[CCWG-Accountability] Expected outcome of Frankfurt F2F meeting

Fri Jan 2 00:57:39 UTC 2015

Adding to Paul’s thoughts –

The US government funding bill for FY 2015 enacted and signed by the President at the end of the last Congress a few weeks ago prohibits NTIA from spending any funds on the IANA transition through September 30, 2014 and also requires NTIA to provide Congress with 45 days’ notice of any intent to transition the functions – that latter provision has no expiration date. These provisions were a compromise between a Republican House and Democratic Senate; both chambers will be under Republican control for the next two years so any future legislative language on this, should there be any, could be different.

Some have opined (and I believe Paul is in this camp, but I will let him speak for himself) believe that the just enacted language has a loophole that would not prevent the NTIA from simply letting the IANA contract expire. But that raises the question of what happens to control of the IANA functions if the current contract is not extended or transferred? Some think they could permanently fall into ICANN’s control if that were to happen. I disagree, believing that as the contracting party they revert to US control in the absence of a contract. But as a practical matter I do not expect NTIA to take such a route – not only would it be a very confrontational move that could have very adverse effects for the funding of other Department of Commerce operations, but it would be contrary to the stated intent of NTIA to only make the transfer under a transition plan developed by the multistakeholder community and accompanied by accountability enhancements.

As to Congressional oversight, my best guesstimate based on current information is that the Commerce and Judiciary Committees of both the House and Senate will all hold one or more oversight hearings on the progress of and outlook for the transition plan, that the work of this CWG and the Accountability CCWG will be reviewed, and that the first of those hearings could occur as early as January.

Best to all,
Philip

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From: accountability-cross-community-bounces at icann.org [mailto:accountability-cross-community-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of Paul Rosenzweig
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2015 6:24 PM
To: 'Kavouss Arasteh'; 'Dr Eberhard W Lisse'
Cc: 'Lisse Eberhard'; accountability-cross-community at icann.org
Subject: Re: [CCWG-Accountability] Expected outcome of Frankfurt F2F meeting

Dear Kavouss

I am not necessarily the best or only observer of US policy regarding ICANN.  And as you know, our Congress has been in recess for the last several weeks for the holiday so right now very little is happening.

What I can advise is that, as has already been reported, the Congress passed a law late last year (which the President agreed to) that prohibited the NTIA from spending any money to make the ICANN transition happen.  The text of the said that the funds approved by Conggress cannot be used by the NTIA to "relinquish [its] responsibility… with respect to Internet domain name system functions… and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority [IANA] functions."   I take that, at a minimum, as a statement of caution from Congress.

The House of Representatives (our lower house) held two hearings regarding the transition early last year (links http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/2014/4/hearing-should-the-dept-of-commerce-relinquish-direct-oversight-over-icann and http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/ensuring-security-stability-resilience-and-freedom-global-internet) when the announcement was first made.  And this editorial from the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-must-ensure-the-internet-has-good-stewards/2014/03/21/615bac3a-b07b-11e3-95e8-39bef8e9a48b_story.html) reflects, I think the “general consensus” view in Washington (if there is such a thing).

Of course things change.  Opinion will very much depend on what this group and ICANN wind up proposing.  My best guess is that there will be further hearings on the matter this Spring in both the House of Representatives and in our upper chamber, the Senate and that, in those forums, the work of this group will be examined.

I hope that helps as well
Paul

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Paul Rosenzweig
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From: Kavouss Arasteh [mailto:kavouss.arasteh at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 1, 2015 5:37 PM
To: Dr Eberhard W Lisse
Cc: <accountability-cross-community at icann.org<mailto:accountability-cross-community at icann.org>>; Lisse Eberhard
Subject: Re: [CCWG-Accountability] Expected outcome of Frankfurt F2F meeting

Dear Paul
What do you see in US NOW
May you please forward that to us .At least I do not have access to that information.
Kavouss

2015-01-01 23:19 GMT+01:00 Dr Eberhard W Lisse <el at lisse.na<mailto:el at lisse.na>>:
Dear co-chairs,

(through the co-chairs)

English is only my third language and I am not that familiar with reading between the lines of US new-speak, and hence need your assistance in determining wether my understanding of this being a threat if doesn't get his way is correct, and if so whether it is acceptable under the charter?

greetings, el

Sent from Dr Lisse's iPad mini

On Jan 1, 2015, at 22:38, Paul Rosenzweig <paul.rosenzweig at redbranchconsulting.com<mailto:paul.rosenzweig at redbranchconsulting.com>> wrote:
Mathieu

You are, of course, the Co-Chair and you will have to figure out how to interact with the Board.  I hope, however, that you will not be reluctant to make the Board accountable.  I can see the headline here in the US now  “ICANN Accountability Board Not Even Willing To Ask Questions.”     Frankly, I would write it myself …..

Paul

**NOTE:  OUR NEW ADDRESS -- EFFECTIVE 12/15/14 ***
509 C St. NE
Washington, DC 20002

Paul Rosenzweig
paul.rosenzweig at redbranchconsulting.com<mailto:paul.rosenzweigesq at redbranchconsulting.com>
O: +1 (202) 547-0660<tel:%2B1%20%28202%29%20547-0660>
M: +1 (202) 329-9650<tel:%2B1%20%28202%29%20329-9650>
Skype: +1 (202) 738-1739<tel:%2B1%20%28202%29%20738-1739> or paul.rosenzweig1066
Link to my PGP Key<http://www.redbranchconsulting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=9>

From: Mathieu Weill [mailto:mathieu.weill at afnic.fr]
Sent: Thursday, January 1, 2015 5:33 AM
To: accountability-cross-community at icann.org<mailto:accountability-cross-community at icann.org>
Subject: [CCWG-Accountability] Expected outcome of Frankfurt F2F meeting

Dear Colleagues,

During our call #4 we had an exchange of views regarding the expected outcome of our upcoming F2F meeting in Frankfurt. We agreed that we would initiate a discussion on the list on the proposals that we shared before finalizing at our next meeting. Clarity about expected outcomes is necessary before we get deeper into the preparation of this important step in our work.

The current expected outcomes we submit for your review and comments are the following :
a. Finalize agreement on scope of the group & definition, such as the purpose of accountability (as discussed, a strawman proposal is being drafted and will be circulated shortly)
b. Agree on WS1 vs WS2 classification criteria + priorities. This should enable to provide clarity about expected outcome of WS1.
c. Conclude inventory work from work areas, and as such, the assessment of Icann's current situation with regards to accountability. (please note this should include a list of the main contingencies we would "stress test" our proposals against).

We are aware this is rather ambitious but hopeful this can be achieved thanks to the quality of the prep work from work areas as well as good preparation in the timeframe leading to Frankfurt.

Your comments and feedbacks are welcome.

Best regards, and happy new year to all of you !

--

*****************************

Mathieu WEILL

For the Co-chairs

mathieu.weill at afnic.fr<mailto:mathieu.weill at afnic.fr>

Twitter : @mathieuweill

*****************************
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