That many participating in shaping ICANN are lawyers is a problem in that lawyers may know to look up cases and case precedence though are disconnected from the real workings of what takes place on the 'street.' Supporting destruction of Trademarks with this blatantly destructive rollout of domains, globally and without prior permission of trademarks owners is That many participating in shaping ICANN are lawyers is a problem in that lawyers may know to look up cases and case precedence though are disconnected from the real workings of what takes place on the 'street.' Supporting destruction of Trademarks with this rollout of domains, globally and without prior permission of trademarks owners is blatantly destructive to economies and Content creators investments. Sincerely Carrie Devorah Founder THE CENTER FOR COPYRIGHT INTEGRITY www.centerforcopyrightintegrity.com On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Burr, Becky <Becky.Burr@neustar.biz> wrote:

I share the view that the long term accountability of ICANN is fundamentally important, indeed critical to the success of the multi-stakeholder process. I have said that many times in the past and welcome this opportunity to actually create meaningful accountability for ICANN.

That said, the Board of Directors of any company has certain legal obligations to the institution and the stakeholders. In this case, these obligations include the need to ensure that accountability structures can be implemented and operated consistent with applicable law, the Bylaws, etc.. Therefore, I think it is appropriate that the Board have a voice in this process, including the right to conclude that one recommendation or another is not consistent with applicable law and fiduciary duties. As Bruce indicates in his email, the Board has committed to working with the community on areas of disagreement. Also, as Bruce suggests, NTIA has clearly linked the IANA transition to enhanced accountability.

I am mindful of the fact that while many participants in this process are lawyers, the experts group is still trying to identify appropriate legal resources for the work of the accountability CWG. I hope that situation is resolved soon.

J. Beckwith Burr

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*From:* accountability-cross-community-bounces@icann.org [mailto: accountability-cross-community-bounces@icann.org] *On Behalf Of *Kavouss Arasteh *Sent:* Monday, December 15, 2014 12:16 AM *To:* Bruce Tonkin *Cc:* Alissa Cooper (alcoop@cisco.com); Accountability Cross Community *Subject:* Re: [CCWG-Accountability] Regarding Board treatment of the output of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability

Dear Bruce,

Thank you very much for the message.

That is the area of our disagreement.

In my view and the view of my country, the long term accountability of ICANN is a fundamental and crucial matter and should not be subject to the Board VETO

I therefore have serious difficulties with that

Regards

Kavouss

2014-12-15 0:23 GMT+01:00 Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>:

Hello Kavouss,

...

...

In addition to what I informed you before is that , Under WS 1 they already agreed to the terms and conditions as stipulated in the Board Resolution adopted in LA I.E. ALLOWING THE BOARD TO VETO the content of the accountability whereas in case of ICG we have clearly mentioned that the Board should not modify the ICG work and send it as it was received to NTIA .However, should the Board has any comment, they may send it separately to NTIA In case of CWG and WS1 of CCWG, it is not the case.

From my understanding there are two separate but related activities.

The IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) is developing a proposal to send to NTIA for the IANA transition. This proposal could incorporate the output of this Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability. The ICANN Board's liaison on the ICG - Kuo Wei Wu - has conveyed to that group that the Board will send the report onto the NTIA without making any changes. The Board will send an accompanying letter which will either endorse the report, or it will express concerns that will already have been shared with the ICG through the various opportunities for public comment and dialogue.

This Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability is developing recommendations for improvements of ICANN's accountability. These improvements can be made irrespective of whether the NTIA chooses to change its role with respect to the IANA function. The Board of ICANN is committed to making continuous improvements in its accountability mechanisms. The ICANN bylaws are clear on how the Board will approve policy recommendations from the supporting organisations (GNSO, ASO and ccNSO), but there is no explicit material in the bylaws for how the Board will process recommendations directly from a cross-community working group. The Board resolution passed in Los Angeles ( https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2014-10-16-en#2.d <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.icann.org_resources...>) was intended to set clear expectations for how the recommendations would be treated. The assumption is that the Board will approve the recommendations from this group, and implement those recommendations. If the Board feels that it would not be in the public interest to implement a particular recommendation it has set out a process for working with the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability to resolve the matter. The Board will not make any changes to a recommendation or report from this group. It is up to the CCWG to make or change any of its recommendations.

Separately, I expect that the NTIA could make the ICANN Board's approval and implementation of improved accountability mechanisms proposed by this group as a pre-condition to any transition.

I hope that helps.

