"Eight Board members bumbling..."

The ICANN meetings are getting longer and longer. The Kuala Lumpur sessions begin with an open GAC Forum on Saturday, July 17th and conclude eight days later with a joint ICANN-ITU workshop on ccTLDs on Saturday, July 24th. Add (at least) a day of travel on both ends of that, and you wind up with a 10-day commitment. Assuming you can afford the airfare and the hotel, can you afford the time?

Truly, ICANN is no longer something for amateurs. I don't see how anyone who isn't paid to participate in ICANN can participate meaningfully in these sessions any longer. It shouldn't be a surprise then that the ICANN policy conversations are dominated by the registrars, registries, paid telecom lobbyists, and intellectual property associations. Users have day jobs.