[CWG-Stewardship] Contract, Co. and the root zone publisher

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
>. So would we also agree that the CSC should oversee the performance
> of the root zone publisher ?

Absolutely. At least, in my opinion. The entire separation between the IANA as RZ editor and Verisign as RZ manager/publisher is not written in stone and need not last forever. 

I am well known as an advocate of structural and functional separation of ICANN from IANA functions, but there is not necessarily a strong case for further separation of the editorial and operational functions. Longer term it is possible, and arguably desirable, for those aspects of the IANA functions to be integrated. Currently, everyone trusts Verisign to do this because of their operational excellence and strong infrastructure, and many people would have a serious problem trusting ICANN to take over that role because its management is focused entirely on policy development and enforcement and lacks an operational focus. 

I think when the full panoply of RZM functions are taken into account (including what Verisign currently does), people can understand better why one might want them separated from the policy aspects.