Democracy and InterNIC/APNIC/RIPE-NCC

[Gordon Cook]

A calm, cool dispassionate voice of reason!  Wonderful post John.
Absolutely refreshing!!  

		*****THANK YOU******

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On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, John LeRoy Crain wrote:

> 
>  Larry Vaden <vaden at texoma.net> writes:
>  * At 12:51 PM 7/18/97 +0200, John LeRoy Crain wrote:
>  * <snip>...</snip>
>  * >I agree that US citizens know what their version of democracy is.
>  * >However electing someone to represent the citizens only works when you
>  * >have citizens. ARIN does not yet have members, so who gets to vote.
>  * >
>  * >Who is going to decide this? Who is going to contact all the people
>  * >with an interest in the Inet, As you don't have members yet, not only
>  * >in the US, ARIN is not a registry for the USA only, but in south
>  * >American countries other ARIN regions?
>  * >
>  * >To take a vote you first need to define who the voters are. I would
>  * >suggest that the ARIN proposal clearly points to the fact that the
>  * >"members" will get a say in what happens. 
>  * >
>  * >First you need the members and to get them ARIN needs to exist before
>  * >hand. 
>  * 
>  * Hi, John.  It is good to hear from you again.  I hope you will agree to
>  * continue helping with the discussion.
>  * 
>  * As you read the ARIN proposal, how soon after formation of ARIN will an
>  * Advisory Council be 100% elected by the members rather than by the BofT?
>  
> 
> As I understand it:
> 
> 100% takes a while yes. 
> 
> 33.33% in year one.
> 66.66% in year two.
> 
> 
> This assumes that the staggered system in the proposal is followed and
> nobody leaves the council, for whatever reason.
> 
> This means that within two years a majority of the Advisory council
> would be directly member elected.
> 
> Once ARIN is running there will be yearly, I assume this is a minimum,
> member meetings. If the membership clearly stated a wish for the
> process to be hastened I do not see how the Advisory Council could
> ignore this. 
> 
> I suspect that the people originally chosen to sit on the
> council will also be representative. They will all be members.
> 
> I also suspect that the quality of that council will be high and
> therefore that the majority of the members will not wish the
> speed of change increased.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  * As you read the ARIN proposal, how soon after formation of ARIN will the
>  * BofT be 100% elected by the members rather than by the organizers of ARIN?
> 
> Once again yes this takes time. It is staggered for stability.
> 
> A very important paragraph in the proposal is:
> 
> "This selection process is subject to revision based on community
> input."
> 
> I interpret this as saying 
> 
> "If the members, once there are members, disagree with he process they
> can get it changed"
> 
> 
> This is my interpretation. I'm assuming good intent from the original
> BofT and AC. 
> 
> In who's interest is it to ignore the members? 
> 
> The people who want to get ARIN going want it to work. It can only
> work if the members agree to how it works and who is running it.
> 
> My advice, which probably isn't worth much:-), is to work with those
> who want an ARIN. Then iron out the wrinkles as a member when it's
> running and doing what needs to be done.
> 
> There is no perfect system for IPv4 distribution. The one being
> suggested works for the RIPE community and the Asian Pacific region.
> There is no obvious reason why it won't work in the present InterNIC
> area of operation.
> 
> The system is dynamic because the members, who are those with the
> interest and the knowledge to make the Inet work, can get changes made
> when they are needed. 
> 
> Not everybody will agree with everything all of the time. Most people
> will agree with most things most of the time.  That is how democracy
> works.
> 
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> John Crain
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> These are my personal opinions, they do not necessarily reflect those
> of my employees and the organisation for which I work.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  * 
>  * I appreciate and value your input.
>  * 
>  * Best regards,
>  * 
>  * Larry
>  * 
>  * 
>