Re: [ga] Increased foreign attendance

["Prophet Partners Inc." <Domains@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Debbie,

First, welcome to the GA mailing list. As a newcomer, your interest and participation in this forum is encouraging. It is a positive sign that ICANN issues and the need for ICANN reform are reaching a broader audience. Collectively, with your support and that of other interested observers, we can make a difference.

There is no doubt that Ginger is an intelligent woman. However in our opinion, describing her an "ideal" candidate for the fellowship program is stretching the realm of reality. By her own admission, she does not have a strong technical background and focuses on social issues and human rights. While those are certainly important areas that need to be addressed in the modern global environment, you should realize that ICANN is not the United Nations. Diplomacy, social issues and human rights are outside the scope of ICANN's mission and authority of ensuring the stability of the DNS. http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#I With that being said, there are many people who are much more qualified and deserving than Ginger, who have been denied ICANN travel funding.

To be a leader, an individual must possess both knowledge and an ability to influence others. Given that Ginger is not well versed in technical issues, it is axiomatic that she can only assume a role as a follower and not a leader, as it applies to ICANN issues. One would also have to seriously question the technical qualifications of other individuals from developing countries.

By definition, developing countries are poor, having widespread poverty, sickness, illiteracy and non-industrialized resources. Most areas of developing countries lack modern basics, such as electricity and running water, things that most people in industrialized countries take for granted. These countries need to address the basics and become industrialized nations before they can truly enter the digital age. Not following that path would be analogous to teaching calculus to a 6-year old child who lacks even rudimentary knowledge of simple math. It is overly simplistic and idealistic to think that by introducing developing countries to the Internet, we can wave a magic wand and eradicate their problems. Our position remains that it is a waste of money and effort to prioritize funding of ICANN participants from developing nations over those from industrialized nations.

Sincerely,
Ted
Prophet Partners Inc.
http://www.ProphetPartners.com
http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Debbie Garside 
  To: Domains@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ; ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:25 AM
  Subject: RE: [ga] Increased foreign attendance


  Hi Ted

  I would say that Ginger would be an ideal candidate for funding as she is involved with disseminating information to less well off countries - a many for the price of one situation!  I'm sure she could also be quite good at volley ball but I looked fairly closely at the video and I don't see a ring through her nose with a rope attached which probably means she has a mind of her own.  

  If you were devising an inclusion process for ICANN how would you go about including developing nations?  Or perhaps you think there should not be an inclusion process for developing nations?

  best regards

  Debbie Garside





----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Prophet Partners Inc.
    Sent: 28 June 2007 12:47
    To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: Re: [ga] Increased foreign attendance


    Hi Eric,

      "ICANN's unique role is global in nature so it's important that we not only invite the world to participate in our organization - we also need to find ways to get involvement from developing nations and regions that might not otherwise be able to participate," said Theresa Swinehart, ICANN's Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships.

    This nonsense is a complete waste of registrants' money. To us, it is strictly a public relations stunt aimed at improving ICANN's image. We would not be the least bit surprised to find ICANN using this sham to support a ploy to become an international organization. Rather than getting people who have an active interest in ICANN to participate (i.e. the people on this mailing list), ICANN funds a bunch of stooges from developing countries that they can lead around by the nose.

    Although video and audio quality of the YouTube video is overall very poor, it is possible to make out what some people were saying. The woman named Ginger who started speaking at 02:21 says she is a tutor for the bilingual Spanish/English group at the DiploFoundation. From their About Us page http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig/About/default.asp , "DiploFoundation is a non-profit organisation which works to assist all countries, particularly those with limited human and financial resources, to participate meaningfully in international affairs, through education and training programs, research, and the development of information and communications technologies for diplomatic activities." Ginger said that she is hoping to fill in some holes in her technical issues as she tends more to the education of social issues and human rights. These are the type of people that ICANN selects for fellowship participants. Perhaps the real reason she was invited was to fill a hole in ICANN's volleyball tournament lineup.

    Sincerely,
    Ted
    Prophet Partners Inc.
    http://www.ProphetPartners.com
    http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com


      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Hugh Dierker 
      To: ga 
      Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 2:11 PM
      Subject: [ga] Increased foreign attendance


      This is a perfect example of how numbers get skewed. The amazing part is that they are blowing their trumpets over it,
      <http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-26jun07.htm>
      They pay these peoples to attend. To bad I no longer live in a distant exotic land.
      I cannot believe that they did not see this article as a bad idea.

      Eric