On 15 February 2011 14:48, Internet Society - NY Chapter <admin@isoc-ny.org>wrote:
Danny: The GAC thinks that they can veto so many things about ICANN and
this is unacceptable to At Large.
In response to Danny's point, Evan repeated that he had discussions with USG GAC reps and that they had been surprised to hear that ALAC shared many concerns. GAC had felt that they were out on a limb and thus were resorting to desperate measures. A solid area of consensus was opposition to ICANN's proposed further outsourcing of dispute resolution. Evan assured the call that the board, particularly with Sebastien included, were well briefed on At-Large concerns.
This is generally accurate with an exception or three: (1) I would want to replace "the Board" with "a number of Board members". Presentations made to "the Board" -- ie, at Board meetings -- are done by senior staff. The briefings of which I spoke have been in semi-formal (Board member attendance at open ICANN workshops) and informal (The Board/ALAC lunch in Cartagena, private conversations) settings. (2) Since my conversations have been with many different GAC representatives, I would ask to remove the USG-specific reference since that was only the most recent of many consultations. (3) It's also generally a mistake to say "the GAC had felt" since it's a very diverse organization. It's more accurate to say "many GAC members". - Evan