Transcript 4 May 2007

TELEPHONE CONFERENCE: EU RALO 4 MAY 2007

CONFERNECE COORDINATOR
This is the conference coordinator, at this time I’d just like to advise everyone that the conference is being recorded if you have any objections you may disconnect at this time.
MAN1
…do you have any idea about who else is going to join?
NICK
Um…one second. Susie’s talking to me.
Sorry, I’m back
MAN1
…I was just wondering if you had any idea about who’s going to be joining us.
NICK
Um…I’m not sure. Rudy’s just asked me if we’re online.
MAN1
For the moment I guess, you, me, Rudy and Patrick.
NICK
Hello. Wolfgang told me he’d be joining shortly.
I hope everyone’s weather is better than ours.
DESSI
Hello everyone.
MAN1
Well, actually, here it’s raining heavily. But we are happy with it because it hasn’t been raining for three or four months. <garbled>…was terrible.
NICK
Yeah…who is that?

DESSI
That’s Dessi <garbled>. Hello all.
NICK
Hello, it’s Nick, here.
MAN1
Hello, this is Wolfgang. Sorry for being late.
NICK
That’s okay, Wolfgang. Everyone’s showing up late today, except for Rudy, Vittorio and Patrick.
NICK
Patrick. Sorry.
MAN1
…by the way, this is my second conference call today. Earlier today it was really difficult to get a line, so we were <garbled> …for five or ten minutes.
PATRICK
Yes. Hello, it’s Patrick again. Apparently, my line has been cut off.
SEBASTIAN
Hello, it’s Sebastian online.
GROUP
Hellos
MAN1
Do we start or do we wait for somebody or…
…yeah I think we can start…yeah, I mean, I don’t know about anyone else who wrote that he would be joining.
MAN1
Is it Nick that is steering the debate or who takes the lead?
NICK
Well…anybody can but its probably better if…if one of you does…since you are actually the community and I’m supposed to be the staff.
MAN2
Well…if you like, I guess that we just want to have… <garbled>…the situation with nominations of candidates. You were posting an agenda but I am now unsure about if that agenda is acceptable to everyone.
MAN1
My understanding is that we have to…you know…the telephone conference is just…it’s not for decision making so we should have decisions then…by asking everybody which is involved because a lot of people are unable to join the telephone conference. But what we should send from the telephone conference to the list is three recommendations, that is my understanding, one is that we …and this is more or less the agenda...one is that we, you know, have to, agree on the number of members in the board because, this will prepare us for the election. The second thing is that, if we cannot find a consensus on the two groups of candidates that we then, you know, agree on the date for the election.
DESSI
May I suggest, please, something?
GROUP
Yes
DESSI
Could we use this conference as something like a draft decision? Because my experience in the list is that if we don’t get an agreement on something we are postponing it silently, I mean something like silent rejection of the decision and then we are doing everything at the last minute. So we could use this conference as a draft decision, and then if someone on the list objects then he or she could object but to reach some decisions here, do you agree with that approach?
WOLFGANG
Yeah…but this is a draft recommendation. It is not a final decision because we have not the...a quorum…I think that we can make a decision, so there are I don’t know how many people are now online but a…to…in so far, you know, I would start with the easiest thing and say okay how many members do we want to have on the board? We have the minimum of five and I would say, you know, that it should be a maximum of nine between five and nine so we will have three options: five, seven or nine. So, I think if we recommend a number to the list, I think this is great to know and I do not expect that somebody will then will oppose this.
DESSI
Yeah…yeah…yeah…that could be a good option to have: strong recommendations.

MAN2
I would like to second the proposal of Dessi. We have been postponing quite a lot and at the end there will be a lot of urge in taking a decision as on the mailing list we have seen that we don’t reach consensus.
DESSI
Yes. If someone has something to object then do it on the list but if the list is silent so this is the decision. This is my proposal.
WOLFGANG
Yeah. Then it means, the first thing is how many members do you want to have on the EURALO board? Five, Seven, Nine. I think that those are the three options. It should not be beyond…more than 10 makes no sense. So, that means that five is the minimum, we have five regions so is that the geographical diversity. For me, seven, nine is fine. So, I have no, no, no special preferences. I could live with nine. I can live with seven.
VITTORIO
I think that I would prefer seven. Because, uh…as someone pointed out the other regions basically have seven <garbled> because I have asked them to sit. It is already a big steering group who has seven people and if there are more of them and that, by the way, I would prefer to have a few people but as long as we can meet rather than to have a big group, and then if the group is bigger some people might not feel so responsible for pushing things forward and so on, so seven could be a reasonable number.
MAN1
Any objections against seven?
DESSI
Ah, no, no, no…I would prefer five because it’s easier to join them and to get them to work together. But I won’t object seven but everything more than seven is senseless for me.
MAN1
Ok. Should we recommend to the list that we propose to have seven candidates for the EURALO Board?
DESSI
Yeah, I agree.
WOLFGANG
Any objections?
PATRICK
Ah, no, no Patrick agrees to seven.
SEBASTIAN
This is Sebastian, I would like just to add that we discussed also the fact that the ALAC Members of the Europe who could be invited and tell them it is a must because then it’s nine people, in fact, who could be joining a board meeting then seven say its ok.
MAN2
SO you find seven also ok? As we will probably find we will have in most of the cases five people joining each other in meetings.
GROUP
Yes
WOLFGANG
This is the recommendation from the telephone conference: seven. So, it’s good.
NICK
May I suggest, if there is an objection then it becomes a subject of voting and we simply have a vote, one of the options from the vote is for people to pick their favorite of the three numbers.
GROUP
Ok
NICK
…and then if there are eight candidates or whatever number there are, or 10 candidates, however many, if more votes go for seven people than any other option the top seven vote getters are elected.
GROUP
Yes
NICK
Or if it’s five then the five top vote getters are elected.
GROUP
Yes, okay.
WOLFGANG
Good. With regard to the candidates, you know, from the debate of the list, we have no consensus. We have different approaches; different opinions, and all the arguments are on the table and we see there is no consensus. And so far the only way out is here to have elections. Anybody object to this?
MAN2
I tend to agree with you, I say…I wanted to say that the only thing that really concerns me is that we now clearly have sort of two groups within the organization, and for it to function, we will have to find a way to build some <garbled> and a desire to work together so, it would be a possibility for all of us. And so, I…it’s sad that we cannot have consensus, but I agree with you that I’ve seen a lot of polarization on the list, and so I guess that’s the only thing that we can do is actually to vote.
SEBASTIAN
But first, it’s a vote for what? It seems that there are some rules who are acceptable who signed by the MOU and so on, and some want to follow them and some want not to follow them. Then it’s to vote on what?
MAN2
Yeah, ok. You are right. That’s the occasion which, well… it’s not clear where the nomination of Veronica is actually valid or not, and I guess there are different opinions on that. So, of course, I guess that’s what you mean that if her nomination is invalid then of course there will be just two candidates and no need to vote. If not maybe…
SEBASTIAN
…it’s been two years…accept that she’s a candidate, it could be agreed, then we will do it. But the question as to what, it was the number two topic, discussion and agreed the list of candidates. What is the list of candidates for the board? And what is the list of candidates for the elections? Then we will see after, if we need to vote, how we vote and for what we will vote.
WOLFGANG
With regard to the legality of whether Veronica’s nomination is legal or, you know, breaks the rules. My recommendation is because, you know, there are, my understanding is now that <garbled> in Berlin has Veronica as a member, so this creates some concerns by some people. In so far, my recommendation would be to clarify this by the legal advisor of ICANN. So, I take the argument from <garbled> that we cannot breach the rules. This means that we have to follow the rules. I was not aware when I proposed Veronica that this will create some problems because I’m always in favor of sticking to the rules. So, but here, probably this is a case for interpretation and in so far my proposal is to ask the legal advisor that we have here a case so we present the case and the legal advisor of ICANN should send us, you know, an opinion whether the candidature of Veronica is according to ICANN procedures and policies, is legal, or cannot be accepted. For then we have the clear independent…independent… third opinion and we should then follow this opinion.

