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<div>Hi Greg, all. I tend to agree that the referenced sentence is problematic. I can't recall ever encountering the phrase "for the avoidance of doubt." A more common construct would be something like "To be clear" or perhaps "For the sake of clarity,..."</div>
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<div>As for the balance of that sentence, does ICANN have any regulatory authority, let alone "governmentally authorized"? Granted, it can set rules, but the term "regulation" often is interpreted as "ability to constrain." Even if a regulation isn't "authorized,"
it doesn't mean that it may not be favored by a government or governments. </div>
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<div>Apologies if I am treading over well-worn ground, but using plain English could well prove invaluable in avoiding future unnecessary but perhaps inevitable tussles over semantics. I support Greg's argument.</div>
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<div>Cheers,</div>
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<div>Ken</div>
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On Apr 29, 2016, at 1:53 PM, Greg Shatan <<a href="mailto:gregshatanipc@gmail.com">gregshatanipc@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">All, </div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">There is an issue with Section 1.1(c), which (while relatively minor) should be corrected. (There may also be more significant issues, but I'm not going to go there. I'm just dealing with the
question of whether the Bylaws carry out the intent of the Proposal.) </div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">This section currently reads:</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">ICANN shall not regulate (i.e., impose rules and restrictions on) services that</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">use the Internet’s unique identifiers or the content that such services carry or</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">provide, outside the express scope of Section 1.1(a). For the avoidance of</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">doubt, ICANN does not hold any governmentally authorized regulatory</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">authority, and nothing in the preceding sentence should be construed to</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">suggest that it does have authority to impose such regulations.</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">There was a lot of discussion of this provision during the drafting process, and this particular formulation did not emerge until just before the document went out for public comment.</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">My concern is with the last clause of the last sentence: "<b>nothing in the preceding sentence should be construed to suggest that it does have authority to impose such regulations.</b>" The
particular problem is the phrase "such regulations." When lawyers use "such" like this, it replaces "the" when referring to a thing that's already been referred to by that term (or that term with adjectives). ("The door to the bedroom is 3 feet wide. ...
Such door will remain open at all times.") Here, however, there's been no prior reference to "regulations," so it's completely unclear what this is referring to. </div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><b>The simplest solution would be to remove this clause and end the sentence with "authority." That removes the issue of "What does "such regulations" refer to?" I support this fix.</b></div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">If we want to save the last clause, things get more complicated. It could be changed to say "nothing in the preceding sentence should be construed to suggest that it does have such authority."
Now it's clear that "such authority" refers to "governmentally authorized regulatory authority." It could also be changed to say "nothing in the preceding sentence should be construed to suggest that it does have authority to impose governmentally authorized
regulations." However, I'm not sure that either of these are particularly useful statements or add any clarity to the situation. (The first is modestly more useful than the second.)</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">I look forward to any thoughts.</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Greg</div>
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