[Membership] Members

["David Schutt" <david@speco.com>]

What are the roles of membership in an organization such as ICANN?

One of these roles is to create a chain of accountability. One of the best
tools available to a membership is the derivative action mentioned early in
the report. That is the -whole point- of derivative actions. Is the term
'accountability' to be merely a buzzword, some empty rhetoric, when applied
to ICANN? It looks as though that is the recommendation.

What is the rationale? Well, the fear of frivolous actions. Based on the
flawed assumption of a large membership. There is certainly no -evidence-
that ICANN will attract large numbers of members, in fact, the evidence
available suggests just the opposite.

There is also no evidence that this has been a problem with other
organizations comparable to ICANN. In the absence of such evidence, why is
this an issue?

It appears that the issue comes down to the lack of desire of this
organization to accept the responsibility it has to be accountable to
the -entire- Internet community (that's a big community, folks).

One has to wonder why that fear of accountability exists.

David Schutt
Speco, Inc.
Schiller Park, IL USA