MAN2
May I just interfere here? I thought that the last message coming from Veronica was that she agreed on the fact that she would not be a candidate for this period. That was the last sentence in the message I read from her a few hours ago.
WOLFGANG
This is an interpretation, and, to be frank, this was my impression. But, you know, when she had followed the debate, what would you do on behalf of her saying look at this discussion then…I’m polite enough to…one proposal would be to send directly a mail to Veronica and to ask whether she still wants to be a candidate. If she says yes then we gave to the legal advisor, and if the legal advisor says no this does not fit into the documents we have then we have only two candidates, if the legal advisor says this is okay with us then we have three candidates and then we have to have elections for two or three.
MAN2
Wolfgang, if we follow what you are proposing, does that mean that we do not hold elections or selection until we have the opinion of the ICANN legal advisor?
WOLFGANG
This takes at most two or three days because the case is simple.
MAN2
I think that I can follow up personally with <garbled> and say that this is very urgent and put some pressure
MAN1
Yeah. I think we have Roberto and Vittorio on the board will help us, and to clear this within, let’s say, 48 hours.
SEBASTIAN
What is the question we want to ask the legal advisor?
WOLFGANG
Whether the candidature of Veronica when she is a candidate representing the recognized At-Large <garbled> whether this can be accepted or not accepted, according to the legal rules. I think this is the point. Some people say, okay this cannot be accepted and others say why not? We do not…we are free to have members, and if Veronica joins <garbled> and she is represented by <garbled> then it is fine. I would not have a problem with that, she is in the <garbled> committee of the <garbled> and my unit organizes the ICANN <garbled>, she is more or less part of the network, you know, I’m doing it that’s why I proposed her so that if this is…if she creates legal problems, as was pointed out by Roberto then we have to be on the sure side and on the safe side and we have to ask the legal advisor.
SEBASTIAN
Ok. But, may I just….just to understand very well. When you proposed her she was not member of any other ALSs?
MAN2
Well, at least that’s what you wrote, Wolfgang; that you were not aware that she had to be, and a few days later, Annette sent an email to say now she is. But to me, it seems that it is coming too late because she should have been by 20th April.
MAN1
Yeah. This is exactly the question of interpretation <garbled> and because we cannot agree we have to have a neutral third opinion….we have to have a neutral third opinion.
SEBASTIAN
One of the questions is that one. I have another question. That means today, she is a member of one of the German ALSs. You want us to have the choice between one people from France ALS, from Luxembourg ALS and from German ALS. And we have already somebody from Germany elected by the noncom to the ALAC.
WOLFGANG
But you know she has not a German citizenship, you know. You create problems and problems and problems.
SEBASTIAN
No we do not. The MOU is clear that the people should be a member of two different ALS and I think that there is somewhere mentioned that these people should be from different countries.
NICK
Different nationalities.
SEBASTIAN
The citizenship of the country where the ALS is.
WOLFGANG
I think, you know…can we agree that we disagree? We disagree on this.

SEBASTIAN
What I would like to do is not to be <garbled>…it’s a life. But what I would like is to be sure that we ask the right questions to the legal advisors. Because, they work like that; if you give them two large questions they will say yes, no or whatever. But you will say what are the questions and we have already two or three questions to ask him, and that’s great. I am not trying to say that we must agree now. Let’s follow this way but I want just to point out the question we have to…
DESSI
We should ask Veronica first, and then we should proceed with ICANN’s opinion but we should ask them to be quick. I mean…not to postpone the thing.
NICK
I can do that…the person, I know that the person who has been handling out the large legal questions is based in Australia through <garbled>. So I can send the question by copy to everybody and we should have an answer in a day or two.
I want to make sure that I understand, clearly, the question. First question is: given the MOU that you have signed, and the bylaws, since the nominations closed on the 20th of April and the nominee was not a member of an ALS at the time the nominations closed but did become a member of an ALS shortly afterward, is there any legal impediment to their candidature due to the time at which they joined?
