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2014-06-20

Auerbach v ICANN, One Man's Fight to Make ICANN Accountable

One ICANN director, more than 10 years ago, stood alone (with assistance from the Electronic Frontier Foundation a/k/a EFF) to try to make ICANN a little more open, transparent, and accountable, instead of its often closed, secret, top-down method of internet governance --

Auerbach v. ICANN Lawsuit - ICANN: Marina del Rey, California, USA (29 July 2002) -- "At a hearing today, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs ordered that ICANN Director Karl Auerbach should be allowed to inspect specified ICANN documents, but also ruled that Auerbach must respect ICANN's confidentiality designations, with the Court to resolve any disagreements over the propriety of those designations. . . .  In her analysis, Judge Janavs ruled that California law does not permit California non-profit corporations to place any restrictions or conditions on director's inspection rights, but allows only courts to place restrictions, after a demand for inspection has been refused. In this respect, the court rejected ICANN's position. ICANN respectfully disagrees and will consider whether to appeal this decision upon review of the Court's written judgment, which will be issued next week. The Court also ruled orally that ICANN must, by Friday of this week, provide Mr. Auerbach with electronic copies of all "non-confidential" (as designated by ICANN) materials he has requested that already exist in electronic form...."

ICANN, reluctantly, complied with the Court's ruling but thereafter changed the rules on representation and selection of directors to ICANN's Board of Directors [so ICANN would not have any more "Karl Auerbachs" who might demand an open, transparent, and accountable ICANN?]

For more info on the Karl Auerbach vs. ICANN litigation, see Resources - ICANN, Auerbach v. ICANN:
Petition (18 March 2002) [PDF, 81 KB]
Answer (17 April 2002) [PDF, 64 KB]
Amended Answer (1 May 2002) [PDF, 68 KB]
ICANN's Motion for Summary Judgment (21 May 2002):
Memorandum of Points and Authorities [PDF, 96 KB]
Declaration of Vinton Cerf [PDF, 430 KB]
Declaration of M. Stuart Lynn [PDF, 3.87 MB]
Declaration of Louis Touton [PDF, 5.33 MB]
Separate Statement of Undisputed Material Facts [PDF, 55 KB]
ICANN's Reply Memorandum (15 July 2002) [PDF, 52 KB]
Advisory on Court Ruling in Auerbach v. ICANN Lawsuit (29 July 2002)
Advisory on Documents Provided to Karl Auerbach (4 August 2002)
Additional Documents Provided (8 August 2002)