Hi PABers,
Here in PAB I represent FCR, a Research Foundation somehow dependent on t=
he
Catalan Government. FCR may display a huge Internet involvement, ranging =
from
developing and managing the Scientific Ring (Catalan high-speed Universit=
y
network) to building up CESCA (Catalan Supercomputing Center), through
creating CINET, one of the oldest ISPs in this area, and a signatory of t=
he
gTLD-MoU at Geneva, too. =
The FCR is a CORE Registrar through a new Department called Nominalia. Ev=
en if
initially I was supposed to just help FCR through the application process=
and
then remain their legal advisor for this and other Internet-related affai=
rs,
I=92ve found myself involved in CORE affairs on Nominalia=92s behalf. But=
I=92m
neither their employee, nor their general outside counsel.
Xarxa CINET S.L. (CINET)'s PAB rep used to be Josep Gaspa=92; <rosa@cinet=
=2Ees>,
now changed to Montserrat Meya <mmeya@cinet.es>. CINET, as I=92ve said, i=
s one
of FCR's =93children=94, a spin-off. It was once a FCR Department, then a=
n
independent society fully owned by FCR. It's now in the process of being =
sold
out to outside investors. CINET=92s management, different from FCR's, wan=
ted me
to be their *eye-on-PAB*, but I wasn't sure that I could represent two
different entities (no rules on PAB functioning were even discussed). So =
they
appointed a *formal* separate rep.
Then I tried to convince other clients to sign the MoU. The first one was=
,
last June, OLE. This is the most popular Net search service (index =93a l=
a
Yahoo=94) in Spanish. OLE owner, Pep Valles, is a former employee of the =
FCR,
but this =93personal=94 link is the only one remaining. He is also a CINE=
T client.
Pep did not wanted to get involved in PAB discussions and asked me to
represent him in PAB, but I declined as I was not sure that I could repre=
sent
two different companies.
Finally, last July Partal, Maresma & Associats S.L. (VilaWeb) also signed=
the
gTLD-MoU. VilaWeb is also a web index service, this one in Catalan (the m=
ost
important in this language and the second in Spain after OLE, at least be=
fore
the launch of Magallanes, for which I don=92t have reliable statistics). =
VilaWeb
director, Vicent Partal, insisted that he wanted me as their PAB rep, an=
d so
was stated in their signature form.
Even if using different languages, VilaWeb and OLE are competitors (Spani=
sh is
also an official language here in Catalonia). This is the only link they =
have.
There are no economic relations between FCR (or CINET) and VilaWeb. And i=
t is
no secret in Catalonia that their personal relations are not very fluent.=
=2E..
So I find myself reporting PAB developemnts to four different companies. =
And
formally representing two of them, with no relation whatsoeve between the=
m.
I use this long explanation for two purposes: first, to underline once mo=
re
the near impossibility to define rules excluding =93CORE members=94 from =
PAB
representation. I=92m in CORE while not being a registrar. I represent a
registrar AND a company that has nothing to do with such registrar.... Go=
od
sense, more than rules should sort out this problem (even if I agree with=
the
principle of avoiding cross-representation and I=92m a little bit conxcer=
ned
about how this is being treated in this concrete electoral process).
The second one, and more urgent is to know whether PAB (and PAB ExCom)
considers that I should be able to vote on bahalf of both FCR and VilaWeb=
, two
completely unrelated signatories of the gTLD-MoU and members of PAB. I th=
ink I
should, but I won=92t without your permission.
Amadeu