[CCWG-ACCT] CCWG-Accountability - Draft Comment for Public Consultation on Articles of Incorporation (AOC)

[Marilyn Cade]

fully support Sam's comments below.
Marilyn Cade

To: accountability-cross-community at icann.org
From: sam at lanfranco.net
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2016 08:52:42 -0400
CC: thomas at rickert.net
Subject: Re: [CCWG-ACCT] CCWG-Accountability - Draft Comment for Public Consultation on Articles of Incorporation (AOC)


  
    
  
  
    
    At
        the risk of restating the obvious in simple terms I am taking a
        whack at the
        issue of ICANN and the public interest (global or otherwise).
        There is no
        agreed upon definitive definition of the public interest. This
        is not because
        there are different competing definitions but because of the
        inherent nature of
        the notion itself. The public interest is not like an element
        (iron, copper,
        helium) in the periodic chart where there is a fine grained
        molecular test of
        whether something is in, or not in, the public interest. It is a
        concern across a broad
        scope of human existence for the impact of policies and
        practices carried out
        by institutions, and in some cases individuals. Does an action
        support, or
        counter, the public interest (i.e., can I raise chickens in my
        urban back yard)?
        
    In
        ICANN, it
        is appropriate to have a commitment to policies and actions in
        the global public
        interest, without a defined definition of global public
        interest. That is why
        there is reference to the multistakeholder community through an
        inclusive
        bottom-up multistakeholder community process. Here is where a
        nuance is
        important. The task of that process is not to craft an ICANN
        definitive
        definition of the global public interest. The task of that
        process is to stand
        ready to be invoked whenever it appears that an ICANN policy or
        practice is not
        consistent with some element of the global public interest. The
        purpose of that
        process is to reach a consensus on the issue at hand, and not to
        perform a test
        against some gold standard benchmark of “global public
        interest”. Of course,
        with the passage of time, both inside ICANN and elsewhere a body
        of “case
        evidence” will build to assist that process.
    In
        the case
        of society and justice, where there is no definitive definition
        of justice, a broad
        set of principles exist and on a case by case basis the
        objective is that “justice
        has to be seen to be done”. In the case of ICANN and a
        commitment to the global
        public interest, on a policy and practice case by case basis,
        the global public
        interest has to be seen to be served. To repeat, the task of the
        ICANN
        multistakeholder community is to remain vigilant with respect to
        policies and practices
        as they impact on the global public interest and remain as the
        defenders of
        those interests within the work of ICANN. In doing so it will
        benefit from the
        case evidence build up within ICANN and elsewhere, but its task
        is not to
        pursue a quest for a definitive definition of the global public
        interest. 
     Sam
          Lanfranco, NPOC/CSIH

        
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    -- 
------------------------------------------------
"It is a disgrace to be rich and honoured
in an unjust state" -Confucius
 邦有道，贫且贱焉，耻也。邦无道，富且贵焉，耻也
------------------------------------------------
Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus & Senior Scholar)
Econ, York U., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3
email: Lanfran at Yorku.ca   Skype: slanfranco
blog:  http://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
Phone: +1 613-476-0429 cell: +1 416-816-2852
  


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