Dharma Dailey wrote:
Today the Media and Democracy Coalition weekly call is focusing on the NCUC controversy: I think that any discussion of ICANN which treats the NCUC as the only conduit through which the public interest is served, is utterly misguided.
By ignoring or marginalizing the very body that exists with ICANN to advocate the public interest, civil society groups are in fact marginalizing themselves. When so much needs to be done on policy and understranding issues, MADCO chooses to get upset over the re-alignment. How sad. The more I speak to people, the less cut-and-dried the NCUC issue appears to be. Proponents of the current scheme -- that NCUC is fighting -- charge that the current NCUC has become a kind of closed club that has impeded the introduction of new voices, especially if they dissent from current orthodoxy. While I don't agree with that assessment, is has some justification. Having said that, I think that we ought to be making sure that public-interest groups are aware of ALAC, and the fact that we have the ability, the mandate, indede the duty to advise ICANN on all facets of its operation, not just gTLD creation. In my opinion, MDC should be an ALS. I have no contacts there; Dharma, could you introduce them to us? - Evan