RE: [ga-roots] TLD's

[Roeland Meyer <rmeyer@mhsc.com>]

> From: Dassa [mailto:dassa@dhs.org]
> Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2001 9:56 PM
> 
> |> From: Gene Marsh [mailto:marshm@anycast.net]
> |> Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2001 1:58 PM
> |>
> |> If you had been "observing" the TLDA as you say you have, 
> you would know
> |> that the TLDA has been in existence since May 1999.  At 
> that time, the
> TLDA
> |> had been organized as another potential gTLD constituent, and was
> |> represented in Berlin at the ICANN meeting.  At that time, 
> there were
> |> several individuals and entities who expressed their support of
> |> the TLDA, including the ORSC and IODesign.  They believed that the
> concept was
> |> correct.
> 
> The current organisation was incorporated in March 2001 I 
> see.  As there
> were new bylaws etc developed after this time it would seem 
> to indicate the
> actual organisation although with roots in a previous one was actually
> formed at the incorporation date.

It's also under US law, not that of OZ. For example, MHSC was incorporated,
in Delaware, in 1997. However, it was a sole-proprietorship/DBA since 1990.
I was the original sole-proprietor and am now the second largest shareholder
(see http://www.mhsc.com/about.htm). While the incorporation date is
important and establishes the actual birth-date, of the legal entity, that
does not necessarily mean that it is the actual start of the organization.
In fact, many organizations start before they actually incorporate. Of
course, transfering the assets of the sole-proprietorship to the new corp is
a formal processs.

> |> > It is noted the mission statement includes references to Root
> |> Managers.
> |>
> |> And what is your point here?
> 
> Leah claimed the TLDA did not have anything to do with root operatons.
> However the Mission Statement indicates otherwise.

AFAIK, Leah doesn't run a root zone server, nor does the TLDA.

> |> Yes, and one person can start a nuclear war.  It is the value
> |> of choice that is in question here.  Our board took 
> appropriate action
> on an offer we
> |> should not/could not accept
> 
> I made no value judgement and passed no comment on the action 
> taken by the
> TLDA Board in regard to this matter.  I raised concerns that 
> the decision
> was placed before the Board in the first place and raise the 
> issue that the
> operation of a TLD may be decided by a limited number of people.

In a nacent organization, EVERYTHING is a BoD issue and you of all should
know that. If someone offered to sell you a Glock pistol (and OZ is
definitely anti-gun, for those that don't know) and you decline the offer,
because you aren't allowed to own such a thing, should you be jailed? SHould
your organization be vilefied simple because that offer was made? It is the
same thing. It was a BoD issue because no one else, in the TLDA, had the
authority to make that decision. Now you wish to demonize them because they
did their jobs, by enforcing their own charter? That is simply wrong!

To drill this point home even further, someone offers to give you a kilo of
crack-cocaine and a distribution network, and you refuse. Are you now a
crack dealer simply because they made that offer?

> |> Yes, Dassa, but the manner in which you raise these points is
> inflammatory.
> 
> Only if taken in a highly defensive perspective.

I disagree, the simple fact that you raised this point above the visibility
threshold, on a public list, makes it an attack. Otherwise, why not make it
a private query to the org itself? You not only published it, but attached a
negative value-judgement to it. That makes it a public attack and TLDA can
be justified in responding defensively, should they so chose.

> |> You make statements as if they were fact.  You have not taken any
> measure of
> |> professionalism to ask questions instead.
> 
> I raised the issue of a TLD operation being decided firstly 
> by the whim of
> an individual and then by another 5 people.  Those are facts.

MHSC has a number of TLDs, no one makes decisions on them other than MHSC.
They are MHSC intellectual property. How well that stands up to challenge
remains an issue, in intellectual property law (and not just trademark law).
However, you seem to be castigating an organization which, collectively and
by charter has no control over any single TLD, for declining an offer of a
TLD, from a private entity.

How does this activity further the goals of this WG?

-- 
ROELAND M.J. MEYER
Managing Director
Morgan Hill Software Company, Inc.
TEL: +001 925 373 3954
FAX: +001 925 373 9781
http://www.mhsc.com
mailto: rmeyer@mhsc.com
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