[Gnso-epdp-team] Stepping down - EPDP

[Emily Taylor]

Dear friends

Please accept my resignation from the EPDP team with immediate effect. I
hope you will understand the personal and professional reasons behind this.

I believe that James mentioned at Saturday's face to face meeting some of
the reasons behind my decision.

Following the completion of Phase I and prior to the substantive Phase 2
work kicking off, I believe that stepping down from the EPDP at this point
will minimise disruption and inconvenience to the rest of the group.

I have great admiration and affection for everyone on the EPDP team, and
would like particularly to thank Kurt and the ICANN staff for your
incredible dedication and focus during Phase I.  Without your support and
drive, we would be nowhere, and you can be proud of what you have
contributed to the ICANN Community - a rigorous review of the legal basis
for processing gTLD registration data throughout the lifecycle of a domain
registration.  The Phase I report should create a strong foundation for
further community work.

Several factors make me hesitant to continue with the EPDP into Phase 2:

- The work rate has been exhausting in Phase 1 and that was supposed to be
the easy bit of confirming the Temporary Specification!
- Phase 2 has a long list of difficult issues which will require skilful
negotiation and compromise all round.
- The loss of Kurt as a chair creates a lot of uncertainty.  He was very
effective at getting the work done and created a cooperative, collegial
atmosphere under challenging circumstances.
- I feel a lot of pride in what this team has been able to do in a short
time, and the careful work that was done to achieve high levels of
consensus on the purposes, recommendations and other language. While I
recognise the right of constituencies to vote whatever way they want in
GNSO Council, the decision of some constituencies to vote against report,
despite being intimately involved in its creation, has the effect of
undermining confidence in the entire process.  Personally, this was the
tipping point  which led me to question the value of devoting  further
volunteer time to try and create consensus policy which might then be
rejected or undermined elsewhere in the ICANN Org or outside it.
- I work for a very small registrar. We are in the start up phase with lots
going on on the tech and business development side that needs my full
attention. My fellow business owners and I believe that my time would be
better spent directly on our business needs rather than the global 'greater
good'!

I have genuinely mixed feelings about this decision, because the work is
important and challenging. The next phase will require a lot of creative
thinking, and I would love to contribute.

I would also like to recognise and thank my Registrar colleagues who have
slogged through the first stage - James, Matt, Volker, Sarah, Theo and
Lindsay. The alternates have been following every meeting, contributing
ideas and chat throughout and deserve recognition for their sacrifice. I
would also like to say thanks to Registry colleagues, all EPDP members and
alternates, RrSG Excom and Zoe Bonython.

I've been privileged to work so closely with you all. The friendships and
trust that these processes create, across constituencies and stakeholder
groups, are long lasting, and for me this is the most cherished aspect of
the ICANN environment.

Best wishes for successful meetings this week in Kobe, and for Phase 2 of
the EPDP work.

Emily

-- 

Emily Taylor

CEO, Oxford Information Labs
*MA (Cantab), Solicitor (non-practising), MBA, *

*A**ssociate Fellow, Chatham House; Editor, Journal of Cyber Policy*

Lincoln House, Pony Road, Oxford OX4 2RD | T: 01865 582885
E: emily.taylor at oxil.co.uk | D: 01865 582811 | M: +44 7540 049322

<http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/pgas/rcyb-cfp-2017>
<http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/pgas/rcyb-cfp-2017>


Registered office: Lincoln House, 4 Pony Road, Oxford OX4 2RD. Registered
in England and Wales No. 4520925. VAT No. 799526263

.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/gnso-epdp-team/attachments/20190309/9336c268/attachment.html>