GROUP
Yes
NICK
The second question would be that…and I’m just restating this to make sure that I understand it…the second question would be: is it relevant that the ALS that the candidate joined was a German ALS understanding that the noncom had appointed a German national who is already seated and the intent of your organizing instrument is that the ALAC representatives are nationals of different countries. But does it matter whether they are members of an ALS in the same country?
GROUP
Yes
SEBASTIAN
I agree. I think that I am quite sure about the second that you wrote about the nationalities.
NICK
Just so you know, and it might be worth a brief discussion I think I know what they will say about the first question which is that your instruments are silent on the question of when a person must be a member of an ALS, and that if you are happy for her to have joined one after the nomination period then it is okay. And equally, if you are not happy with that, that would also be okay. I could be wrong but I think that’s what they will say.
WOLFGANG
Okay, hopefully we get the answer within 48 hours, or let’s say until Monday, Tuesday.
MAN2
The problem, I think we should…I don’t want to open another can of worms… but we might want to discuss what happens if we actually get that required opinion because it will be up to us to decide whether it is valid or not. And, I don’t know, I must confess that in general, at whatever point in the process, I had never liked the idea of disqualifying any proposal or candidate or whatever there are some procedural questions because it tends to be seen…if there is disagreement on these…the other side will feel that they have been cheated but, of course, if you don’t do it, one side will feel like they’ve been cheated as well, and so it’s a bit complex. In the end, I must confess that I…as I was saying before…that there are sort of two groups into this group, and I would expect that if we elect two people, one would come from one group and one would come from the other group. That of course doesn’t mean…we have to follow our processes, and if people…if there are legal reasons not to go that way, I think that we …<garbled>
WOLFGANG
So then the final point is when with regard to the EURALO board… and we have more candidates…and there’s the question of whether late comers are still accepted as candidates or not, and they want a debate on the deadline, when would really be the agreed deadline? I think there was never a final decision regarding the deadline.
MAN2
I agree. That’s another reason why I would send a note to exclude anyone on the basis that the nominations came earlier…later. I think that, actually, the last two nominations, I think Annette made, those were Collin Banks, and I can’t remember….Wolf Ludwig. I think that even if they are two very careful people, their nomination will foster any kind of letter we ever discussed, even if we had discussed three or four of them, it was passed all four of them. But in the end, again, I think that this is our first election, we are in the middle of creating this organization, there is nothing really firm, and I can stand to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
MAN1
I thought that the decision regarding the final date was, in fact, somewhere in a message, if I’m not wrong, from Victoria proposing that we all agreed on the middle date and that there was no objection…

MAN2
A permanent objection, there was a permanent objection
MAN2
There was no objection on the last call Victoria has sent to the mailing list proposing that we should use the middle date of the three which were in question.
WOLFGANG
The objection came from Annette, and also others in favor of May 1. We had ay 15, and so there was April 24. So, if I go through the whole list there was a permanent debate. I personally was confused because I had to leave then and there and, okay, someone will make the final decision. But the case was never closed. The case was never closed.
MAN2
…and it will never be closed…
MAN2
Can we just agree that nominations are closed now, so that in any case, we agree that there will be no more nominations after today?
SEBASTIAN
I just want to say that fortunately, we signed the MOU. Because on the same meeting we decided on those dates. As soon as the meeting was finished it was a discussion. I think we have a decision on that and then we open…and reopen…the problem is for the election we have much more two candidates. How will we handle that? It’s not just elections, what we want. We want a good balance. In the Asia-Pacific region they were much more intelligent that we are. They discussed. They found a way to agree. And they have not a lot of candidate like that. We have one candidate per ALS and even more. What do we want to do with that? We want to have people who are disappointed? How do we want to select? Elections are not always the best process to make a choice…<garbled>
WOLFGANG
Okay. I see the point but life is life. I would have preferred to have consensus, so I was happy when we had seven candidates…but now we have more, and we have to live with this. And, so far, my proposal is probably every side learns something from this debate, let’s get rid of this procedural issue, let’s move forward, it’s only for one year, next year we have a similar front and can change people, and can have those things. We blockade ourselves if we don’t move forward. So far, if there is no consensus, we have agreed to disagree, there is no consensus then you have to go for elections. I think that this is the only democratic way we have. And I would push now to have the elections as soon as possible

MAN2
Yes, I agree with Wolfgang. Talking over and over will not bring any solutions. So, we get to have elections right now. I don’t know Nick, if it is possible to start the elections during this weekend but I think that the more time we leave for objections on the mailing list, we will once again lose time.
