Fw: Amusing Internet voting irony..

["Steve Knecht" <skglobal@earthlink.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: David Jefferson <jefferson@pa.dec.com>
To: Charles, Alfie <acharles@ss.ca.gov>
Cc: Alfie Charles <acharles@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>; Ben Duchek
<bduchek@wam.umd.edu>; Bernard Soriano <bsoriano@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>; Bob
Yudkin <ryudkin@us.ibm.com>; Brian Gangler <BGangler@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>;
Cameron O'Rourke <corourke@us.oracle.com>; David Jefferson
<jefferson@pa.dec.com>; Dwight Beattie <dwightb@co.sacramento.ca.us>;
Jacquie Canfield <jcanfield@worldnet.att.net>; James Wayman
<jlwayman@aol.com>; Jim Adler <jim@soundcode.com>; Jim Cunneen
<jim.cunneen@asm.ca.gov>; John Mott-Smith <jmsmith@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>;
Jonathan Nagler <nagler@wizard.ucr.edu>; Kaye Caldwell <kaye@ix.netcom.com>;
Kim Alexander <kimalex@calvoter.org>; Larry Sokol <Larry.Sokol@SEN.CA.GOV>;
Linda O. Valenty <Lvalenty@email.sjsu.edu>; Mark Reynolds <mark@ilumin.com>;
Michael Alvarez <rma@crunch.caltech.edu>; Mikel Haas
<mhaasxrv@rov.co.san-diego.ca.us>; Pam Giarrizzo <PGiarriz@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>;
Pete Adlerberg <Pete@soundcode.com>; Peter Pursely <ppursely@earthlink.net>;
Peter Schmidt <peschmid@cisco.com>; Philip Muller <muller@poltech.com>;
Rodota, Joseph D <JoeR@AcmeSoft.com>; Roger Dao
<Roger.Dao@gsa.co.santa-clara.ca.us>; Rom Lopez <romulo.lopez@asm.ca.gov>;
Stacey Morgan <stacey.morgan@asm.ca.gov>; Steve Cunningham
<scunning@cisco.com>; Steve Knecht <skglobal@earthlink.net>; Sylvia Ahern
<Sylvia_Ahern@sterling.com>; Thad Howard <thad@lstreet.com>; Tim Draper
<tim@drapervc.com>; Tom Hill <thill@sos_2.ss.ca.gov>; Warren Slocum
<WSlocum@jump.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 10:16 AM
Subject: Amusing Internet voting irony..


>
>This is from today's New York Times online.  It seems that ICANN, the
>new Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is to
>preside over the Internet domain name service (DNS) among other things,
>is having an Internet-based election of its new members.  But the election
>was halted because of "unknown" technical problems.  This among world-class
>Internet technology experts!  And there are only a total of a few dozens
>of votes involved!
>
>Enjoy,
>David
>----------------
>        Internet Board Election Is Delayed
>
>        By JERI CLAUSING
>
>        WASHINGTON -- The first effort to build an elected
>        body to handle the administration of the Internet was
>        stalled on Friday when technical problems delayed voting for
>        the first three elected seats on the Internet's new governing
>        board.
>
>        With a Mexican academic and a Spanish
>        law professor clinching the first two seats,
>        voting on Friday had narrowed the
>        candidates for third seat elected seat on
>        the Internet Corporation for Assigned
>        Names and Numbers (ICANN) to three
>        North Americans and a New Zealander.
>        But technical problems delayed final
>        action until Monday, participants in the
>        election said.
>
>        When voting was suspended, Jonathan
>        Cohen, a Canadian trademark lawyer, led
>        with six votes. Peter Dengate-Thrush, a
>        trademark lawyer from New Zealand, was
>        second with five votes.
>
>        Rick White, a former Congressman from Seattle, and Don
>        Telage, an executive with Network Solutions Inc., were tied
>        with three votes each. And Nii Quaynor, a computer scientist
>        from Ghana, had two votes, apparently eliminating him from
>        the next round.
>
>        The elections are being conducted by a 19-member council
>        of ICANN's Domain Name Supporting Organization, which
>        is one three groups that will be electing three members each
>        to the board of ICANN.
>
>        Officials coordinating the election Friday said they had not
>        determined the cause of the problems that were hampering a
>        final tally of the votes, which were being cast over the
>        Internet by the far-flung council members.
>
>        Those participating in the final round of elections Friday
>        morning said it was unclear when the technical problems
>        began and whether voting on Monday would start from the
>        beginning or resume with the field that had apparently been
>        narrowed to Cohen, Dengate-Thrush, White and Telage.
>
>        To win the final seat, one of the candidates has to gain
>        support from 10 of the 19 names council members.
>
>        Alejandro Pisanty, director of computing academic services
>        at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico
>        City, won the first round of voting earlier this week for a
>        three-year term.
>
>        Amadeu Abril i Abril, a law professor at Ramon Llull
>        University in Barceloan, Spain, was elected to a two-year
>        term on the board during the second stage of the Domain
>        Name Supporting Organization's election of its three seats.
>
>                           The seat not yet filled is for a
>                           one-year term to the board.
>
>                           The final round is limited to
>                           representatives from North
>                           America, Africa or the
>                           Asia-Pacific region, as the
>                           council is not allowed to have
>                           more than one board member
>                           from each of the world's
>                           geographic regions.
>
>                           Should Dengate-Thrush be
>                           elected, that would mean the
>                           DNSO would have no voice
>                           from North America.
>
>        The DNSO represents the Internet's business and non-profit
>        organizations. The other two formal supporting
>        organizations, the Address Supporting Organization and the
>        Protocal Supporting Organization, represent Internet service
>        providers and other technical concerns. Those groups will
>        also hold elections before ICANN's next board meeting, to
>        be held in Los Angeles next month.
>
>        ICANN was selected by the United States Department of
>        Commerce last year to take over administration of the
>        Internet's addressing, or so-called Domain Name System.
>        One of its first charges was to break the
>        government-sanction monopoly that Network Solutions,
>        based in Herndon, Va., has held on the lucrative business of
>        registering Internet addresses in the popular domains of
>        .com, .net and .org.
>
>        ICANN, a nonprofit organization, is currently run by a
>        10-member interim board that was appointed by a small
>        group of Internet founders. Those board members will serve
>        with the newly elected members but will be replaced next
>        year when a general assembly is formed to elect nine at-large
>        board members to what ultimately will be an 18-member
>        elected board.
>
>        All but one of the candidates in this first election, Rick
>        White, have been deeply involved in the contentious process
>        that created ICANN. While trademark groups that have been
>        backing ICANN's efforts to put in place uniform rules for
>        cracking down on cybersquatters favor Cohen's candidacy,
>        companies like AT&T were backing White because of his
>        background as a consensus-builder and Internet-friendly
>        lawmaker who worked to keep government from imposing
>        onerous new regulations on electronic commerce.
>