[council] Draft reply Council on GNSO reform

[Anthony Harris]

I agree with Tim on this.

Tony Harris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Ruiz" <tim at godaddy.com>
To: "Avri Doria" <avri at psg.com>
Cc: "Council GNSO" <council at gnso.icann.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 8:09 AM
Subject: RE: [council] Draft reply Council on GNSO reform


> 
> Avri, I don't see representation and inclusiveness as separable.
> 
> Regarding WGs I think that stakeholder representation should be an
> important measure of inclusiveness, and a critical measure of consensus.
> I would hate to see the WG process become a gaming mechanism ruled by
> shear numbers without regard to whether all stakeholder's views have
> been given equal time and treatment, or have consensus measured simply
> by numbers without regard to all stakeholder interests.
> 
> I believe the challenge the Council has as it defines the WG guidelines
> is to not lose sight of the fact that there are very distinct interest
> groups affected in various ways, good or bad, by ICANN policy. All of
> these groups deserve to be included (represented) and the Council should
> not allow one group to be completely drowned out by the shear numbers of
> another.
> 
> 
> Tim 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [council] Draft reply Council on GNSO reform
> From: Avri Doria <avri at psg.com>
> Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 8:26 pm
> To: Council GNSO <council at gnso.icann.org>
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for getting this out so quickly.
> 
> A possible addition: While I am not sure that we have consensus on 
> the details of proxy voting, might we want to mention that we do want 
> a consideration of proxy voting with details to be worked out during 
> the transition period?
> 
> Other points:
> 
> 3.1 While I agree in principle with this, I am not sure that the 
> general notion of representation is necessarily the criteria I would 
> emphasise. I would prefer to talk about the appropriateness of the 
> process and perhaps mention the possibility that sometimes a small 
> invited team which is representative of the relevant stockholders 
> would be a better choice.
> 
> 3.2 I tend to think that putting a lot of responsibility on the WG 
> chair is a good thing. Though I also think, as I mentioned in my 
> personal statement to the BGWG-WG, that the Council retains an 
> important management responsibility for these working groups and that 
> in all cases at least one council member should be assigned to act as 
> a representative steward for the WG and should should share the 
> burden with the WG chair(s) with respective responsibilities. I also 
> think we need to design and document some standard guidelines for WGs 
> that all WG chairs and participants can use and that we need to 
> create a process for the council to provide an appeals function for 
> disputes between WG participants and WG chairs. I believe that for 
> rough consensus to work, it must be possible to appeal the consensus 
> call made by a chair. In this case, I see this as a council 
> responsibility.
> 
> Perhaps a reply like:
> 
> More thought is needed here, especially on the design of the WG 
> process and on the responsibilities of the council, the chairs and 
> the participants in a WG. Discussions on these issues should be part 
> of the transition process.
> 
> 
> 4.1b: Again I agree with Supporting this but I do not think that 
> representativeness is the issue here. If I understand the 
> architecture they are proposing, the council is the locus for 
> representation, while the WG is the locus for inclusion. WGs are 
> more inclusive, while the council will remain representative of the 
> stakeholders and their interests. I suggest removing the text on 
> representativeness, but leaving the statement of support.
> 
> 
> 5.2 I think this is a critical point. I think it is important to 
> emphasise that the council needs to be responsible for more then just 
> process management but is responsible for policy management. While 
> this may not be a legislative function, i am not sure it is that now, 
> it is certainly critical that the council not lose its ability to 
> make policy recommendations and that it not be restricted to just 
> passing on the work of the working groups. At the very least the 
> policy work of many WGs must be coordinated so as to not produce 
> contradictory recommendations. I wonder if we can't add something 
> that says:
> 
> We think it is important that the policy management role of the 
> council not be abrogated or diminished.
> 
> thanks again,
> 
> a.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 21 nov 2007, at 09.03, Philip Sheppard wrote:
> 
>> As agreed on yesterday's Council call, I promised to draft a short 
>> paper as a "straw man" listing those recommendations on GNSO reform 
>> that may be supportable by Council as a whole.
>> Given the deadline is submission by 30 November I thought I'd 
>> better get a move on.
>>
>> Not surprisingly those listed are ones seeking:
>> - improvements in policy development and timeline flexibility,
>> - improvements in communications,
>> - improvements in outreach
>> - greater support for constituencies.
>>
>> I have left out proposals on structural change suspecting we will 
>> have differing views.
>>
>> On working groups, I am proposing a partial support, suspecting we 
>> mostly feel they will work for much policy work, but that tying our 
>> hands to have ONLY working groups for EVERY issue before us would 
>> be too inflexible.
>>
>> I hope I have captured areas of potential agreement. Your first 
>> comments please by November 25 after which time I'll edit a 
>> proposed final version.
>> Comments can be as simple as - "yes I/we support" or can be 
>> proposals to strike one of the proposed areas of agreement. In that 
>> case, a word of explanation would be good to share.
>>
>>
>>
>> Philip <GNSO reply reform proposals 2007v1.doc>
> 
> 
>