DESSI
We could leave three days, four days for objections, and that’s all. Deadline is closed, and something like this.
NICK
Two administrative points: one related to the election, one related to this call. If we could have everybody say their name because Susie is not sure that she has a complete record of who is attending the call.
Dessi<garbled>, Sebastian<garbled>, <garbled>, Wolfgang <garbled>, Vittorio <garbled>, Rudy <garbled>,
MAN1
So, if I summarize, you know what we have, more or less, you know what is the recommendation of the decision. The recommendation is first to have a board with seven. The EURALO board. Number two is: to start elections for the EURALO board as soon as possible, and we accept the list as it is now, and have closed: and no further nominations are accepted. And with regard to the elections for the advanced advisory committee, we ask the two questions Nick has formulated to the legal advisor of ICANN and to <garbled>. First we ask Veronica if she is still ready to be a candidate, if not, things are settled. If she continues to be a candidate, then we ask the two questions Nick has formulated to the legal advisor and we will follow the advice from whoever will give us the answer.
MAN2
By the way, Wolfgang, would you by chance have a phone number where we can reach Veronica and ask her.
WOLFGANG
I do not have her phone number. It is in her last mail.
NICK
Who we have is: Vittorio, Rudy, Dessi, Wolfgang, Patrick, Sebastian.
Is that everyone?
GROUP
Yes.
NICK
The second question is on the procedure of the elections in order to have it; we would need to know who the authorized voters are. I think I know who those people are but I would just need to publish a list and ask people to make any corrections, and give them a few days to do that.
SEBASTIAN
I wanted to ask one question. Who are…not the people who vote…but who has the ALSs who vote? The one who signs the MOU or the one who is accredited?
WOLFGANG
I think that it is up to the at-large-structure whether they give the voting to a person or…one at-large-structure has one vote.
MAN2
I think the question was different. What he’s saying is: does an at-large structure who hasn’t signed the MOU have the right to vote or is it only the ALS that have signed the <garbled>
NICK
That would be up to the signing ALSs to decide.
WOLFGANG
I am confused.
MAN2
So, it’s something we have to decide now, in fact. Then it’s a question that we have to vote or decide or whatever before the elections.
VITTORIO
From the legal standpoint, the organizations that have the right to send representatives to ICANN are only those who have signed the <garbled>. I think it’s 10 or something like that have signed either in Lisbon or later by sending a little signature, I’m not sure about the rest. In theory it is up to those who have signed to accept all the others. …I would accept all the others but I would ask them to sign the MOU before the elections. Because it is not particularly fair that some have accepted to be bound by requirements and commitments and the others have not. It just takes you an email sent to the list saying that the organization requests you sign. So, I think it’s not a big requirement.

WOLFGANG
I think that Vittorio is right that we should ask the At-Large Structures who have not yet signed the MOU that they get the right to vote only when they sign the MOU. I think this is fair.
NICK
Is there any objection to that?
WOLFGANG
I think you should give them some time to do that. We should not say, only the signing structures which have signed up to, let’s say May 1st have the right to vote. All recognized structures should have, at least, one or two days to send the signature to ICANN and to qualify for the elections…for the vote. Is this ok?
GROUP
Yes
NICK
In the meantime, what I can do is send out a note saying here are a list of signing ALSs and who I believe are the individual voters for those ALSs. And any corrections can then be made.
