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Span has posted a thoughtful piece on whether incremental change in politics makes radical change harder to achieve. Lawrence Lessig blogs that the issue of “net neutrality” in the US is being championed by the Democrats. Kieren McCarthy has a summar…

Kieren

Well, first off, yes, of course there are flaws in the comments and that is why I haven’t written a news story about “a lack of confidence in the chairman”. It’s a blog entry and it was reflecting what was happening at ICANN Marrakech.

You know that there isn’t a soul I won’t speak to at ICANN meetings so it’s isn’t just a core group of people and it struck me that so many people were criticising Vint that there had to be something there. To be really honest, I pondered whether I should say so at all, and then remembered my job is really to try to reflect reality, no matter how unpalatable.

With respect to Vint being aggressive though - he was. I was sat in both open Board sessions and he was quite unncessarily rude at times. And considering that Vint is such a gentlemen, it really stood out. I was considering writing “The Five Ways in Which Vint Cerf Controls the Agenda and Silences Critics” but I thought that would just be mean.

>Interestingly enough, usually the people who say that,
>are not willing to run for the Board. But they have great
>ideas of how the Board should govern ICANN…

I can only assume you are baiting me here Veni. You know full well what my intentions are, you cheeky sod.

Kieren

I’m not sure whether the inclusion of domain kiting undermines your argument by referring to a very nice phenomenon or expands it by pointing out that whatever system you put in place, someone will always probe the dark recesses.

Kieren

What makes me wonder is esp. the part that starts with

The weak point of ICANN however - and it remains dangerous to even mention this - is the man who has become the figurehead of this organisation and, in many respects, the Internet itself, Dr Vint Cerf.

You do not give any evidence why you think so. What you say about people criticizing openly Vint, is not news. There have always been people criticizing Vint. If one wants to make the headlines, they will criticize Vint. It’s quite easy to criticize, it’s quite difficult to actually propose something constructive. People criticize only those, who do something, and usually something that the critics can’t do on their own.
So far, I’ve been hearing “change the Board”. Interestingly enough, usually the people who say that, are not willing to run for the Board. But they have great ideas of how the Board should govern ICANN…

You say:
Dr Cerf is out of touch and it is beginning to show, and people are beginning to comment on it. He has noticed this and reacted aggressively, which has, of course, only reinforced the feeling.

Being with Vint on the ICANN board for the last three years, I can tell you that this statement is completely wrong and is not based on facts. Vint - out of touch? Aggressive? This is way beyond real life. I just wonder what kind of people could actually say he’s aggressive.

Let’s discuss some funny “rumors” that you’ve heard:

* How come is it that Google isn’t video-casting this whole thing?

Why? Because Vint is on the board, and works at Google? Then perhaps why is not the Cordozo School of Law provide students to help ICANN, Skadden provide legal services, ISOC-Bulgaria provide staff support, etc., etc.

* How dare he talk to me like that. If he does it again…

Like what? And what if he does it again? I haven’t seen in the i* community another person, who is listening carefully to all things anyone wants to say. I’d be surprised to find out that he’d speak in a way to make people say “how dare he…”

* I’m sick of this demagogue status

Which exactly?

* I don’t think he even knows what open-source software is

LOL. Not to mention that this has nothing to do with the core ICANN mission, but to say something like that is not worth even mentioning it.

* Isn’t it time he went?

He will serve for another year, until end of 2007, and the by-laws do not allow him to serve more.

Bottom line - from what I read, you have not met people who have discussed the major obstacles confronting the Internet and ICANN in the next year. You’ve met only people who discuss Vint, the Board, the staff. Not the real issues, not the threats, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Which, on the other hand, may mean that ICANN is doing its core mission so well, that there is no need to actually contribute to its work, but rather there is a need to focus on people and characters, rather than on substance.

:)

Kieren