Karl's comments on -- The Net's Faltering Democracy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
Reply-To: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:18:59 -0800 (PST)
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] The Net's Faltering Democracy

On Thu, 20 Feb 2003, Dave Farber wrote:

> > The Net's Faltering Democracy
> > The Net Effect   By Simson Garfinkel

> > And in the end, only 34,000 people voted in October 2000. But those numbers
> > actually overstate the level of user participation: in North America,
> > according to Election.com, the company hired to run the election, a mere
3,449
> > votes were cast. Karl Auerbach, the candidate elected to represent the
United
> > States and Canada, received 1,725 of those votes. Although that's a
majority,
> > it's an exceedingly tiny fraction of the Internet's user population.

ICANN ran the voter registration system, which was an utter disaster.
Many people who wanted to vote simply could not sign up due to software
and procedural failures.  The computerized part of that registration
system failed under a load that amounted to an average of less than four
transactions per *minute*.  And the procedural parts were so flawed that
many people couldn't figure out how to use the registration information
that ICANN sent them, and even if they did figure it out, the processing
of that information frequently did not occur.

It is a hallmark of an open election process that the voters be able to
find one another to discuss issues outside the hearing of the candidates
or the organization involved.  That is why public voting lists are
generally available for inspection and this is why most corporate laws
require that shareholder/member lists be available, subject to proper use
limitations, to shareholders/members.  The integrity of elections has
historically been considered of sufficient importance to outweigh the
privacy concerns.  Private discussions among voters are necessary for the
formation of compromises between opposing points of view and the formation
of coalitions.  ICANN prevented the voters from reaching out to one
another except in the most glaring of bright lights - and thus invited the
interference of people who acted in ways that can be best described as
electronic versions of what were described in the Spanish civil war as
"fifth columnists".  One of the most vociferous opponents to the election
was ICANN's own contractor who not only wrote the software that failed but
who also was apparently involved in decisions regarding the validity of
votes that were cast.

ICANN then poisoned the growth of an informed electorate by dismantling
even those poor inter-voter communication systems that it had created.
If there is anyone to blame for the sorry state of public participation in
ICANN it is ICANN itself.  A healthy and informed electorate takes time to
form and mature.  Whether by intent, design, or stupidity, ICANN has
written what is a textbook chapter on techniques to impede the formation
of a healthy body of informed participants beyond the diehards and those
who have a direct financial stake.

> > But ICANN need not worry about more sham elections.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a sham - if ICANN had engineered the
outcome I would not have been elected.  But the election was clearly
flawed.  Nevertheless, I do hold my seat with more votes than do 16 of
ICANN's 19 directors; most of those directors hold their seats without the
benefit of even one vote cast in a public election.

So, if one questions the validity of my position, one must more strongly
question the validity of the positions of those directors who received
even fewer (or no) votes, particularly those unelected directors who were
named at the outset for one year terms and who are now, through a process
of self-extension, now entering their fifth year on the ICANN's board of
directors.

        --karl--



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