Richard, On Sep 12, 2014, at 1:03 AM, Richard Hill <rhill@hill-a.ch> wrote: > What I was trying to say above is that, within the current IP address > allocation scheme, the ICANN Board has the ultimate authority. ... > What I meant to say is that, in the current system, absent the IANA > functions contract with NTIA, the ultimate authority, within the system, > would be the ICANN Board. Perhaps the difficulty here is in the definition of “ultimate authority”. My dictionary (whatever ships with the US version of MacOSX 10.9) defines “authority” as: 1 the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience; 2 a person or organization having power or control in a particular, typically political or administrative, sphere; 3 the power to influence others, esp. because of one's commanding manner or one's recognized knowledge about something. In the context of Internet numbering, ICANN’s board does NOT have power to ‘enforce obedience’ over the RIRs so the first part of the definition fails. Similarly, ICANN’s board does not have power or control over Internet numbering, so the second part fails. However, ICANN’s board _does_ have at least some power to influence, so from that perspective, I guess ICANN’s board could be argued to have some authority. So, if you’re using the term “ultimate authority” to mean the third definition, I’d probably quibble that it isn’t “ultimate” in any way, but would agree ICANN’s board can have some influence. However, that brings us back to the original post that started this thread. Given ICANN’s board can’t enforce obedience nor have power or control over Internet numbering, I’m unclear as exactly what problem you’re trying to solve. > So, in your view, the RIRs' agreeing that it is the ICANN Board that > ratifies their policies does not have any legal meaning or effect. You are > of course entitled to your views, as is everybody, but I don't agree with > that view. Out of curiosity, what meaning/effect do you believe the ICANN board ratifying a policy would have? Or, suppose the ICANN board were to refuse to ratify a policy. What do you believe would be the impact? Regards, -drc
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