[At-Large] It's time to end the failed Ombudsman experiment, was Respectful Online Communication and Behavior

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ICANN's Ombudsman, Frank Fowlie, recently posted a web page on Respectful Online Communication and Behavior

I must say that I found that to be a rather strange document.

Unfortunately, I don't find it odd at all. ICANN's Ombudsman, who has never had more than a trickle of complaints to justify his position, now will be Hall Monitor, or perhaps Head Censor, which will allow him to invent cases at will. It's been clear for years that the Ombudsman experiment is a failure, adding neither clarity nor fairness to ICANN's process. It's long past time to delete Article V from the ICANN bylaws and bring the experiment to an end. If ICANN wants to be credible and transparent, it needs fewer, simpler processes. R's, John