Regards, Bruce Tonkin

ICANN Board Liaison to the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__mm.icann.org_mailman_li...>

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-- Sincerely CARRIE Devorah 562 688 2883 DISCLAIMER : With the continuing crossing and interfacing of platforms both on & off line both with & without our knowledge nor approval to note nothing sent over the Internet anymore is ever private nor should be presumed to be so. If it is that much of a secret, say nothing. If you must? Take a lesson from our military- hand write the note, chew then swallow

Hello Kavouss,

...

I have noted that many of us still have not properly realized the scope and sphere of accountability See below what can be designated the original or   core «sense of accountability is that associated with the process of being called to “account” to some authority for one’s action Such accountability has a number of features:

For sake of discussion, I will use the definition of accountability from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountability “In governance, accountability has expanded beyond the basic definition of "being called to account for one's actions". It is frequently described as an account-giving relationship between individuals, e.g. "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct".

...

It is external, it involves social interactions, and exchange and it implies rights of asserting in those calling for an account are asserting rights of superior authority in those calling for an “account «over those who are accountable including the rights of demand answers and to raw consequences ,possibly, including the imposition of sanctions

Not sure how you are defining "external" here. For example, a national Government could be said to be primarily accountable to the citizens of the nation. I would have thought that was "internal" to the jurisdiction of the national Government. Now there may in addition be some external accountability mechanisms - e.g. if a nation is violating an international treaty, other nations may impose some form of economic sanctions. Many non-profit membership organizations -e.g. ISOC - are accountable to their members. The members are not staff members or Board directors, so to that extent they could be considered external - but I would think that the members are actually the fundamental part of the organization - ie internal. Organizations must also obey the national laws in the regions where they operate - so to that extent there are also external mechanisms of accountability and consequences should there be any misconduct.. ICANN itself doesn’t directly has members, but the supporting organisations and advisory committees that make up ICANN do have members. So the SOs and ACs could be said to be accountable to their members. The SOs and ACs directly elect some ICANN Board members, and other Board members are appointed by a nominating committee that is drawn from the SOs and ACs. So I think there are a range of internal and external accountability mechanisms - but I think ICANN today at least is primarily held accountable by people in the ICANN community that are members of the SOs and ACs.

...

Accountability is described as involving justification of an action’s performance vis a vis others, the assessment of judgment if that performance against certain standards and possible imposition of consequences if the actor fails to live up to applicable standards.

Makes sense to me.

...

I wish to comment on your statement that ICANN may reject a Recommendation if it is against public interest. What are the criteria based on which ICANN  could decide that a given Recommendation is against public interest?

As noted in other posts, ultimately I think it is up to the ICANN community to develop some clearer definitions of public interest in the context of ICANN's mission. For now the Board members will need to make their own judgement, but the Board itself is drawn from the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees of ICANN, and also draws people from a range of geographical regions with a range of cultural backgrounds. Any decision made here would be a collective view of the Board taking into account the various perspectives Board members may have on the general definition of "public Interest". As noted here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_interest the public interest at a general level can be defined as the welfare or well-being of the general public.

...

There are many unanswered questions.

There are indeed. I look forward to hearing the group answer some of these in the course of its work. Regards, Bruce Tonkin

May I second that request? I can certainly see arguments that lawyers will need to address regarding the applicability of California law, but I would have thought that recommendations from the CCWG on accountability would be per se a definition of what community sees as "in the public interest." On what criteria would the Board override those? Paul **NOTE: OUR NEW ADDRESS -- EFFECTIVE 12/15/14 *** 509 C St. NE Washington, DC 20002 Paul Rosenzweig <mailto:paul.rosenzweigesq@redbranchconsulting.com> paul.rosenzweig@redbranchconsulting.com O: +1 (202) 547-0660 M: +1 (202) 329-9650 Skype: +1 (202) 738-1739 or paul.rosenzweig1066 <http://www.redbranchconsulting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl e&id=19&Itemid=9> Link to my PGP Key From: Jordan Carter [mailto:jordan@internetnz.net.nz] Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 12:52 PM Cc: Accountability Cross Community Subject: Re: [CCWG-Accountability] Regarding Board treatment of the output of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability Dear Bruce, Thank you for this helpful note. Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"? Many thanks Jordan On 15 December 2014 at 12:23, Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au <mailto:Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au> > wrote: Hello Kavouss,

...

In addition to what I informed you before is that , Under WS 1 they already agreed to the terms and conditions as stipulated in the Board Resolution adopted in LA I.E. ALLOWING THE BOARD TO VETO the content of the accountability whereas in case of ICG we have clearly mentioned that the Board should not modify the ICG work and send it as it was received to NTIA .However, should the Board has any comment, they may send it separately to NTIA In case of CWG and WS1 of CCWG, it is not the case.

