC can only stick by these criteria and administer them in a fair and uniform way, like judges in a jury, comparing applications to the criteria and determining whether they are met. It is, actually, a staff-like function; the only reason why it was attributed to the Committee is because, five years ago, several people were afraid that ICANN staff could try to capture the constituency, and so we thought that ALAC members would be more accountable judges about the criteria. But if ALAC members (for a number of understandable and good faith reasons) start to be unaccountable in administrative terms, by not explaining how they administer these criteria or why they think that they are not met by a specific application, or by applying them in a non-uniform manner thus being unfair to specific applicants, then the system does not work any more, and the Ombudsman and the Board will rightfully complain. -- vb. Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu <-------- --------> finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/ <--------