MAN2
I would suggest you to do also the other, I mean a second separate list with the other ALSs, and ask them to sign.
NICK
Yes, yes…and then a second list with those who have not yet signed.
MAN2
I think that the next thing we have to decide is when do we want to start voting. And that I guess will be the deadline for signing <garbled>
NICK
I would say that we should give people…there are a number of administrative tasks here for some people. So, perhaps we should give them next week and, you know, have the vote run for a week starting next weekend.
If you all think that’s reasonable.

SEBASTIAN
Can we set up the list for the candidates for the board, and ask them to confirm that they are candidates in regard to the number of candidates….maybe they will say that there are enough people to run, and I don’t need to be here.
MAN2
…and, by the way, I would ask the two of you who are candidates for ILAC and also Veronica, if we decide that she can be a candidate, if you want to stand for the board as well, so, of course, if you are elected you would not be on the board, but I would not like to lose a candidate if they wanted to be on the board, in case they are not picked for the other.
WOLFGANG
….in two stages, at-large-advisory committee members, and in the light of the decisions then one of the three would go to the pool of candidates for the EURALO board.
MAN2
I don’t think we have time for that. I think we can just… I mean, the most effective way would be to just have the people as put the list of the candidates for the board. Then, of course, if they are in their group of elected people but they like to go to the <garbled>. They lead them and they are following what?
NICK
Okay
SEBASTIAN
But just imagine if one is elected at the ALAC and no vote for the board then maybe something will be wrong. Then it’s a tricky thing to do that like that.
MAN1
…Well, I don’t know if you want to stand for the board or not? I’m open to…I don’t want to cause anyone…I’m just saying to think this over…
SEBASTIAN
No…but I think that it’s a good idea…your idea…I was thinking that we could handle further elections because maybe it will not take time to have the answer and then…we need to have…we can start for today for elections and then for the board, I guess.
DESSI
Something like this…

NICK
I’m not sure where that leaves us exactly.
Susie and I ware looking at each other, and…kind of confused…Is the idea that the candidate for the ALAC seat which is not elected is automatically a board member?
GROUP
No
NICK
…but may be a board member, if they choose.
MAN1
My idea was just to suggest that these people could also be candidates for the board if they wanted so that if they are not picked for the ALAC they have a chance of being picked for the board. On the other hand, they might not want to do that…ok, there’s other ideas.
I wouldn’t like the election in two phases only because it becomes more and more complex…force this to closure and I…it’s really painful to try to lead it to success. So, the shorter this is, the happier I am, I think.
NICK
So, your proposal is that the three candidates for ALAC would be voted on and that those three candidates would be added to the pool of board candidates. And, if you were elected to the ALAC seat, you would not be elected to the board seat if you were amongst the first X number of people, X being the number of board seats that were chosen.
SEBASTIAN
As you will ask to all those possible candidates, to confirm to be candidates, the three ALAC candidates will answer in the same way than the others.
NICK
Right. Have you got that, Susie? Ok.
And, the list of candidates is closed, is that the decision from earlier? The list is what the list is now which I’m trying to look up, actually.
MAN1
Yeah, I think that when Annette sent the last nominations list, she had an updated list, and if you got my last update, the only changes to that is that the nominee from my dock, Catalonia, has changed, and that Annette has added some more nominations which are both Ludwig and Colin Banks.
NICK
I’m just looking now.
WOLFGANG
This is now the end or…?
NICK
I’m just checking to make sure that I have…
There is a lot of tension. I see that in her pitch…
So, the list would be Rudy, Vittorio, Betsy, Christophe, Desiree, Bill Drake, Jeanette Hoffman, and it’s Paco instead of Andreas, Karin and Wolf.
DESSI
May I have the word for a while?
NICK
May you have what?
DESSI
I want to say something. I’d like to thank Vittorio for nominating me but I’d like to reject this because I really need much more experience in this in order to be, you know…
VITTORIO
Well, I must say, actually, that you have much more experience than many of the nominees that are <garbled>…but…as you like…I think…I thought it was useful to have someone from Bulgaria, from that part of Europe as well.
