George Conrades wrote:
Michael, your thoughts on this one make a lot of sense to me.
Geo.
George Conrades wrote:
>
> Michael, your thoughts on this one make a lot of sense to me. Geo.
>
> ...it's a good idea. If people registering domain names were
> automatically made members, by having a small membership fee deducted from
> their registration fees, it would help them to get involved in ICANN, which
> is to the good, IMHO.
I agree that there must be a presumption against any impediment to
participation and I really appreciate your concern in this
regard. However, isn't that unnecessary in this organization on
the following grounds--ICANN's particular and limited purposes,
unnecessarily increased problems of administration and assuring
integrity of the electoral results?
If there are only 1,000 people in the world who really want to
participate in these
decisions, why register 5,000,000 who do not? It is easier to
administer an
origination with 1,000 members than with 100,000. You can send
out paper ballots at
a low cost, if that level of security is desired. It is easier to
prevent fraud in a 1,000 member organization. And, it is easier
to detect and react to manipulations of the electorate (i.e.
organized large "turnouts" of registered but actually
disinterested voters voting a straight ticket).
Thus, as long as ICANN is limited to its current purposes, is
truly open to all who actually want to participate and there are
no or only minor impediments to participation, I would not
automatically enlist the entire world as members. I would require
"self-selection" for ICANN membership rather than automatic
inscription.
