[ga] Future of the GA and DNSO

[DannyYounger@cs.com]

Hello Jon,

The DNSO is still a mess, and no meaningful changes have been proposed in the 
current Blueprint.  We have gone through two back-to-back DNSO reviews, and 
now through the ERC review of the DNSO, only to have management conclude that 
no structural repairs are needed....  I have to wonder what kind of 
cigarettes these folks are smoking. 

Clearly for a long time now, the Board has been getting poor policy guidance 
from the Council, and I see no plan in place to change that situation, only 
cosmetic changes calculated to piss-off the volunteers in the GA.  The last 
thing that this Board needs is even less volunteers than it now has.  Denying 
participants in the process the right to elect their own leadership and the 
right to conduct their own votes (a right granted to every other constituent 
group in the ICANN process) is a sure way to alienate the unaffiliated user 
community that has endeavored to provide reasonable commentary on domain name 
policy issues.  And let's be honest about it... the GA is an active 
constituency in its own right with more involved members than all other 
constituencies combined.  We are the defacto Public Interest group in the 
ICANN process and have always articulated the outrage of the community.  

Yes, the Board has the power to put a damper on its critics and to control 
the GA in a heavy-handed top-down fashion... but is this really in the best 
interests of the Corporation?  Unlike those in the constituencies that seem 
to take every possible opportunity to suck-up to the Board, we tend to tell 
it straight.  This is healthy, and there is value in having a loyal 
opposition... it acts as a check on arbitrary and capricious decision-making.

It would be capricious to make an arbitrary decision on the GA without having 
had the benefit of consultation with its membership.  The ERC has not 
consulted with us.  Please do the "right thing" and make sure that as an 
impacted party we have the opportunity to fully debate these matters within 
our own membership and to consult with the Board regarding our sentiments on 
these eleventh-hour proposals.

Best regards,
Danny Younger
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