[CCWG-Accountability] Regarding Board treatment of the output of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability

[Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez]

Dear Bruce,

Regarding Jordan Carter and Paul Rosenzweigs request for an early position on the public interest:
beyond the Boards statutory duty to pursue the public interest under the articles of incorporation (which nobody doubts and you have fully described), and 
given the case the Board would ¨feel¨ the recommendations of the community are not in the public interest, 

THEN (and only then), I would also expect the Board not only to spell out their own definition of the public interest, but also clearly reason why the recommendations of the community would undermine the public interest. 

I can´t presume that the community recommendations will diverge from the public interest, but I feel better if the Board, who has a statutory duty on the public interest, has a last word on this. ON top the Board will not change or ¨override¨ anything, just send it back to the community to work it out. Neither is this a VETO, as our good friend Kavouss Arasteh assumes. 

I´m afraid we are not there yet and we have to stay focused on the accountability issue and hope there is no divergence in the end.

Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez


> El 15/12/2014, a las 18:55, Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin at melbourneit.com.au> escribió:
> 
> Hello Jordan,
> 
> 
>>> Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"?
> 
> There is no separate "Board" position on this topic.
> 
> The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation:
> 
> From:  https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en
> 
> - This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. 
> 
> -  In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by
> 
> (i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet; 
> 
> (ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space; 
> 
> (iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system; 
> 
> (iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and 
> 
> (v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv).
> 
> - The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations.
> 
> - No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof.
> 
> 
> In  addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest:
> 
> From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI
> 
> 
> " Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; "
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Bruce Tonkin
> 
> ICANN Board Liaison
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> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org
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