From my understanding there are two separate but related activities.

The IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) is developing a proposal to send to NTIA for the IANA transition. This proposal could incorporate the output of this Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability. The ICANN Board's liaison on the ICG - Kuo Wei Wu - has conveyed to that group that the Board will send the report onto the NTIA without making any changes. The Board will send an accompanying letter which will either endorse the report, or it will express concerns that will already have been shared with the ICG through the various opportunities for public comment and dialogue. This Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability is developing recommendations for improvements of ICANN's accountability. These improvements can be made irrespective of whether the NTIA chooses to change its role with respect to the IANA function. The Board of ICANN is committed to making continuous improvements in its accountability mechanisms. The ICANN bylaws are clear on how the Board will approve policy recommendations from the supporting organisations (GNSO, ASO and ccNSO), but there is no explicit material in the bylaws for how the Board will process recommendations directly from a cross-community working group. The Board resolution passed in Los Angeles (https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2014-10-16-en#2. d) was intended to set clear expectations for how the recommendations would be treated. The assumption is that the Board will approve the recommendations from this group, and implement those recommendations. If the Board feels that it would not be in the public interest to implement a particular recommendation it has set out a process for working with the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability to resolve the matter. The Board will not make any changes to a recommendation or report from this group. It is up to the CCWG to make or change any of its recommendations. Separately, I expect that the NTIA could make the ICANN Board's approval and implementation of improved accountability mechanisms proposed by this group as a pre-condition to any transition. I hope that helps. Regards, Bruce Tonkin ICANN Board Liaison to the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org <mailto:Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community -- Jordan Carter Chief Executive InternetNZ 04 495 2118 (office) | +64 21 442 649 (mob) jordan@internetnz.net.nz <mailto:jordan@internetnz.net.nz> Skype: jordancarter To promote the Internet's benefits and uses, and protect its potential.

Dear Bruce, Regarding Jordan Carter and Paul Rosenzweigs request for an early position on the public interest: beyond the Boards statutory duty to pursue the public interest under the articles of incorporation (which nobody doubts and you have fully described), and given the case the Board would ¨feel¨ the recommendations of the community are not in the public interest, THEN (and only then), I would also expect the Board not only to spell out their own definition of the public interest, but also clearly reason why the recommendations of the community would undermine the public interest. I can´t presume that the community recommendations will diverge from the public interest, but I feel better if the Board, who has a statutory duty on the public interest, has a last word on this. ON top the Board will not change or ¨override¨ anything, just send it back to the community to work it out. Neither is this a VETO, as our good friend Kavouss Arasteh assumes. I´m afraid we are not there yet and we have to stay focused on the accountability issue and hope there is no divergence in the end. Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez

El 15/12/2014, a las 18:55, Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au> escribió:

Hello Jordan,

...

...

Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"?

There is no separate "Board" position on this topic.

The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en

- This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person.

- In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by

(i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet;

(ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space;

(iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system;

(iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and

(v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv).

- The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations.

- No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof.

In addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI

" Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; "

Regards, Bruce Tonkin

ICANN Board Liaison _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community

Dear All, I do not wish to repeat what I indicated in my previous message. Accountability is much beyound to the process of being considered as a recommendation which has optional character Moreover, there is no criteria ,univerally agreed or agreed by the entire multistakeholder, based on which ICANN agree or disagree with the totality or part of the recommendation in question. In addition Board memebrs are designated ( respectful) individuals thus not elected by the multistakeholders or their legal representatiove thus they can not act on behalf of that community since such an authority was not derlegated to the Board Our distinguished Board Liaison is kindly requested not to push CCWG to agree with the Board's views as mentioned in the Resolution . It is not CCWG output it is only board's unilateral decision . Regards Kavouss i 2014-12-16 9:47 GMT+01:00 Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>:

. Hello Carlos,

...

...

THEN (and only then), I would also expect the Board not only to spell out their own definition of the public interest, but also clearly reason why the recommendations of the community would undermine the public interest.

Yes - that is my expectation also.

In addition the Board is also subject to the Independent Review process for Board actions:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#IV

"In addition to the reconsideration process described in Section 2 of this Article, ICANN shall have in place a separate process for independent third-party review of Board actions alleged by an affected party to be inconsistent with the Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws. "

So if the Board is not acting in the public interest as required in its Articles of Incorporation it can be challenged.

...

...

I´m afraid we are not there yet and we have to stay focused on the accountability issue and hope there is no divergence in the end.

Yes - we are all looking forward to the output of this group and are working on the assumption that all recommendations can be implemented.

