Re: PAB Re: Fwd: AIM / DMA Press Release

["Kevin J. Connolly" <pab@cybersharque.com>]

Dear Readers:

Werner Staub wrote:

> All,
>
> > >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 12, 1998
> > >THE DMA ACQUIRES ASSOCIATION FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA  TO CREATE THE
> > >WORLD'S LARGEST TRADE ASSOCIATION FOR BUSINESSES ON THE NET
>
> The fact that in the US, an association can be "acquired"
> illustrates the types of misunderstandings about CORE that
> have been used by its opponents. Under European laws, association
> defaults to non-profit, and it is certainly a legal structure
> that as such cannot be acquired by anybody.
>

This is part of learning to think globally.  In the US, an association
defaults to "all members are personally liable for the debts of the
association."  That's why most non-profits in the US (such as ISOC
Chapters) incorporate.

The very fact that AIM has been "acquired" testifies to the fact that it
was never a bona fide not-for-profit group, but was, in fact, a hatchet
job created to torpedo the GTLD-MoU.

> A similar misunderstanding is in the name of ICANN, where a
> non-profit organisation is created as a "corporation". To
> Europeans, this sounds awful. The first thing one thinks of
> is big business. Maybe this has also prompted the Ronda Hauben
> proposal.
>
> Regards,
>
> Werner
>
> --
> Tel. +41 22 8200074   Fax +41 22 8200073  http://axone.ch

  Once again, this emphasizes the importance of PR. Unfortunately, too,
at this point the bad guys have slung so much mud at the GTLD initiative
that we'd have a hard time digging out of the muck.  Another problem is
the ongoing braying of pundits whose principal proof of the "back room"
nature of ICANN is that they are not on the board.

One idea:  many of us own domain names.  Many of us know many others who
own domain names.  In light of NSI's mandate to allow registrar-portable
domain name registrations, there is some leverage here.  To put it
simply:  we can start a letter writing campaign to those we know to
write letters to NSI (perhaps Don Telage is a good place to start)
suggesting that if NSI were to put its full support behind the ICANN
Board, we would be inclined to continue it in place as registrar; if not
. . .

Regards,

KJC