Hi Mark, all: I have a question about one part of your statement: On 29 July 2015 at 00:00, Mark Carvell <mark.carvell@culture.gov.uk> wrote: <snip>
Furthermore, these procedures may risk subordinating the global public interest if the GAC position on an issue (which conceivably it could also have initiated) were to be outvoted by other constituencies for example. In that scenario, I would expect that the view of governments would be that such community decisions would be rendered fundamentally unsafe.
Unless I am mistaken, this can happen today. The ICANN Board is obliged to pay attention to GAC advice, but in the end is not obliged to follow it. That would presumably be the same in a context where GAC had a proportion of votes in a community mechanism, it could also see its concerns considered seriously but not adopted. You aren't implying or suggesting that this should change, are you? thanks, Jordan
Such constraints on participation present challenges to how government representatives fulfil their obligations in the new architecture of ICANN accountability and community empowerment but they should not be insurmountable: we will have to be inventive with regard to the precise modalities for governments to opt into these community-wide processes to ensure that the public interest is served when high level decisions are taken by the community that will impact on the Internet's critical infrastructure.
Kind regards
Mark
Mark Carvell United Kingdom Representative on the GAC
-- Jordan Carter Chief Executive *InternetNZ* +64-495-2118 (office) | +64-21-442-649 (mob) Email: jordan@internetnz.net.nz Skype: jordancarter *A better world through a better Internet *