Regards, Bruce Tonkin

_______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community

Dear Samantha, Thanks for this message and for pointing us to the ICANN Strategic and Operating Plan. As I am coordinating the ccNSO SOP working group comments to the ICANN Operating Plan 2016-2020, I fail to see where on page 28 of the Operating Plan it is stated that “community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework”. Strategic Objective 5 is “Develop and implement a global public interest framework bounded by ICANN’ mission”. as the Operating Plan translates the Strategic Plan into goals and possibly measurable actions, under the various goals linked to the objective 5 it would be desirable to have a specific action to define “public interest” and “public interest framework”, especially considering that the Plan foresees (immediately in FY16) to “create a framework for ICANN’s SOs and ACs to assist them in assessing how their actions are aligned to the public interest”. Best, Giovanni Giovanni Seppia External Relations Manager EURid Woluwelaan 150 1831 Diegem - Belgium TEL: +32 (0) 2 401 2750 MOB:+39 335 8141733 giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu<mailto:giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu> http://www.eurid.eu<http://www.eurid.eu/> [cid:87125317-E234-4CD4-AEFD-DB5FC2016ED4@lan]<http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> Please consider the environment before printing this email. <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> On 16 Dec 2014, at 07:55, Samantha Eisner <Samantha.Eisner@icann.org<mailto:Samantha.Eisner@icann.org>> wrote: Following on from Bruce¹s comments, Defining the public interest has been a recurrent topic of conversation within ICANN. For example, the first ATRT noted that it did not have the full composition of skills or expertise necessary to develop a definition of the public interest (Page 63 https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/final-recommendations-31dec10-e n.pdf). To help full this gap, ICANN included in its Strategic Plan (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/strategic-plan-2016-2020-10oct 14-en.pdf) approved item 5.1 ³Act as a steward of the public interest², where the first key success factor is that decision and policy making structures and processes are ³driven by a clear understanding of the public interest.² (See page 25 of the Strategic Plan). The draft Operating Plan, currently out for public comment, reiterates this Strategic Objective and confirms that community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework bounded by ICANN¹s mission. See page 28 of https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/proposed-opplan-budget-2016-202 0-10nov14-en.pdf. Best, Sam __ Samantha Eisner ICANN Staff Representative On 12/15/14, 4:55 PM, "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au> wrote: Hello Jordan, Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"? There is no separate "Board" position on this topic. The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation: From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en - This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. - In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by (i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet; (ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space; (iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system; (iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and (v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv). - The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations. - No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof. In addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest: From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI " Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; " Regards, Bruce Tonkin ICANN Board Liaison _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community Disclaimer: This email and any attachment hereto is intended solely for the person to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. 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Hi Marika, Thanks. As I wrote, considering that most of the actions in the various phases are deeply connected to the “public interest” definition, it would be desirable have it as a goal rather than a mere “dependency”. Best, Giovanni Giovanni Seppia External Relations Manager EURid Woluwelaan 150 1831 Diegem - Belgium TEL: +32 (0) 2 401 2750 MOB:+39 335 8141733 giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu<mailto:giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu> http://www.eurid.eu<http://www.eurid.eu/> [cid:87125317-E234-4CD4-AEFD-DB5FC2016ED4@lan]<http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> Please consider the environment before printing this email. <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> On 16 Dec 2014, at 09:25, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org<mailto:marika.konings@icann.org>> wrote: Hi Giovanni, I note the following point on page 28 under dependencies: ‘1. Community, Board and Executive involvement in the dialogue regarding the public interest definitions and framework to hold as an ICANN standard’ which I presume is what Sam was referring to. Best regards, Marika From: Giovanni Seppia <Giovanni.Seppia@eurid.eu<mailto:Giovanni.Seppia@eurid.eu>> Date: Tuesday 16 December 2014 08:22 To: Samantha Eisner <Samantha.Eisner@icann.org<mailto:Samantha.Eisner@icann.org>> Cc: Accountability Cross Community <accountability-cross-community@icann.org<mailto:accountability-cross-community@icann.org>> Subject: Re: [CCWG-Accountability] Regarding Board treatment of the output of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability Dear Samantha, Thanks for this message and for pointing us to the ICANN Strategic and Operating Plan. As I am coordinating the ccNSO SOP working group comments to the ICANN Operating Plan 2016-2020, I fail to see where on page 28 of the Operating Plan it is stated that “community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework”. Strategic Objective 5 is “Develop and implement a global public interest framework bounded by ICANN’ mission”. as the Operating Plan translates the Strategic Plan into goals and possibly measurable actions, under the various goals linked to the objective 5 it would be desirable to have a specific action to define “public interest” and “public interest framework”, especially considering that the Plan foresees (immediately in FY16) to “create a framework for ICANN’s SOs and ACs to assist them in assessing how their actions are aligned to the public interest”. Best, Giovanni Giovanni Seppia External Relations Manager EURid Woluwelaan 150 1831 Diegem - Belgium TEL: +32 (0) 2 401 2750 MOB:+39 335 8141733 giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu<mailto:giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu> http://www.eurid.eu<http://www.eurid.eu/> <image004.jpg><http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu/> Please consider the environment before printing this email. <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry><https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> On 16 Dec 2014, at 07:55, Samantha Eisner <Samantha.Eisner@icann.org<mailto:Samantha.Eisner@icann.org>> wrote: Following on from Bruce¹s comments, Defining the public interest has been a recurrent topic of conversation within ICANN. For example, the first ATRT noted that it did not have the full composition of skills or expertise necessary to develop a definition of the public interest (Page 63 https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/final-recommendations-31dec10-e n.pdf). To help full this gap, ICANN included in its Strategic Plan (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/strategic-plan-2016-2020-10oct 14-en.pdf) approved item 5.1 ³Act as a steward of the public interest², where the first key success factor is that decision and policy making structures and processes are ³driven by a clear understanding of the public interest.² (See page 25 of the Strategic Plan). The draft Operating Plan, currently out for public comment, reiterates this Strategic Objective and confirms that community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework bounded by ICANN¹s mission. See page 28 of https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/proposed-opplan-budget-2016-202 0-10nov14-en.pdf. Best, Sam __ Samantha Eisner ICANN Staff Representative On 12/15/14, 4:55 PM, "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au<mailto:Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>> wrote: Hello Jordan, Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"? There is no separate "Board" position on this topic. The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation: From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en - This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. - In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by (i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet; (ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space; (iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system; (iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and (v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv). - The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations. - No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof. In addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest: From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI " Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; " Regards, Bruce Tonkin ICANN Board Liaison _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org<mailto:Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org<mailto:Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community Disclaimer: This email and any attachment hereto is intended solely for the person to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. 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Hi Matthew, colleagues, You raise a very fundamental question my humble opinion is accountability should be tied to the organizations core mission and vision. The bylaws are written to support the achievement of the core mission and vision. It is also critical to consider the boards view on whatever suggestions we make since they are our duly elected wise men whom we expect to agree when they cant agree. On Dec 16, 2014 10:23 AM, "Giovanni Seppia" <Giovanni.Seppia@eurid.eu> wrote:

