Hi, On Wed, Jan 06, 2016 at 07:03:10PM +0000, Burr, Becky wrote:
Is attached in DRAFT FORM.
There are some questions in the draft, and in the interests of cutting down mic time in the meeting I have some observations. Sorry these are so close to the conference call, but I couldn't send sooner. Does ICANN’s fundamental Mission to ensure “stable and secure operation” of the DNS, and its various Commitments (i.e., to use processes that enable compe;;on, and to preserve stability, reliability, security, global interoperability, resilience, and openness) adequately address [consumer protection] concern? I say it does. If users are abused by the operation of the DNS, they won't trust it, and that will undermine the stable and secure operation. On "including the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone as a result of those policies," I don't object to the inclusion. But the board's overall proposed language is troubling: In this role, ICANN’s scope includes the coordination of the development and implementation of domain name policies (including the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone as a result of those policies.) First, the move to "includes" is in effect an unbounded scope, because it does not state where the end of the inclusion lies. But more troubling, this says, "development and implementation of domain name policies," as though ICANN has responsibility for domain names other than the root zone. It never has, it does not today, it should not, and it must not. The DNS is a system of distributed authority: the SOA record, which marks a zone cut, is so named because it stands for "Start of Authority". ICANN has no more business telling me what to do in anvilwalrusden.com or crankycanuck.ca than I have business in telling them how to run icann.org. ICANN can make policies about under what conditions it will delegate from the root zone, and for those policies to have teeth it can of course say that if the delegated zone does not conform with a policy the delegation will be removed (although that has interesting stability implications). It can also make policies about any other zone for which it is the authority (such as icann.org). But it cannot make policies for domain names in general. This is a consequence of the DNS architecture. Best regards, A -- Andrew Sullivan ajs@anvilwalrusden.com