random thoughts

Secret Board Briefings a Method of ICANN Capture

While in a meeting with Board members, a member of my Stakeholder group had an opportunity to read part of one page of the Policy Staff’s briefing report to the Board from across the table (some of us read documents upside down better the we read right side up.)

In this case it was all they could do to refrain themself from standing up and yelling “the staff lies.”   The lies in this case were repeated lies first invented by the Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) about the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) - that the most diverse Stakeholder group in the GNSO was not diverse enough. This lie from the same group that seem to stand against all types of diversity requirement in every discussion, whether geographical or gender.

That this absurd accusation was made by a group that needs an exception from the geographical diversity clause for council member elections was not enough to show its absurdity and motivated the Board’s unjust behavior toward the NCSG in last years Council member appointments (though we dearly love our Board appointed council members and fully accepted them as part of ‘us’, the method of their section was wrong and is a slow wound to heal).

That the non commercial constituency was singled out in the LSE report on the GNSO as the most diverse of constituencies was also not sufficient to put lie to the statement. And now the Staff makes the great lie even greater by including it in the Policy Staff’s briefing papers.

The Board often talks about avoiding capture.  Capture has already occurred and it is the Policy Staff with its power to whisper lies into the ears of the Board that this capture is maintained and cemented.  Decisions are being made based on false information.

How many lies about how many things would we find in a proper review of the Policy Briefings to the Board?

How many decisions have been made based upon false information fed to the Board by the Policy Staff?

This has to stop now!

• All Board briefing except those on truly confidential matters, must be made public immediately.
• All recent Board briefings on which the Board has based its decisions must be released immediately.
• All future Board briefings must be released to the public at the same time they are distributed to the Board.

Additionally, in its review of transparency I hope the AOC Review Panel takes this pernicious practice to task.

I understand that the ICANN Policy Staff has a new leader, and in my first brief meeting with David Olive, I have hope that things may change.  Then again, when Rod Beckstrom first became CEO, I had hope that things would change.

And my hope is still waiting.

I have admitted my great affection/addiction for ICANN on numerous occasions, but I really do fear that ICANN’s soul has been captured by the Policy Staff and I worry that it may never recover unless some major changes happen real soon now.

Will the quest for openness at ICANN persist?

Over the last few months, ICANN has lost some amazing people and, I am afraid,  the champions of openness. With Maria Farrell’s departure last week I realized what those of us who care about open communications at ICANN have lost a lot.  In losing Paul Levins, Kieren McCarthy, and Maria Farrell we lost a team that was dedicated to doing the right thing and fostering communications among the corporate part of ICANN, the volunteer corps and the community at large.

I do not mean to say I always agreed with them or that I did not, at various times, anger them with the things I sometimes say about ICANN.  But what I did see is that even when they they were impassioned in their defense of ICANN and its actions, they were always open to dialogue and never seemed to disappear into secretive group conversations where they get snarky about the criticism (ok, maybe a little snark, but not secret snark, in your face open and funny snark).  Whenever I criticized, they came out and argued to my face that I was wrong.  And sometimes after listening to their arguments I agreed that I had been wrong.  I will miss that.  Often at ICANN the only way to find out what is going on is to take your best guess, shoot off our mouth and wait to see the responses.

I will miss Paul, Kieren and Maria.

I will especially miss Maria whom I considered my first friend among the ICANN staff - a friendship formed while eating the rubber chicken at one of those GNSO Council - Board dinners of old where we went around the table and everyone had to give their viewpoint on the very important Topic du Jour.  I have been sad about the loss of her participation in the GNSO policy process every since she was subjected to the ‘purge of attrition’ of the Policy Staff initiated when the previous Director for ALAC was promoted to VP of Policy. I must admit I have never completely gotten over losing all of the Policy Staff the GNSO was working with at the time, just after I became the chair of the council.  And while I really like and appreciate many of those who have since joined, I still mourn the treatment the previous group was subjected to.  Maria’s leaving has reminded me and it still makes me sad.

Now that the corporate affairs staff, of which she was a member, has also disappeared I will miss her even more. Too bad, so sad, what the volunteers think of the staff is irrelevant - we are not consulted in their reviews or when they are hired or promoted or fired or even when ‘gently’ nudged out the door - no matter how much we may rely on them or value their work it just does not matter.  Maria’s departure has made me think of that again too - because while this may not be an intentional purge, the effect is the same and we have lost three good people we should not have lost.

Back to openness, Kieren did a lot to foster openness in a closed community.  But Kieren is gone and has been replaced by Nick Aston-Hart, a member of the Policy Staff I so often use this blog to whinge about.  Another Director for ALAC has been promoted, should I be worried? Anyone looking at ICANN would assume that ALAC is its most successful branch:  just see how well its Directors do after a few years on the job.  I can only assume that Nick has been promoted for his achievements with the ALAC and At-Large and his great success in helping to enhance communication between the At-Large community and the Non-Commercial community.

I must say I hardly know him and don’t feel I have ever had a real person to person conversation with him, though I have spoken to him on many occasions. But the point is not whether I know Nick, or trust him, or think that he has had a significant role in bringing the At-Large/ALAC and the NCSG to their their current condition. The point is my concern about whether Nick will follow in Kieren’s example and will strive to create opportunities for open and honest communications among all members of the ICANN community, or not. In the Policy Staff under the Policy Tzarina, openness and communication among groups has never seemed the order of the day; working with them is the epitome of working with a black box, with every report being a secret report.  Of course I can’t tell whether Nick is one who has just been following orders or if he was following the beat of his own drummer.  I guess his performance in the new job will give us the opportunity to find out.

I will miss Paul, Kieren and Maria, and wish them every happiness.