Re: [Membership] Re: Individual Memberships

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

Esther Dyson wrote:
> 
> They can be contained in three  ways:
> 
> 1 - disclosure (as we are doing on our Website).
> 
> 2- proper behavior: We have to remember that we do not owe the donors > any favors.
> 
> 3 - time limits.  We need to move forward with plans to be funded by
> registry/registrar fees, among other sources, so that we no longer > need donations.
> 
> And of course we need try to keep our spending down, so that we just > don't need that much money!

I'm going to level with you Esther, because I like you personally
and because I see no point at this time in playing cat and mouse.
Everyone on these lists asks themself this question when they read a
message from you like the one above: How much of Esther Dyson's
naive frankness is due to her credulity, and how much is
dissimulation.

For us, you and the rest of the interim Board members were put where
you are by a coalition of entrenched special interests, basically
the same ones who are now behind the CORE/INTA/ISOC DNSO draft. Your
Accreditation Guidelines, your acceptance of GIP financing, the
identity of your CEO, and a host of other things bear out this
interpretation of events.

Therefore, when you offer an anlysis such as that implied in what
you say above, we ask ourselves: Does she really believe what she is
saying, which seems incredible to us given the present situation, in
which ICANN has apparently already taken sides with the big
corporations, or is she just ingenuous and letting herself be
manipulated?

This choice of an explanation for your words, as poor as it is for
you, is neverheless our harsh reality. It isn't flattering to you,
but it is now our obligatory analysis of what you say here. I hope
you will ponder this, as distasteful as it may be to you, because,
if we continue to debate and discuss with you and the other members
of the Board, it is in the hope that as individual human beings you
will somehow find the strength to overcome the ignominious position
you have been thrust into as pawns, whether witting or unwitting, of
regressive interests.