In short the problem with ICANN has been
overwhelmingly ne of participation.
I don't believe that is the problem. The problem is blocking people who
want to participate. A prime example is the dispute policy (UDRP). There
is an extensive record of people who attempted to participate and identified
several problems with the policy. These inputs were ignored. Now many of
these identified problems have come to light and ICANN has no mechanism to
correct these deficiencies except for vague answers.
In addition to this ICANN has refused to release basic information such as
how their committees are chosen and how decisions are made. All they do is
put out news releases claiming a community consensus. A few months ago
ICANN put out one these announcements and an attorney made an extensive
effort to identify to find out who was actually consulted when this
so-called "community consensus" was reached (the attorney has participated
in the ICANN heavily over several years). I do not believe he found anyone
who was consulted. ICANN does not seek transparency or openness, they block
it. Those phony news releases they put out only make things worse.
I don't see why anyone would want to waste their time trying to participate
in something like this.
Russ Smith
http://consumer.net