Re: Improved transparency through public mailing list archives, budgets and membership lists

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I'd like to make a followup to my prior submission. Public mailing list 
archives (and membership lists) also allow the ICANN community and other 
observers to determine whether GNSO constituencies are truly representative of 
the communities they purport to represent.

If a constituency's activities are dominated by a very small number of 
individuals or organizations, for example, they would not be meeting the 
"representativeness" principle in ICANN's bylaw requirements, and the need for 
greater outreach would be evident. Similarly, if weeks or months go by with 
very small levels of posting activity or other dialogue between members, this 
would raise the question of whether that constituency is as engaged as it 
should be on the important matters of GNSO policy, and whether that 
constituency deserves to have voting representation on GNSO council.

Public budgets, financial statements and related financial disclosures are 
basics of good governance, especially those serving the public interest. Just 
as ICANN itself has IRS Form 990 and other financial reporting obligations, the 
bar should be set equally high for its policy making bodies.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
President
Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc.
http://www.leap.com/

(a member of the Business Constituency, but our comments are submitted solely 
on our own behalf)

--- On Wed, 2/4/09, George Kirikos wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important
> matter.
> 
> In order to maximize transparency, renewals of each GNSO
> constituency should be conditional upon:
> 
> 1) public mailing list archives
> 2) public postings of constituency budgets
> 3) public list of all members of a constituency
> 
> Many (if not all) of the constituencies fail to meet either
> some or all of the above standards.
> 
> Currently, only the NCUC and ISP constituencies have public
> mailing lists. The registrar constituency used to have a
> public mailing list, but has since gone private.
> 
> Public posting of budgets ensures that constituencies are
> prudent in their spending, and allows the public to compare
> costs across all constituencies to ensure equal playing
> fields.
> 
> Some constituencies fail to list all their member
> individuals/organizations (and keep the list up-to-date),
> which is an important part of transparency, and prevents
> capture by certain organizations, a danger that ICANN is
> certainly aware of, and to detect conflicts of interest.
> 
> By setting the above standards across all existing and
> future constituencies equally, ICANN can be said to be
> ensuring that constituencies "shall operate to the
> maximum extent feasible in an open and transparent manner
> and consistent with procedures designed to ensure
> fairness" as per the Charter.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> George Kirikos
> President
> Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc.
> http://www.leap.com/
> 
> (a member of the Business Constituency, but our comments
> are submitted solely on our own behalf)