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ICANN At-Large Results

troyboy writes: "The ICANN election results are up. Go here for the complete results. The North American election went down to two candidates before there was a majority winner: Karl Auerbach." Only for the North American election was the instant run-off system needed; for all other regions there was an immediate majority. Viewing the election results in practice is fascinating and I can't help but wonder how much the U.S. elections would improve if we used a similar system.

A quote from Auerbach's candidate webpage:

"My candidacy is one that is founded on the belief that the Internet should not be controlled and dominated by those who aspire to nothing higher than mass marketing. It is my position that individual people ought to have a major voice in the governance of this revolution we call the Internet."

See also Auerbach's platform.

4 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Even more importantly: The European Winner by at-b · · Score: 5

    Well now.

    The US has a reasonably well-deregulated telecommunications and internet business. However, the second-biggest Internet market, in Europe, is still dominated by former state monopolies, lack of local flat rate phone fees, badly-developed net infrastructures, and general exploitation of customers.

    And into this environment, Andy Mueller-Maguhn was elected 'Region 2 Director for Europe'. Yes, Andy Mueller-Maguhn. The former head of the German Chaos Computer Club, a team regularly posting information about cracking phone cards, cable TV decoders, and computer security information. They're the German '2600' equivalent, reviled and detested by state institutions, telecomms companies, etc. They're the rebels of the underground.

    And now their former head is the Director of the European division of ICANN. Imagine Eric Corley (Emmanuel Goldstein) being the head of the US ICANN. Now imagine what important aspect this brings to ICANN in Europe.

    Or, to quote Homer Simpson: Woohooo!

    Alex T-B
    St Andrews

  2. Of course, only the N. American result matters.... by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 5

    But for the rest of us, here's the other winners and their profile pages:
    Masanobu Katoh - Asia/Australia/Pacific
    Nii Quaynor - Africa
    Andy Mueller-Maguhn - Europe
    Ivan Moura Campos - Latin America and Caribbean

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  3. Woo, hoo! Karl won! by Apotsy · · Score: 5
    Yes! The man I rated number 1 is the winner. Karl was the only candidate who seemed to actually understand how DNS works. At one point he actually said, "there's no technical reason why we couldn't have millions of TLDs". Note that he didn't say we should have millions of TLDs, he was just pointing out that it was possible. No other candidate seemed to understand that.

    I think this ought to be interesting. Auerbach has been very critical of the ICANN since it's inception. He has some good ideas about how to make the domain system more democratic (like having one or more TLD where trademark holders do not get first pick). It will be good to have someone on the board who represents something besides the corporate interest.

    Not only that, but Karl was one of only three member-nominated candidates on the North American ballot. The other four candidates were nominated by the existing memebers of the ICANN board. I'm glad that people decided to thumb their noses at the board's attempt to stack the election with people friendly to their agendas. It ought to send them at least a small message (not that they will care).

    Speaking of the U.S. elections (which the article mentioned, please don't mod me down for being off-topic), here is a recent article at policy.com that discusses getting rid of the Electoral College and replacing it with a direct popular vote. It discusses historical reasons for the creation of the current system, and provides some interesting links at the bottom.

  4. Re:Woo, hoo! Karl won! by Wellspring · · Score: 5
    I think this ought to be interesting. Auerbach has been very critical of the ICANN since it's inception. He has some good ideas about how to make the domain system more democratic (like having one or more TLD where trademark holders do not get first pick). It will be good to have someone on the board who represents something besides the corporate interest.

    I am very happy that Karl won. One thing we need to remember, though, is that he is only one voice in the board. We all need to be ready to help him if he is going to get stuff done on the board.

    Rob, Jeff: what are the odds of getting an interview with him? He was basically /.'s pick!