MAN1
We need you, you know…
VITTORIO
So that was why I was trying to push you to be a…
WOLFGANG
…and that’s a learning experience, you know. The best way to become qualified is to remain in the pool.

SEBASTIAN
And you should not be afraid. You are not any more candidate, you are already elected.
GROUP
laughter
NICK
Ok. So, it looks like, if we were to include the three ALAC nominees are also on the board list. We would have one…two…three…four...five….eleven for the board and three for ALAC, if we excluded Dessi.
SEBASTIAN
Then, eleven if we included the three ALAC or without? It should be more. I guess it should be…15, 12…I mean wasn’t it eleven before?
NICK
Ok, without the three of them we have Paco, Wolf, Karin, Jeanette, Bill, Desiree and Christophe, as well as you Vittorio. Plus the other three.
VITTORIO
So, it’s 12. Do you have all this…I think you missed Rudy.
NICK
Oh, yes…Rudy…yeah, yeah, yeah…sorry.
Ok. Well then, we will put this down on the minutes that will be published here in a few minutes. Pardon the pun. And then send the page out to everybody as well as all these other emails.
WOLFGANG
Ok. Can we agree on the dates of the vote?
NICK
So, is it ok to start the vote next Friday?
GROUP
Yes, please
MAN1
I think five days is reasonable.

NICK
And then run it for the following five days…So, start noon Friday then run it until noon whatever…Wednesday…
MAN2
I have another observation on the voting system. Are you aware of the weird voting system adopted in Lisbon? So is the online interface prepared for that? Can it support it?
NICK
I only got part of what you said.
MAN2
I said, I mean…If you remember in Lisbon we agreed on a sort of weird voting system in which you would have to rank all the candidates from the first to the last and then you would sum up the rankings and the candidates with less points would be elected. So is that something that the online voting system can support or do we need to do it by hand?
NICK
Yes. Each voter can be allowed a certain number of votes from amongst a pool. Like people can have two votes in the ALAC pool and we would just let them have 12 votes…because we were asking them how many seats there would be, how would we do that, Susie?
I’m kind of looking at Susie while I’m talking out loud here.
WOLFGANG
I think that if we have seven board members and seven seats then each ALS has seven votes.
VITTORIO
Yeah…that would be the simple thing. But, if you remember, in Lisbon, we agreed on something different.
NICK
We will ask our supplier what’s the easiest way to do that.
VITTORIO
I don’t like, actually, I don’t like at all what we agreed to in Lisbon but I don’t want to open more procedural discussions by changing the voting system at the last minute.
NICK
We will all ask the best way solve, you know, to have a ranked vote.
VITTORIO
And of course, I think you can make votes because you don’t see what side we are voting for.
NICK
Yeah…the default is a secret ballot, and you can only vote once, and everybody gets their own code…You’ll be familiar with this, Vittorio ‘cause you’ve used it before.
VITTORIO
Yeah…because we always have public votes, I was wondering what…
NICK
Yeah, yeah…the ALAC votes are public but that’s actually non-standard. The standard is to have a secret ballot.
SEBASTIAN
And about the board members, we don’t want even to try to have a consensus of the final list of the seven we would like to have? Because, I am pretty sure that it would be easier than the two seats for ALAC or the question of this candidate but for the board we maybe have to try, you know?
VITTORIO
Well, yeah…I think if that if we want to try, I think we can have a discussion here but it’s more for the candidates than for the people making the nomination who are not here. I mean, I agree with you it would be good to try, it was my intention in the beginning. Maybe we could say that we could try in the next day from the mailing list of this Friday and then by Friday we know for the…
SEBASTIAN
Vittorio, I would like…if we don’t do that now, I can understand, maybe we can ask three of us…of you…to discuss that and to come to the list with a proposal if you are able. If you are not able <garbled> on the list, we will not sign a conference advisor. And I would like to suggest that if Buglan is back to Europe and Patrick, and you, Vittorio, you try to discuss together before to go to list. If you find an agreement that means it will be easier to have an agreement of the list. If you don’t find any agreement, that’s it — we don’t need to try to have an agreement on the list; we vote.
