[CCWG-ACCT] Blog post on the Accountability work headed to Dublin

Avri Doria avri at acm.org
Sat Oct 10 19:52:53 UTC 2015


Hi,

I agree that we need to achieve the right result.

I disagree that need more time beyond the end of this year to nail down
an agreed upon plan - that is just a matter of coming to agreement.

If we wait another 5 years, we may find ourselves again at this very
same inflection point, one that has plagued ICANN for a very long time.
One that is less important as long as there is NTIA oversight but
becomes critical as soon as we lose them as backstop - the idea of who
the Board is accountable to.  Without a Member model, the Board remains
accountable only to itself, despite any possible, yet impractical,
capability of removing the Board.

avri

On 10-Oct-15 15:41, James Gannon wrote:
> Agreed, if we need 5 more years then we need to ask NTIA for 5 more years. I would prefer a transition that met the needs of the entire multistakeholder community in 5 years than one that was potentially ‘tainted’ in the eyes of some observers, next September. I continue to believe that we are rushing this process, I think that our timelines are too tight and are leading to tense, reactionary, and unhelpful positions from all involved.
>
> -jg
>
>
>
>
> On 10/10/2015, 8:35 p.m., "accountability-cross-community-bounces at icann.org on behalf of Chartier, Mike S" <accountability-cross-community-bounces at icann.org on behalf of mike.s.chartier at intel.com> wrote:
>
>> Olivier,
>>   Both processes are required. NTIA's position is documented in their third report to Congress. Relevant part below:
>>
>> "These two multistakeholder processes – the IANA stewardship transition and enhancing ICANN accountability – are directly linked, and NTIA has repeatedly said that both sets of issues must be addressed before any transition takes place. ICANN has indicated that it expects to receive both the ICG and CCWG proposals at roughly the same time and that it will forward them promptly and without modification to NTIA.7
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 10, 2015, at 3:24 PM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl at gih.com<mailto:ocl at gih.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Jordan,
>>
>> for all the +1s that you have received and all of the respect that I hold for you, and the fact that I find your chronology helpful, I do have to strongly disagree with what its contents imply.
>>
>> NTIA has never asked for ICANN to go through an ICANN Accountability process.
>> NTIA has launched a transition of stewardship of the IANA functions - ONLY the IANA functions. It is the ICANN Community that has decided to link the CWG's work with the CCWG's work because it was felt in the CWG that the transition of Stewardship of the IANA functions required new processes in ICANN, perhaps a new structure, for the Policy component of the IANA functions to be separated from the Operation of the functions.
>> That separation existed in the IETF & RIRs since ICANN was carrying out the IANA Functions Operator. That was not the case for ICANN.
>>
>> The CWG's proposal therefore required work to be undertaken by the CCWG. Initially, it was thought that this work should be minimal; that the additional accountability processes needed to be kept as simple as possible. Isn't this what Larry Strickling has repeated every time he has had a chance to do so? Yet this was ignored by the CCWG as some felt "This is the *last chance* we have at making ICANN accountable, because of the pressure to carry out the transition".
>> To me this has all the markings of trying to pass these recommendations by the Board under duress.
>>
>> So consider this alternative scenario: the Board refuses to agree to ratify the CCWG Accountability report (that's, of course if *all* SOs & ACs ratify it, which might not be a given), NTIA loses patience, takes the CWG's proposal already integrated in the ICG proposal, decides to proceed forward with the transition of stewardship, leaving all of the ICANN Accountability work on the side, so it can continue without a deadline. But NTIA proposes a review in 5 years at which time it keeps the option of still being able to tell ICANN what to do. In other words, it loosens up the leash around ICANN, but doesn't let go of it yet... until it has the last piece of the puzzle in hand and is happy with it.
>> The CCWG will then have 5 years ahead to find a consensus with the ICANN Board re: ICANN Accountability.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Olivier
>>
>>
>> On 09/10/2015 01:19, Jordan Carter wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Apologies for the interruption to your inbox. I've been doing a bit of work trying to make sense of all the events in the ICANN accountability debate. I wrote up a chronology of that, which is available attached to this post. A blog post with my reflections is below.
>>
>> Whatever part of the community you are from, and whatever your view on the substance of the debates we are having in the CCWG, I hope you can stand up in support of the multistakeholder model at this challenging moment. There is a lot at stake if this accountability effort fails, and the risk of that is not high but it is increasing.
>>
>> See many of you in Dublin next week!
>>
>> cheers
>> Jordan
>> ICANN Accountability - the chronology and Dublin thoughts
>>
>> 9 October - at <https://internetnz.nz/blog/icann-accountability-chronology-and-dublin-thoughts> https://internetnz.nz/blog/icann-accountability-chronology-and-dublin-thoughts
>>
>> You’ve probably had an experience in your life of being part of a difficult or complicated project – sometimes things go into a blur, or after months or years you find it hard to remember the order of significant events.
>>
>> Well, the debate regarding ICANN’s accountability is nothing if not complicated (not to say difficult!). I’ve been a participant in it as a member of the Working Group representing country-code domains since December 2014, and even over not quite a year, things get a bit blurry.
>>
>> To help me, and possibly you, I decided to pull together a short chronology of some of the key milestones. Dates of proposals, significant moments in the project, and so on.
>>
>> You can review (and critique) the chronology here:
>>
>> .pdf<https://internetnz.nz/sites/default/files/2015-10-09-ICANN-accty-chrono.pdf>
>> .docx<https://internetnz.nz/sites/default/files/2015-10-09-ICANN-accty-chrono.docx>
>>
>> I didn’t expect that seeing this story in one short place would trigger some new insights, or remind me of some old ones, but it did. Here are some of them:
>>
>>  *   Astonishing progress: since the end of last year, and the demise of ICANN’s resistance to a community-led accountability process, the Cross Community Working Group (CCWG) has made huge progress. It assessed previous suggested accountability mechanisms; built requirements for a new settlement; devised models that could deliver; took feedback in good faith and worked together to overcome problems exposed in public debate. The Second Draft Proposal of the group is workable, though it does not enjoy consensus in the ICANN community yet.
