Alan stated ICANN's stance on this subject, so this is not a criticism of Alan or his personal views: An advantaged person from a developed oligarchy would not, or very rarely, apply for an ICANN Fellowship in the first place. There is no reason to believe that advantaged people would choose to leave or complicate their advantaged lifestyles to instead go overseas and learn about ICANN, therefore the restrictions on participation are not preventing advantaged people from participating. The restrictions on participation are purposefully designed to prevent disadvantaged people originating from western oligarchies, who would readily leave their disadvantaged, exploited lifestyles, from participating. ICANN's argument that "UN and World Bank metrics help prevent ICANN from making value judgements" is a perfect example of the tendency of corporations to adhere to the false realities created and promoted by an Oligarchy, false realities created and promoted in this case for the sole purpose of keeping as many middle and lower class Americans out of the national and global internet power structure as possible, and across all industries and occupations, so that the Oligarchy can maintain its global monopoly on influence and decision making. I would propose that ICANN ahould allow everyone to apply for fellowships, and I will fully expect the Oligarchy of the United States to not allow that for the reasons cited above. Ron