RE: [ifwp] Re: FW: Letter from NTIA re ICANN

[Roberto Gaetano <Roberto.Gaetano@etsi.fr>]

Martin Schwimmer wrote:
> Re: NTIA paragraph on Board Members:
> 
> "The White Paper indicates that the United States is prepared to enter
> into an agreement with an organization that reflects the geographic and
> functional diversity of the Internet community. A number of commenters
> expressed concern about the proposed interim board of directors and called
> for the
> establishment of mechanisms to ensure equitable representation of the
> Internet
> community, including developing regions, based on a transparent and
> democratic
> election process.  We are interested in hearing how ICANN intends to
> address
> these concerns as additional interim board members are selected and as the
> process for electing the permanent board is adopted."
> 
> Does this imply that NTIA is acquiescing in the existing list of the nine
> named Interim Board members?  
> 
> Also, the email implies that NTIA doesn't disagree with the manner in
> which
> IANA selected the Board members - just the results.  Is that a fair
> comment?
> 
First of all, this is not just a letter from NTIA to ICANN, it an official
NTIA press release (see
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/icann102098.htm).

NTIA, IMHO is much more concerned on how these issues are addressed for the
"permanent" board, than in who "happen" to be the individuals on the
"interim" Board.

I disagreed several times in the past with USG, but this one seems to be a
wise position.
On one hand, "start with what you have so far" (BTW, I don't know if one
could have done better given the time constraints - we are already 21 days
into extra innings), but on the other hand "define the process for the
future".

I believe this is a clear message, and if you read the comments at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/comments/comments.html
you may note that many say the same thing: some concern on some points, but
go on, we'll fix it.

Regards
Roberto