p An "interesting" view of ICANN obligations Replies are welcome

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dan Hunter <hunterd () wharton upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 23:09:50 -0400
To: dave () farber net
Subject: [IP] ICANN - And here's who will be running the Internet for the
next 3 years

At the risk of trolling for flames, can I ask why it is that you (Dave) and
Michael F. assume is that ICANN has democratic obligations of transparency,
accountability and the like?  We don't ask this of organisations with real
power (Shell, IBM, Harvard, etc) so why does a small, irrelevant
organization with an extraordinarily-limited purview merit the kind of
opprobrium that ICANN attracts?   I recently wrote on the idea of
"democratic deficit" in ICANN
(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=400000) arguing that
ICANN's problems with its democratic deficit demonstrates that democracy is
in fact anything but a coherent general theory of political action,
especially in the online space, and asked whether we should continue to
berate ICANN for its "undemocratic" actions.

There are many reasons why I am doubtful that it is meaningful to suggest
that ICANN fails its democratic obligations, but let me sketch a simple one.
Take Michael's assessment of the new ICANN director's "concern for end-user
interests" (or your, Dave, arguments against ICANN's board).  Why is it that
end-users (or any other subgroup) are the appropriate demos?  I might take a
leaf from Michael's playbook and assess Apple's CEO (or Penn's president, or
the guy who makes my coffee) on his/her commitment to upholding the
interests of slashdot commenters or linux users or ip-list readers, but
since these are not Steve Jobs' constituencies my assessment says more about
me than it does about Steve Jobs and his "obvious problems with democracy."

Or as Charlie Nesson put it, just who exactly is ICANN accountable to?  And
why? 

Dan Hunter. 
  
-------- 
Dan Hunter 
Legal Studies 
Wharton School 
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104
Research at http://ssrn.com/author=243354

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