This discussion is a little premature, because most listees wouldn't have seen
the article, but it will be posted on the Internet World Australia site some
time this week at http://australia.internet.com/print/current/ 

Kate Lance wrote:
> 
> Paul Montgomery's article on ADNA and NOIE has appeared in Internet
> World.  It's a reasonably good description of the circumstances, but
> (of course :-) there's a point I'd like to argue.  The criticisms that
> ISOC-AU have had of ADNA have not been over the conflict of interests
> of its members.  Our criticisms have consistently been that the problem
> with ADNA is:
> 
> * no separation of policy and operations

There is no real argument, because "conflict of interest" and "no separation
of policy and operations" mean exactly the same thing, AFAIK. I would have
hoped that the conflict described by Pauline van Winsen and youself, et al,
was expressed correctly in that vein, especially in the last point in the
paragraph quoted below.

IW> The simple reason why ADNA has not worked is that it has not been able to
IW> build that consensus, a year after its birth. Depending on who you talk to
IW> among the people involved inside or outside ADNA, this can be attributed to
IW> a number of supplementary reasons: the refusal of the Internet Society of
IW> Australia (ISOC-AU) to join ADNA to represent user interests; the lack of
IW> support from the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC) as
IW> representatives of educational institutions in the edu.au 2LD; the apathy
IW> shown by DNS Forum participants after ADNA was incorporated; the lack of a
IW> way for the industry to have some input into ADNA’s management; or the 
IW> domination of ADNA’s movements by those driven by the prospect of running
IW> com.au registrars.

> But I believe the most essential sticking point out of these has turned
> out to be separation of policy and operations.  This is shown clearly
> in Peter Gerrand's insistence that because customers want good service
> then all SLDs have to become fee-charging.

There is a direct quote from Professor Gerrand on this very issue within the
story, also quoted below.

IW> "My perception is that government agencies and educational institutions
IW> want the DNS in Australia to be just as responsive as the rest of the
IW> commercial sector. The only way you can get a really responsive registrar
IW> is to get them properly resourced and applying and charging fees. I think
IW> the day of the part-time volunteer is really over as far as customer 
IW> expectation is concerned," Professor Gerrand told Internet World Australia.

> This is an *operational* consideration, from a registrar who is afraid
> of losing clients to other domains, being used to potentially define
> a *policy* for those domains.  This is wrong, wrong, wrong.
> 
> Policy for an SLD must be completely independent of operational
> requirements.  Policy must be set objectively for the benefit of a
> specific domain and *by* its own constituency, not for the financial
> advantage of commercial registrars.
> 
> This is certainly one of the principles that ISOC-AU has been
> "obstinate" about, and frankly, if we weren't, how on earth could we
> be said to be representing the diverse needs of the users, our
> constituency?

Quite. No criticism intended.

> (Incidently Paul, for what its worth I'm not network manager at Connect,
> that is Chris Chaundy, though that's not his actual title.  I'm system
> manager, ie Unix boxes and services, and have nothing to do with net.au
> administration.)

Sorry, my mistake. It's easy to assume everyone's a network manager on this
list. Still, it's not as bad as getting Vic from CIA's surname wrong in the
AusBone story. Cinc, not Cinq... too many French lessons as a boy  *slaps forehead*

-- 
Paul Montgomery, features editor for Image & Data Manager and assistant
editor for Internet World. Lives like a JavaBean. Go Socceroos in WC02!
mailto:monty§knapp.com.au  Tel: +61 2 9318 2644.  Fax: +61 2 9310 4608.
  "Just like the ocean, always in love with the moon / It’s overflowing
  now, inside you." Jeff Buckley, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk.