[CCWG-ACCT] [ccnso-members] about the CCWG 30-day comment period

Wed May 6 15:03:14 UTC 2015

I agree with David and, inferentially, with Dr. Lisse (a rare moment).  The
foundation of accountability for an organization lies in two interrelated
requirements -- first that the organization have rules in place that allow
for it to be held accountable and second that the organization itself not be
in a position to derogate from those accountability rules whatever they are.

Here, the accountability comes in the form of a public comment period that
is to be held open for a specified period of time.  The derogation comes in
the ability to shorten that time period and thereby reduce the opportunity
for the accountability mechanism to function effectively.  I have no
objection, in principle, to allowing for a comment period to be shortened --
when, for example, some emergency requires it or, on the other end of the
spectrum when there are no public comments forthcoming because the proposal
is completely uncontroversial.  But it should be axiomatic that the
authority to modify an accountability measure should NOT lie with those who
are being held accountable.  It is especially ironic that in this instance
the lack of accountability goes to the comment period on enhancing
accountability -- but I would think that staff should not have this power,
no matter what the subject matter of the public comment is ...

Paul

Paul Rosenzweig
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-----Original Message-----
From: David Post [mailto:david.g.post at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 10:19 AM
To: Roelof Meijer
Cc: ccNSO Members; CCWG Accountability; directors at omadhina.net;
cctldworld at icann.org; J. William Semich; ccTLD Community List
Subject: Re: [CCWG-ACCT] [ccnso-members] about the CCWG 30-day comment
period

It's a good reminder of why ICANN needs better accountability mechanisms . .
.

>The public comment announcement includes the remark "Because this 
>(first) Public Comment period is less than the required 40-day minimum, 
>it has been approved by two ICANN Global Leaders." The term Global 
>Leaders is a reference to senior members of the ICANN staff and the 
>condition was created to ensure that a check existed so that a single 
>ICANN department would not depart from the standard default time period 
>without broader senior staff input.  The public comment guidelines and 
>procedures are available on the public wiki
>https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=48344695

ICANN staff are not a sufficient check on other ICANN staff - it's pretty
simple. ICANN staff work for ICANN, obviously, and are, obviously, beholden
to it (s they should be, as employees).  They will do - or try to do - what
they ultimately think the corporation (i.e., the
Board) wants, because their jobs are dependent on that.  There's absolutely
nothing wrong with that
- but to think of it as a "check" on pressure to depart from the required
40-day comment period is pretty deeply flawed.

David

At 09:18 AM 5/6/2015, Roelof Meijer wrote:
>I am wondering: when Adam writes ³we² our group seems to think he means 
>³ICANN staff².
>I do not think ICANN staff has set our time table. I read Adam¹s "You 
>will remember this has been our intention since we discussed planning 
>in Istanbul, and we concluded this discussion on the CCWG call of 30 
>April.² as us, the CCWG, deciding on it.
>
>Completely off-topic, but so ridiculous that I cannot help myself: if 
>ICANN senior staff are now described as ³ICANN GlobalLeaders², what 
>would that make its CEO? ICANN Leader of the Universe? OMG...
>
>Cheers,
>
>Roelof
>
>
>
>
>On 06-05-15 00:04, "J. William Semich" <bill at nunames.nu> wrote:
>
> >
> >I agree with Dr. Lisse 100%.
> >
> >ICANN staff must not set the timetables for any consensus process. 
> >Nor should any committee (co-)chairs.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Bill Semich
> >.NU Domain
> >
> >On May 5, 2015, at 5:11 PM, Dr Eberhard W Lisse <el at lisse.NA> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> So,
> >>
> >> now ICANN staff decides what comment period is acceptable.
> >>
> >> Outrageously unacceptable and objected to.
> >>
> >> I am still waiting for the response to my request to be provided 
> >>with the notes or emails where this was discussed and approved by the
CCWG.
> >>
> >> el
> >>
> >> --
> >> Sent from Dr Lisse's iPad mini
> >>
> >>> On May 5, 2015, at 21:41, Adam Peake <adam.peake at icann.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Note on behalf of Thomas, Leon and Mathieu about the CCWG proposal 
> >>>30-day  public comment period.
> >>>
> >>> Hi everyone,
> >>>
> >>> We have seen comments about the 30-day public comment period.  You 
> >>>will  remember this has been our intention since we discussed 
> >>>planning in  Istanbul, and we concluded this discussion on the CCWG 
> >>>call of 30 April.
> >>> The outcome was to propose the first public comment should be for 
> >>>30 days,  which would allow time for us to prepare a response for 
> >>>the ICANN meeting  in  Buenos Aires.  It is particularly important 
> >>>that we are able to  respond to the dependencies identified by the 
> >>>CWG-Stewardship.
> >>>
> >>> Recognizing that the shorter public comment is not ideal for a 
> >>>subject of  such importance to the community, we also took into 
> >>>account the fact that  we will to hold a second public comment 
> >>>period some weeks after ICANN53  when we will seek input on any 
> >>>outstanding issues and provide details and  explanation prompted by 
> >>>discussions with the community from the first  public comment and 
> >>>during ICANN53.
> >>>
> >>> The public comment announcement includes the remark "Because this
> >>>(first)
> >>> Public Comment period is less than the required 40-day minimum, it 
> >>>has  been approved by two ICANN Global Leaders."  The term Global 
> >>>Leaders is a  reference to senior members of the ICANN staff and 
> >>>the condition was  created to ensure that a check existed so that a 
> >>>single ICANN department  would not depart from the standard default 
> >>>time period without broader  senior staff input.  The public 
> >>>comment guidelines and procedures are  available on the public wiki
> >>> https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=48344695
> >>>
> >>> Warm regards,
> >>>
> >>> Thomas, Leon and Mathieu
> >>> CCWG co-chairs
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list 
> >>> Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org
> >>> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-communi
> >>> ty
> >>
> >
> >
>
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>Accountability-Cross-Community at icann.org
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*******************************
David G Post - Senior Fellow, Open Technology Institute/New America
Foundation blog (Volokh Conspiracy)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-post
book (Jefferson's Moose)  http://tinyurl.com/c327w2n music
http://tinyurl.com/davidpostmusic  publications etc.
http://www.davidpost.com
*******************************  

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