Joe Sims' confession

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

On November 11, 1998, Joe Sims, attorney to ICANN, confessed to
having committed perjury before the elected representatives of the
American people, in a written and signed affidavit to the U.S. House
of Representatives Committee on Science. 

This is his statement, written by him in the third person in an
attempt to distance himself from his own culpability: "The final
decisions on who should be invited to serve as interim At Large
Board members were made by Dr. Postel, after receiving comments,
suggestions, and advice from a wide range of individuals and groups
(not named [ed.]). At his direction, Mr. Sims contacted each of them
to invite them to be included in the interim group of At Large Board
members to be proposed to the Department of Commerce."

The following is a transcription of Joe Sim's testimony, under oath
to tell the truth so help him God, to the House of Representatives
four weeks prior to that statement:

   Chairman PICKERING. Going back to who selected the nine interim
board members, the nine? Was that something that Mr. Postel or Mr.
Magaziner, who called the individuals up and said, "Would you like
to serve on this interim board?"
   Mr. SIMS. I don't think I actually know the answer of who
actually made the phone calls.
   Chairman PICKERING. But this is a key question of accountability
and this is a very legitimate issue. And let's just be forthright
here. Somebody knows who called the nine members on the board.
   Mr. SIMS. Oh, sure. Oh, sure. And we could find that out. I just
don't personally know because the process was---
   Chairman PICKERING. Ms. Burr, do you know?
   Ms. BURR. I know that it was nobody in the U.S. Government that
called them up and invited them---
   Mr. SIMS. Yes, I'm sure---
   Chairman PICKERING. Does anyone on this panel know who selected
the nine members on the board?
   Mr. SIMS. Well, let me try to describe how the process works, and
I think I'll be able to answer your question even though I can't
tell you precisely what person called what person. The process, as I
said, was a process of trying to gather and create consensus around
a group of people. There were are large number of people involved in
that process. And, obviously, John Postel was at the center of that
process, but he certainly wasn't---he personally I think does not
know most of these people. And he certainly was not the person who
was suggesting them or coming up with the ideas. The ideas came from
all around the world, and then variou people who were able to
contact them, were asked to contact them. And that information was
then fed back.
   And, in fact, I think the record would show that those kinds of
contacts, "Would you be interested in serving on this board?" were
made with a fairly large number of people. And we got a number of
"No, thank you, I would not." And we got some, "Yes, I guess I might
under some circumstances, tell me more." And then, finally, we got
at least this nine people to say yes.
   If it was a critical piece of information for this Committee, I'm
sure with a little due dilligence I could find out exactly who made
the phone call. I just don't happen to know it.
                    ..........................

This is the man who wrote the ICANN bylaws. This is the man who, in
collusion with Jon Postel and Michael Roberts, destroyed the White
Paper process and its product, the IFWP. This is the man and these
are the people being protected by Beckwith Burr, at the risk of her
position and her career.