Dear John and Luc, The issue has always revolved around "exclusion". ICANN does not want certain sets of people to influence or vote within policy recommending or policy ratifying venues. Allow me to point to a recent example. Policy discussions will be held in Marina del Rey on 22-25 February on the topic of new gTLDs and contractual conditions for existing TLDs. Members of the General Assembly discussion group have held sustained discussions on these topics during the entirety of the last twelve months, and we have submitted dozens of pages of consensus-based written commentary. While ICANN financially supports constituency member participation in these face to face sessions, they have denied GA representatives funding to attending these policy-recommending events (see the denial of request below). We are excluded from the process. We are ignored to the same extent that ALAC members have been ignored over the years. Folks on the GA list (who are just as much members of the At-Large as you or I) have attempted to work within the system for years... ICANN continues to reject their participation. Brief history lesson: ICANN formally eliminated the consensus-based open-to-all General Assembly (that had duly-elected representatives) during the same "reform" that saw the elimination of all At-Large directors. Working within a system designed to perpetuate exclusion is not in our best interest. ICANN only pays lip-service to the concept of multi-stakeholder participation... as far as they are concerned, we are not legitimate stakeholders in the process -- we are no more than the thorn in their side. Here is the record of my correspondence with the GNSO Secretariat: Dear Danny, Thank you, and my sincere good wishes to you for a successful and happy 2007. Travel funding for the upcoming policy discussions in Marina del Rey will be on the same basis as the funding for the August 2006 policy meeting in Amsterdam which allowed support for one representative per constituency, the nominating committee appointees to the GNSO Council, official liaisons to the GNSO Council, and the committee and task force chairs. Unfortunately there is no funding available beyond the categories mentioned above. We are making extensive arrangements for remote participation. Additional information on this will be forthcoming soon. The ga mailing list has contributed valuable discussions to the new gTLD process which have been appreciated and acknowledged. We look forward to continued participation by individuals who post on the ga mailing list. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen Danny Younger a écrit :
Hello Glen,
Happy New Year and best wishes.
Please advise if travel funding will be made available for representatives from the GA to attend these upcoming policy discussions in Marina del Rey. As you know, GA members have devoted considerable time in sustained discussions on the topic of new gTLDs (and I was able to earlier relate the preliminary GA viewpoint through my unfunded participation at the Washington session).
Allow me to further remind you of the following language in the current ICANN Budget: "This year ICANN has also included a provision to provide some assistance to selected volunteer members of the ICANN community who could not otherwise attend task force or other ICANN meetings. Travel assistance will be provided on a case-by-case basis only after the trip request is evaluated and deemed to have a value-added component for ICANN and the community."
The GA perspective is a value-added component that should be respected in this process. I look forward to hearing from you, and I look forward to having a number of GA participants attending this session.
Best regards, Danny Younger
--- "GNSO.SECRETARIAT@GNSO.ICANN.ORG" <gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> wrote:
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:33:12 +0100 From: "GNSO.SECRETARIAT@GNSO.ICANN.ORG" <gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> To: gtld-council@gnso.icann.org Subject: [gtld-council] Revised Interim Meeting dates ,22 - 25 February 2007
[To: gtld-council@gnso.icann.org] [To: pdp-pcceg-feb06@gnso.icann.org]
Dear All,
This is confirm the revised dates for the GNSO policy meeting in Marina del Rey on Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 February 2007 to refine the new gTLD recommendations, and in particular to discuss implementation guidelines, (PDPDec05) with the staff and to refine the work on the policies for contractual conditions, existing gTLDs (PDPFeb06). The meeting will take place at the Courtyard by Marriott, Los >>> Angeles Marina del Rey, 13480 Maxella Avenue, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. Rooms have been reserved for the participants so as soon as you know your travel plans, please let me know so that I confirm the hotel bookings with your dates.
Travel funding will be similar to the Amsterdam meeting and further details will follow, but in the mean time please keep these dates free for the meeting.
Thank you. Kind regards,
Glen -- Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org
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