VITTORIO
If you like…if people want to do it…I cannot be in the group because I am a candidate. So, it’s not possible to <garbled>… If we want to find three people who are not candidates and we think are trusted enough and can come up with suggestions. But I’m imaginating that…I mean...I don’t know how much the other people are upset with their nominations. But, if I were Bill Drake or Colin Banks, and one day before the elections someone came up to me and said, “ oh, we decided that we don’t need you any more and we’re not even going to vote”, I think I would be a little puzzled. If some people want to try, that was my intention.
SEBASTIAN
That means everybody is almost a candidate or…
VITTORIO
Yes.
SEBASTIAN
OK, I withdraw my proposal.
VITTORIO
No, it was a good proposal but it’s a…how would we do it in practice?
NICK
Ok. That’s the full agenda, but Susie’s about to ask me something though….ahhh…yeah, yeah…don’t worry Susie, I know what that is. Ok. Never mind.
VITTORIO
Well…maybe off the record…I would like to ask now <garbled>. Do you have any idea of what we’ve decided is actually acceptable to a method or Internet, I mean to the other people participating. So, I would hope that we can get consensus. I think that had very reasonable decisions on each point. I would hate it if we now got another email.
WOLFGANG
Vittorio, I have no idea. I cannot speak on behalf of Annette so that means in some areas we agree and some others we disagree. We had disagreements. We had agreements. So, that’s life. We are…you know, sometimes the Germans are labeled like a block, you know they say there is no Eastern or Western block anymore, but we are diversified certainly, you know, in so far, you know…I certainly, you know, will support this…what we have agreed here in this telephone conference with my German colleagues but they speak for themselves.
VITTORIO
That’s enough for them so I would like to do the same with other people who were not here.
WOLFGANG
Another question, off the record: does someone know when…where the fall meeting of ICANN takes place now, definitely?
NICK
No, not yet.
VITTORIO
I can tell you that at this point it is very likely that it will be in (redacted), but it is not official and no news is coming which is not good news so…
WOLFGANG
Susan Crawford told me this, it will be announced on Monday but it was not announced now we’re Friday again.
VITTORIO
On the board it was told that it was going to be announced…
NICK
Unless you know something different, my understanding is that the only thing that is standing in the way of the announcement is the final confirmation of the location having enough space for enough days…. Apparently, now that ICANN meetings have gotten big enough that there are very few hotels which have enough room…and so it’s…the desire, is to have it in (redacted)…
WOLFGANG
(redacted one sentence to preserve the off-the-record nature of the candidate cities and their status)
NICK
(redacted one sentence to preserve the off-the-record nature of the candidate cities and their status)
WOLFGANG
(redacted one sentence to preserve the off-the-record nature of the candidate cities and their status)
NICK
Some access problems. Also, Internet access…(one sentence redacted to preserve confidentiality) So, that’s all off the record, that’s my understanding. The good news for our constituency about (redacted) though is that every three years (five words redacted to preserve anonymity of a candidate city) get together in one place and have a congress. And this year is one of those meetings and it is in (redacted) the same week.
WOLFGANG
Oh! That’s unbelievable. Then we could plan a joint workshop or something like that.
WOLFGANG
If this is the case, because, you know, our…if we are getting rid from these political issues, we have to discuss more clearly, you know, what the substance of our work is, and in particular, consumer protection, becomes more and more important and could become the focus of our work in the at-large community. So this would be a great opportunity to do something together, and to get them more involved in our work.
NICK
That was exactly my thinking, when I started asking those organizations in the consumer world that I know to consider involvement. (redacted one sentence to preserve the off-the-record nature of the candidate cities and their status)
WOLFGANG
Let’s discuss a very, very good proposal so that it is attractive enough that some people from this group come to us. Ok, thank you very much and I wish you a nice weekend.
NICK
Have a good weekend everyone.
GROUP
Good byes