operating procedures for membership changes

[Sam Lanfranco]

This is a very short comment.
I personally have problems with the wide scope how this exclusion is
interpreted, but to follow up on Tapani''s point, if this is the way we
look at a Chamber of Commerce, or a Rotary Club, then we should (or should
we?)  apply the same principle (and logic) to individual memberships if
they derive significant (any) of their income from the commercial sale of
their labor (consulting/employment) from Internet related activities. They
can always join the non-contracted parties stakeholder groups. Take this as
serious food for thought. Also, organizations could be engaged in "public
interest" or "educational" activities.  If a concern for "the public
interest" is not enough for organizations, why should it be enough for
individuals? 
Sam Lanfranco

---- Original Message ----
From: Tapani Tarvainen 
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Wed, Sep 6, 2017, 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: operating procedures for membership changes

Hi Joly,
 Thank you for raising this.
 The paragraph you noted is based on 2.2.1(4) in NCSG Charter, which
 states that
 "4. In the case of a membership-based organization, the organization
 should not only be noncommercial itself, but should have a primarily
 noncommercial focus, and the membership should also be primarily
 composed of noncommercial members. (E.g., a chamber of commerce,
 though it may be a noncommercial organization itself, and might even
 have some noncommercial members, is primarily composed of commercial
 organizations and has a commercial focus and would not be eligible for
 membership.)"
 As we have such a requirement in the charter, we need to have
 something matching in the member removal procedures.
 Now what exactly that means is the question. We discussed about it
 and concluded roughly that the point is to exclude *formally*
 non-commercial organizations that nonetheless have *de facto*
 commercial purpose and mostly commercial members, such as a chamber of
 commerce given as an example.
 Where the line should be drawn is up to the Executive Committee to
 decide whenever either such an organization applies for membership or
 when an existing members' eligibility is challenged.
 We do not intend to set up any general requirement for NCSG member
 organizations to document their members' non-commercial status in
 detail, although I guess it could come to that in a specific case.
 As we have several ISOC chapters in our membership it is clear they
 have been considered eligible despite that clause, and I see no
 obvious reason to change that policy. The EC could of course
 reconsider that either in general or in the case of a specific ISOC
 Chapter, but for the time being I don't see any immediate need for
 existing members to worry about that.
 All members are of course welcome to express their views on this, as
 well as the proposed procedure on dealing with ineligibility claims,
 or even suggest changes to the charter to avoid potential problems
 and ambiguities in its interpretation.
 Tapani
 On Sep 02 14:27, Joly MacFie (joly at punkcast.com) wrote:
 > As an organizational member rep (ISOC-NY) I take an interest in the
 > following:
 > 
 > 4. Organizational Member is determined to not meet eligibility
requirements
 > > for NCSG membership. Pursuant to NCSG’s Charter, only organizations
meeting
 > > the following criteria are eligible for membership in the Stakeholder
Group:
 > > ​ ​
 > > a) The organization is incorporated as a noncommercial entity (in
 > > countries that have a provision in their commercial code) or, if
 > > unincorporated, or if operating in a country without provisions for
 > > noncommercial incorporation, that operates on a not-for-profit basis
 > > primarily for noncommercial purposes
 > > ​,
 > > and b) Be the exclusive user of at least one domain name for
noncommercial
 > > purposes,
 > > ​
 > > and c) Is engaged in online activities that are primarily
noncommercial,
 > 
 > 
 > ​No problem with any of that​ But..
 > 
 > 
 > > and d) In the case of a membership-based organization, (meaning
 > > ​​
 > > organized as a membership-based organization under the applicable law
as
 > > used in NCSG’s Charter) the organization should not only be
noncommerical
 > > itself, but should have a primarily noncommercial focus, and the
membership
 > > should also be primarily composed of noncommercial members.
 > 
 > 
 > As an Internet Society Chapter we do not discriminate on the basis of,
or
 > even know the majority of, our members' commercial activity. However,
all
 > NCSG votes are taken by our (elected) board, who might well qualify, but
 > are elected by the mebership..
 > 
 > Are we, or any other ISOC Chapter, thus ineligible?
 > 
 > I haven't looked it up. Could you clarify '
 > ​
 > organized as a membership-based organization under the applicable law as
 > used in NCSG’s Charter'?
 > 
 > joly
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 1:49 PM, Robin Gross  wrote:
 > 
 > > Hello,
 > >
 > > Please find the attached procedures for handling changes in one's NCSG
 > > membership status, which is intended to formalize our EC’s operation
on
 > > such matters. If there are no significant concerns with these
procedures,
 > > they should go forward as an NCSG operating procedure in the coming
weeks.
 > >
 > > Thanks,
 > > Robin
 > >
 > >
 > 
 > 
 > -- 
 > ---------------------------------------------------------------
 > Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
 > --------------------------------------------------------------
 > -
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