[CWG-Stewardship] A liaison from the Board to CWG

[Milton L Mueller]

John, it's become clear that the NTIA is going to want a turnkey proposal.  A proposal that does not include all the implementation pieces would be sent back as incomplete.  It may be possible to engage in some informal discussions with the ICG, etc., to see if we're on the right track, so we don't waste time and resources, but the submitted proposal has to be such that it can be activated seamlessly upon the extinction of the NTIA IANA Functions Agreement.


For those of you not familiar with the idiom, turn-key means a solution that is 100% ready to operate upon arrival, like turning a key in the ignition of a new car and driving away in it.

I would caution you against accepting this dictum, Greg. This “turn-key” fantasy is really just one of the subtle ways of stacking the deck against proposals that aren’t what they had in mind. It is also a product of a kind of unjustified panic that the 2016 Presidential elections in the US might abort the transition. In reality there is no such thing as a turn-key IANA transition proposal. Major pieces of any solution are going to have to be described in the final proposal and implemented over a period of months. And a transition that is already underway in 2015 will not be aborted if it has widespread public support.

As for the NTIA, they are going into public hearings in a few days and they are in no position to suddenly invent or impose arbitrary limitations or restrictions on what is an acceptable proposal. They have set forth their criteria publicly and that is what the community at large and the ICG will use as the basis for evaluation. Let us have no more talk, based on hallway whispers, about new demands or conditions regarding what the NTIA wants. If it is not in the publicly available criteria, it isn’t a factor.

Milton L. Mueller
Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://faculty.ischool.syr.edu/mueller/mueller/Home.html
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