[registrars] Terms of Reference for GNSO review

Thu Aug 25 02:32:20 UTC 2005

Hello Ross,

Thanks for consolidating this input.

Given that there will be a teleconference on the terms of reference in
around 10 hours, it would be helpful to post this as the result of
current input provided by registrars to the Council list.

Regards,
Bruce

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ross Rader [mailto:ross at tucows.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, 25 August 2005 7:28 AM
> To: Bruce Tonkin
> Cc: registrars at dnso.org
> Subject: Re: [registrars] Terms of Reference for GNSO review
> 
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> 
> >> Please review the attached document produced by Dr Liz 
> Williams based 
> >> on discussions with members of the ICANN community and let 
> me know if 
> >> you have any comments/suggestions.  The document will be 
> discussed on 
> >> a GNSO Council teleconference later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> Bruce -
> 
> I've synthesized a unified document that includes the 
> additional comments and input that you and Tim put forth 
> earlier this week. As you've indicated, it would be useful to 
> get the views of others as well.
> 
> 
> Comments:
> 
> page 3, "Representativeness"
> 
> - - regarding whether or not there are barriers to the 
> participation all who are willing to contribute to the work 
> of the GNSO. This should be clarified to specify 
> "inappropriate barriers". The registrar constituency, for 
> instance, has a set of bylaws that limits membership to 
> accredited registrars. It would be inappropriate if the GNSO 
> had this same limitation. Further, we should also seek to 
> understand the extent of the value of the GNSO's other 
> participatory mechanisms such as public forums at physical 
> meetings, the public comments processes within the PDP and 
> the capability for like-minded parties to form new constituencies.
> 
> - - regarding whether the ICANN community is satisfied with 
> the policy advice it receives from the GNSO. This needs to be 
> amended to question whether the ICANN Board is satisfied with 
> the policy recommendations it receives from the GNSO. As you 
> know, the GNSO doesn't provide policy outside of the PDP, of 
> which the board is the sole recipient.
> 
> - - regarding whether other supporting organizations and 
> advisory committees have effective opportunities to 
> participate in the policy development process. This question 
> may be more useful if we seek to discover perceptions by 
> asking in a modified format if these other bodies "believe 
> they have an effective opportunity to participate...".
> While somewhat unquantifiable, it will likely uncover 
> additional ways that we can accomodate the unique 
> requirements of these groups in our processes. Specific 
> examination of the perceived relevancy of the constituency 
> input process and public input process to these other groups 
> would be useful.
> 
> page 3, "Authority"
> 
> - - regarding whether the GNSO Council Bylaws need amending 
> in any way.
> The answer to this question should come as one of the 
> possible results of this review. It is unclear what we seek 
> to discover by simply asking whether or not the bylaws need 
> to be amended and therefore, the question should either be 
> made more specific or probably more appropriately, just 
> removed entirely.
> 
> page 4, "Authority"
> 
> - - regarding whether there is fairness within the 
> constituencies. This is a very soft and subjective question. 
> It would be useful to define what is intended by the term 
> "fairness" or undertake a more detailed examination of the 
> constituencies and there processes to ensure that the 
> question is done justice. In the absence of a definition or 
> detailed examination, it may suffice to simply test 
> perceptions by asking whether or not the processes in 
> question are "fair", and if not, why.
> 
> - - regarding whether weighted voting skews policy outcomes. 
> Of course it does. This is why it was implemented. This 
> question should be replaced with one that attempts to 
> discover if the objectives behind weighted voting are being 
> met and whether or not adjustments to the weighting should be made.
> 
> - - regarding an examination of the appropriateness and 
> effectiveness of the relationships between ICANN staff and 
> the constituencies. This should be expanded to include the 
> relationships between ICANN staff and the council, ICANN 
> board and the council and ICANN board and the constituencies.
> 
> page 4, "Effectiveness"
> 
> - - regarding an examination of the benefit to all affected 
> parties of the use of ICANN time and resource in developing 
> policy positions. It is unclear what aspect of ICANN this 
> question is probing. ICANN Staff?
> Community? GNSO? Board? This should be clarified. Further, 
> this question should be expanded to include an examination of 
> the effectiveness of the GNSO Staff Manager and the 
> administrative and operational support provided by ICANN 
> staff per Article X. Section 4.1. and 4.2 of the bylaws.
> 
> - - regarding whether or not the PDP process should be 
> amended. Again, as with the bylaws amendments, these answers 
> should come as a result of this process. To the extent that 
> the PDP is being analysed, specific attention should be 
> focused on whether or not the Board, the GNSO and other 
> stakeholders prefer to focus on the process or the output. In 
> other words, a lot of the complaints about the PDP relate to 
> the amount of time that it takes to create and implement 
> policy. It is not well understood if this is a failure of the 
> process or a natural function of the complexity of the issue 
> being examined.
> 
> - - regarding whether an analysis is required about whether 
> ICANN is satisfied with the advice it receives from the 
> constituencies. This question does not reflect GNSO 
> processes. It should be clarified to state whether or not the 
> ICANN Board is satisfied with the policy recommendations it 
> receives from the Council and possibly expanded to include a 
> question asking whether or not the Council is satisfied with 
> the participation that it sees from the constituencies.
> 
> page 4, "Transparency"
> 
> - - regarding whether policy decisions are made in a way 
> which demonstrates that participants are accountable to the 
> Internet community. This question needs to be clarified to 
> adequately define the term "accountable". Policy decisions 
> are made by ICANN's board. To the extent that the GNSO 
> participants assist in developing recommedations for the 
> board, they typically represent specific interests or 
> entities within the process - not the internet community in 
> general. Generally speaking, this is done with the intent of 
> improving the policies by which we pursue ICANN's mandate, 
> but it is unclear that the GNSO has a specific accountability 
> to the general internet community.
> 
> It would be useful to also seek to understand the nature and 
> role of the various accountabilities - actual and desired - 
> between the GNSO, the council, the constituencies, staff and board.
> 
> Further, this question seeks answers regarding the use of 
> "statements of interest". This is an undefined term and may 
> be taken to mean the use of statement of conflicts of 
> interest or statements of stakeholder impact.
> To the extent this is referring to the former, we should seek 
> to discover the degree to which these are used within the 
> GNSO today and better understand whether or not current 
> disclosure practices are sufficient.
> 
> page 5, "Quantifying Representativeness, Authority, 
> Effectiveness & Transparency"
> 
> - - regarding measuring these concepts objectively and 
> subjectively. Small clarification - the comparisons described 
> should be made against other
> *similar* organizations.
> 
> - - regarding the examination of the PDP. Additional 
> measurement of actual process output should be contemplated, 
> specifically, impact and effectiveness of implemented 
> policies and so on.
> 
> page 5, "Capturing and Mapping Perceptions"
> 
> - - regarding interpretation and examination of the use of 
> concepts used in the Bylaws. This question should specify 
> where the application of these concepts will be measure (i.e. 
> w/ in constituency processes, w/ in council processes, w/ in 
> the GNSO as a whole, etc.)
> 
> Please let me know if I need to clarify any this for you.
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> - --
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                       -rwr
> 
> 
> 
> Contact info: http://www.blogware.com/profiles/ross
> Skydasher: A great way to start your day My weblog: 
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