Gee, Jay, I wore a gray ribbon the whole time in Berlin.
The MAC (with Berkman research support) voted to recommend that *all* meetings of
the ICANN at-large membership meetings be open to the general public as well as to
the membership. Only two of us on the MAC demanded open meetings when the committee
first got underway, but by the end of the project, we had near unanimity on this
point and by then were holding our own meetings in the open as well. Working on the
MAC allowed us to spread that word beyond this listserv and the results were good.
Lessig is part of Berkman but other faculty may have differing views and not all of
them get the kind of press that Larry does or even feel that the media is the best
place to influence policy. You will not find Berkman (or any other division of
Harvard) claiming to represent the political opinions of its personnel; those
opinions are personal, not institutional. It may take a position on legal issues,
but not on politics.
My recent criticism of particular ICANN decisions has been reported in the press,
but it has obviously escaped your notice. Dad blinked and missed it too, though.
Diane Cabell
Berkman Fellow
HLS
Jay Fenello wrote:
> You're right Jonathan,
>
> My apologies for not being specific enough.
>
> Berkman has added much to the openness of many
> of the ICANN functions, and I was wrong to state
> my complaint as it is stated below.
>
> My reference was to this sudden change of
> wind. The Commerce Department *now* saying
> that closed board meetings are un-acceptable.
>
> Then, we get this from Joe:
>
> >ICANN officials say they're happy to comply. "It's actually quite a
> >positive development," said ICANN Counsel Joe Sims. "What happens is the
> >debate takes place among the same small group of knowledgeable people, and
> >each of them have their own axes to grind. Unless we're doing an absolutely
> >awful job, getting light shone on it ought to be good."
>
> What a Crock!
>
> And while Berkman was there to provide web
> broadcasts, I don't remember Berkman ever
> taking a critical position against ICANN
> (except Larry Lessig, whom I still greatly
> admire and respect).
>
> It seems no-one dare do so in public, until
> the tide turns, then everyone jumps on the
> bandwagon.
>
> Like I said, I'm tired of this brinksmanship.
> These conciliatory moves are simply too little,
> too late.
>
> Fool me once . . .
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Jay Fenello
> President, Iperdome, Inc. 404-943-0524
> -----------------------------------------------
> What's your .per(sm)? http://www.iperdome.com
>
> At 02:34 PM 7/11/99 , Jon Zittrain wrote:
> >Jay,
> >
> >See <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann>,
> ><http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rcs>, <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ifwp>,
> ><http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/whois>.
> >
> >Webcasts of meetings, open MAC sessions, open research (remember our
> >January meeting?), remote participation architectures, and a comprehensive,
> >free primary source archive of that which has come from both IFWP and
> >ICANN--openness isn't something the Berkman Center has come to only lately,
> >and the extent of our institutional participation and labor has been all
> >about building and refining architectures for openness. And civil
> >exchange. For my part, I don't think I'm acting "conciliatory" after
> >coming around from an opposite view. I'm simply trying to engage on the
> >list respectfully, after a long period of not participating at all because
> >of the tired, personal nature of so many of the exchanges. ...JZ
> >
> >At 02:16 PM 7/11/99 , Jay Fenello wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Well, isn't this just grand.
> >>
> >>After 9 months of complaints by many members of this
> >>list, and many members of the Internet community in
> >>general, it now seems that *everyone* agrees with us.
> >>
> >>Oh, how comforting.
> >>
> >>Too bad that neither the Commerce Department, nor
> >>the Berkman Center, nor ICANN itself ever seemed to
> >>care about sunshine and openness before.
> >>
> >>Frankly, I'm tired of this game of brinksmanship.
> >>These conciliatory moves are simply too little, too
> >>late.
> >>
> >>Fool me once . . .
> >>
> >>Respectfully,
> >>
> >>Jay Fenello
> >>President, Iperdome, Inc. 404-943-0524
> >>-----------------------------------------------
> >>What's your .per(sm)? http://www.iperdome.com
> >
> >
> >Jon Zittrain
> >Executive Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
> >http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
--
Diane Cabell
http://www.mama-tech.com
Fausett, Gaeta & Lund, LLP
Boston, MA