>>  *   Consistent resistance and delay: the powers-that-be at ICANN have resisted community-driven accountability reforms throughout this process. The multi-month delay to establishing the CCWG speaks volumes. The group’s work would have concluded next week in Dublin if we’d had the few more months back in 2014. I say that not to lament it, but to make it clear where responsibility lies for the current time pressure. Hint: the CCWG isn’t responsible.
>>  *   The rightness of multistakeholderism: the community has followed a true multistakeholder process. Compromise, diligence, thoroughness and a willingness to compromise and think outside the box – all these have been central to the work of the group. That work process is hard to maintain and has been seriously challenged by the ICANN Board alleging a right to insert “red lines” into part of the debate – on the critical matters of enforcement. Those interventions place the credibility of the multistakeholder process at risk. In doing so, the ICANN Board isn’t only putting the accountability reform process under pressure it doesn’t need, it is delaying the group’s ability to complete its task (others have more forceful views - see the note by William Currie, an Advisor to the CCWG appointed by the Public Experts Group last year, here<http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/accountability-cross-community/2015-October/006410.html>). The follow on consequence: the IANA Stewardship transition itself is delayed, a consequence only a very few people would celebrate (and I am not one of them).
>>
>>  *   Proof of need: looking over the short history of the current debate gives ample evidence of why the reforms demanded by the community are required.  Without the spur provided by the IANA Stewardship transition, this opportunity would never have opened up. We should be grateful to the Obama administration for the chance provided to build a long term, responsible framework for ICANN accountability.
>>  *   Some welcome flexibility: a year ago, if you’d thought you would hear ICANN saying it would welcome binding arbitration, the ability to remove Board directors, a community right of veto in bylaws changes – many would have stared at you and laughed. If you’d suggested a community group working in open multistakeholder ways could deliver a work output the quality the CCWG has matched, the same stares and laughs. But both have happened. Things have moved.
>>
>> Everyone involved with or watching this process will have different insights, or may agree happily or disagree sharply with mine. I offer them up in public as part of my own commitment to accountability: it is reasonable for people involved in the conversation to share their thinking. In any case, my own thought processes work best with dialogue – not with solitude.
>>
>> ICANN is on the verge of historic, meaningful and positive reform. The Numbers and Protocols communities, watching this process through gritted teeth and very keen for the transition to go ahead, can hopefully celebrate what is happening. With ICANN having a curious dual role for the Names community (policy forum and IANA functions operator), there has been no alternative to making accountability improvements now.
>>
>> (To my technical community friends - if there’s any doubt in your mind about why we need change – review the chronology, remember the pushback, remember what you guys faced early this year.)
>>
>> We’re all close to the end of the debate. You can sense it – proposals are crystallising, timeframes are compressing, volunteers are at the end of reasonable commitments of time and energy.
>>
>> The imperatives now are to see things through: to stick with the multistakeholder process that listens to all perspectives but gives nobody a right of veto; the accountability framework the community requires to accept the transition going ahead; and the changes to ICANN’s culture that will flow from a new accountability settlement.
>>
>> Dublin is a week away. The elephant in the room (the CCWG’s proposal and the ICANN Board’s counterproposal for the way to crystallise accountability powers) will need to be resolved, or eaten, or thrown in the ocean.
>>
>> My preference is of course for the product of the multistakeholder process, the model the CCWG has developed in public and with the involvement of all stakeholders. But unlike some others, I am not proclaiming bottom lines on any of the “how” – it is the “what,” the requirements and ability to meet them, that matter.
>>
>> The “what” is ensuring the Internet community, able to organise through ICANN’s open groupings, can hold a corporation with hundreds of staff, hundreds of millions of dollars, tight links with the American government, a monopoly ability to extract rents from the domain name industry, and a natural institutional desire to be as free of restraint as it can – can hold all that to account, given the huge imbalance of power, knowledge, resources that tilt the playing field of accountability entirely in ICANN’s favour.
>>
>> Beyond the "elephant," there are lots of other details that need to be sorted out.  It all matters – NTIA have been clear the proposal has to be bullet proof.
>>
>> In the end though, if there isn’t an accountability settlement that achieves consensus, then there isn’t going to be a proposal bullet proof or not.
>>
>> No accountability proposal – no IANA Stewardship Transition proposal. No transition proposal – no transition.
>>
>> No transition? All those risks the transition is designed to head off come back to life. And the multistakeholder approach discredited to boot.
>>
>> Those are the stakes on the table as we head to Dublin.
>>
>> Two final thoughts: where there’s a will there’s a way. And as an old high-school teacher used to say to me, “not easy, not optional.”
>>
>> --
>> Jordan Carter
>>
>> Chief Executive
>> InternetNZ
>>
>> +64-4-495-2118 (office) | +64-21-442-649 (mob)
>> Email: jordan at internetnz.net.nz<mailto:jordan at internetnz.net.nz>
>> Skype: jordancarter
>> Web: <http://www.internetnz.nz> www.internetnz.nz<http://www.internetnz.nz>
>>
>> A better world through a better Internet
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list
>> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org<mailto:Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org>
>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list
>> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org<mailto:Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org>
>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community
>> _______________________________________________
>> Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list
>> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org
>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community
> _______________________________________________
> Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list
> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org
> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus




More information about the Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list