[council] Draft Charter for new Whois Working Group

[Ute Decker]

Thanks to Maria for the WHOIS working group charter.  

I think the wording of the objective under (3) is open enough to
accommodate the outline for the WG the Council already agreed.  Given
the role of the Council as a policy setting committee it would seem odd
for us to look at implementation issues only.  

I also don't see a reason to change 4 (b) - I am reasonably confident
that the phrase 'how third parties may access registration data' in 4
(b) par. 1 assumes the WG will also discuss mechanisms to determine WHO
can have access in that manner - as a matter of fact it seems impossible
to discuss one without the other. 

The reference to the GAC policy principles under 4(b) is obviously
crucial.  These have just come out and at Council level we cannot ignore
them - I also believe we decided in Marrakech that the Council would
discuss WHOIS building on the task force report and in the light of the
GAC principles.

Best wishes
Ute

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-council at gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org]
On Behalf Of Robin Gross
Sent: 11 April 2007 19:50
To: Maria Farrell; 'Council GNSO'
Subject: Re: [council] Draft Charter for new Whois Working Group

NCUC amends this motion to include one additional point of clarification

that is necessary to keep this working group focused. 

The objective proposed in the draft charter is badly worded because it 
would allow for each and every recommendation of the previous whois task

force to be revisited ("examine the issues raised with respect to the 
policy recommendation of the task force and make recommendations 
concerning how those policies may be improved...).

This new working group is not meant to "undo" the three years of work on

the whois task force.  Therefore it is important that we keep this new 
working group on track by more clearly stating the objective.

NCUC proposes to amend the basic objective [new words in CAPS] as
follows:

"The objective of the working group is to examine the IMPLEMENTATION  
issues raised BY the recommendED OPOC PROPOSAL of the task force, and 
make recommendations concerning how THE OPOC PROPOSAL may be IMPLEMENTED

IN A WAY TO ADDRESS THOSE ISSUES."

Thank you,
Robin

Robin Gross wrote:

> In considering this WG charter April 12, NCUC moves to amend it as 
> follows:
>
> Under section 4b, Change the sentence "Determine how third parties may

> access
> registration data that is no longer available for unrestricted public
> query-based access for legitimate activities."
> to...
> Determine which third parties, under which conditions, may access
> registration data that is no longer available for unrestricted public
> query-based access."
> Also, strike the 8 paragraphs beginning "The GAC policy
> principles...."
>
> Reason:
> The opening sentence of 4b reads as if ANY third party will be given
> access to the data for any activity. But this begs the policy question
> that the WG must answer, which is WHICH third parties (e.g., just law
> enforcement agencies, or others) and under WHAT CONDITIONS.
>
> As for the second change, having discussed this with GAC members, the
> objections of the EU to the language was resolved by stating that some
> of the ACTIVITIES that Whois data was used for was legitimate, but
this
> did not necessarily mean that ACCESS TO THE PRIVATE DATA was also
> legitimate. Also, the Whois task force has already determined that the
> purpose of Whois does not include many of these activities, so there
is
> no obligation on ICANN to make the data available for those
activities.
>
>
> Thank you,
> Robin
>
>
> Ross Rader wrote:
>
>> Maria -
>>
>> Many thanks for turning this around so quickly. The draft is  
>> generally great. I'd like to suggest that the section entitled "work

>> plan" uses the relevant text of the resolution instead of the  
>> language currently employed. In a couple of places, the work plan  
>> outlines a much greater scope of work than that contemplated by the  
>> resolutions, specifically;
>>
>> 4.a proposed expands the examination of the definition of the roles  
>> to all contacts, whereas the resolution only sought to examine the  
>> definition of the operational point of contact.
>>
>> 4.b proposed requests the WG to determine how third parties may  
>> access unpublished data for legitimate activities, whereas the  
>> resolution only seeks to describe how legitimate interests will  
>> access unpublished data. The difference seems small, but the 
>> proposed  language requests the creation of a comprehensive proposal 
>> that  describes an access mechanism for a long list of "legitimate  
>> activities" rather than a proposal that describes an access 
>> mechanism  for use by legitimate interests.
>>
>> 4.c proposed additionally requests the WG to determine how the  
>> distinctions should be made whereas the Council resolution only  
>> sought to discover if the distinctions in question were possible to  
>> make.
>>
>> In each of these cases, it might just make the most sense to rely on

>> the text of the original resolution as ratified by Council to ensure

>> that we don't lose clarity on our actual objectives.
>>
>> Second, a question. Concerning the issue of defining agreement. When

>> it comes to understanding what constitutes "broad agreement", will  
>> this be measured on the views shared by individuals or interest
groups?
>>
>> Finally, in order to ensure that we're all working from the same  
>> foundation, it might make sense to specifically include the policy  
>> recommendations of the task force in the document itself, either as 
>> a  summary, or an annex that we can easily refer to. The policy  
>> recommendations that I am referring to are included in section 4 of  
>> the report, as per the clarifications I made during our discuss at  
>> the recent Council meeting.
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> -ross
>>
>>
>>
>> On 30-Mar-07, at 2:51 PM, Maria Farrell wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Council members,
>>>
>>> Attached is the draft Charter that sets out the statement of work
and
>>> working methodologies of the Whois Working Group, created by  
>>> resolution of
>>> the GNSO Council in Lisbon, on 28 March.
>>>
>>> Please review it and note that it will be an agenda item for  
>>> discussion and
>>> adoption at the next Council meeting on 12 April.
>>>
>>> Also, please email this list if you wish to be on the Working  
>>> Group, and
>>> feel free to to put any interested constituency members or outside  
>>> experts
>>> in touch with me for further information.
>>>
>>> All the best, Maria
>>> <Whois Working Group Charter2.doc>
>>
>>
>>
>> Ross Rader
>> Director, Retail Services
>> t. 416.538.5492
>> c. 416.828.8783
>> http://www.domaindirect.com
>>
>> "To solve the problems of today, we must focus on tomorrow."
>> - Erik Nupponen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>