ICANN Director Sues ICANN for Access to Records

According to an EFF press release (press release mirror) today, Karl Auerbach (the North American elected representative to ICANN's board) filed suit (petition mirror) today against ICANN itself to obtain financial and other records that he has been seeking to obtain since December 2000. As a bit of background, according to general summaries that ICANN has released, it now spends about $6 million per year (for a job that used to be done by volunteers); roughly half of all the money it spends goes to the law firm of Jones Day.

Comments

ICANN is a waste of money

[lamj]

What positive things did ICANN did so far?

Let me mention the issue where NSI and some other players not release the expired domains back to the pool. What did ICANN do about it?

Check out these links

NSI abuse

Verisign's status

Core of Auerbach's petition

[Seth Finkelstein]

For better discussion, here's the heart of the matter, from within the petition

Auerbach contends, simply enough, that the code section means what it says: that as a Director of ICANN, he has the absolute right (at any reasonable time) to inspect, and to copy, any and all of ICANN's corporate records. Of course, Auerbach has not asked to see them all, only a small amount, but both by its actions and in its words, ICANN, primarily through Lynn, contends that it can impose not only "reasonable time" restraints on Auerbach's rights, but also substantive restrictions on his right. In acting on its contentions, ICANN has denied Auerbach his legal right to inspect and copy ICANN records. Indeed, in denying Auerbach the right to inspect and copy records as he sees fit, ICANN has acted contrary to its own Bylaws, as well as S 6334. As quoted in paragraph 5 above, Article V, Section 21 of the ICANN Bylaws provides that "[e]very Director shall have the right at any reasonable time to inspect and copy all books, records and documents of every kind ...." California Corporations Code 5231(a), which also governs the conduct of California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporations such as ICANN, provides: A director shall perform the duties of a director, including duties as a member of any committee of the board upon which the director may serve, in good faith, in a manner such director believes to be in the best interests of the corporation and with such care, including reasonable inquiry, as an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

Re:I've said this before

[doconnor]

The reason the ICANN hasn't been routed around yet is that it has not yet been enough of a problem in the day-to-day operation and usage of the Internet. Domain name scarcity is minor problem, but won't stop someone from putting up a web site. The disbute resolution has been causing problems for parody sites, but that's a small part of the Internet.

Prehaps if these probably start getting worse, alternatives may form.

Re:I've said this before

[Brian Knotts]

There are already multiple "routes" around ICANN.

One of them is OpenNIC.

The challenge is just getting people to use the other routes. Most people don't think there's a problem. Mainly because they don't know what's going on with ICANN.

Re:My usual question...

[Seth Finkelstein]

Very roughly: ICANN says "If we think disclosing this could be embarrassing to us, you have to sign a legal agreement not to disclose it before we'll let you see it"

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

ICANNWATCH.org - dedicated ICANN-watching site

[Seth Finkelstein]

For those interested in more ICANN-watching, there's the dedicated site

ICANNWatch

(which is also covering this story)

Note the michael posting articles on that site is A. Michael Froomkin, not Slashdot's Michael Sims

Re:JP

[john_heidemann]

Yes, but when there was an order-of-magnitude less politics involved. (Hint: there's a reason they're paying lawyers, and it's not a technical one.)

Also, to clarify:

...(for a job that used to be done by volunteers)...

ICANN/IANA's work has not been volunteer for many, many years. It used to be paid for by different funding agencies (like DARPA, NSF, or ISOC), but it was never free.

Re:Calling All Lawyers...

[Jim Tyre]

A director may rely on that which management may choose to spoon feed him, a director is not required to look at everything himself. But if a director wants to look at more than what management chooses to show him, a director has the right to see and copy all corporate records and documents.

-J, not all lawyers, but Karl's lawyer

Devil's Advocate

[yuri]

I don't like the way it sounds but reading the press release, maybe they can make him sign an NDA.

From bylaws (in press release):

"The Corporation shall establish reasonable procedures to protect against the inappropriate disclosure of confidential information."

Surely an NDA would fall into this category, given they believe he is someone that is likely to publicly raise issues.

That said, the state law "absolute right" would seem to contradict that.

Help them out... support the EFF!

[GuNgA-DiN]

If you haven't already joined I suggest that you become an EFF member today! If you are a member I suggest you give them a donation:

http://www.eff.org/perl/join

Everyone likes to talk about fighting for causes like freedom of speech, privacy, and individual's rights. But, the EFF takes on cases that fight for these things all the time! If you support Karl's fight against ICANN head on over and donated $10 or $20 now!

Put your money where your mouth is!

Re:Half of ICANN's 6 Million dollar budget

[Anonymous Coward]

You might have a look at where they will hold their litigation meeting with JonesDay this spring. No, not at someone's office.
Google "Banff Springs Fairmont" if you want a hint.
Now, why would I post this as an anonymous coward?