Dear Samantha,

Thanks for this message and for pointing us to the ICANN Strategic and Operating Plan.

As I am coordinating the ccNSO SOP working group comments to the ICANN Operating Plan 2016-2020, I fail to see where on page 28 of the Operating Plan it is stated that “community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework”.

Strategic Objective 5 is “Develop and implement a global public interest framework bounded by ICANN’ mission”. as the Operating Plan translates the Strategic Plan into goals and possibly measurable actions, under the various goals linked to the objective 5 it would be desirable to have a specific action to define “public interest” and “public interest framework”, especially considering that the Plan foresees (immediately in FY16) to “create a framework for ICANN’s SOs and ACs to assist them in assessing how their actions are aligned to the public interest”.

Best,

Giovanni

Giovanni Seppia *External Relations Manager*

* EURid Woluwelaan 150 1831 Diegem - Belgium TEL: +32 (0) 2 401 2750 <%2B32%20%280%29%202%20401%202750> MOB:+39 335 8141733 <%2B39%20335%208141733> giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu <giovanni.seppia@eurid.eu> http://www.eurid.eu <http://www.eurid.eu/> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> Please consider the environment before printing this email. <http://christmas2014.eurid.eu> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> <https://www.facebook.com/EUregistry> *

On 16 Dec 2014, at 07:55, Samantha Eisner <Samantha.Eisner@icann.org> wrote:

Following on from Bruce¹s comments,

Defining the public interest has been a recurrent topic of conversation within ICANN. For example, the first ATRT noted that it did not have the full composition of skills or expertise necessary to develop a definition of the public interest (Page 63 https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/final-recommendations-31dec10-e n.pdf).

To help full this gap, ICANN included in its Strategic Plan ( https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/strategic-plan-2016-2020-10oct 14-en.pdf) approved item 5.1 ³Act as a steward of the public interest², where the first key success factor is that decision and policy making structures and processes are ³driven by a clear understanding of the public interest.² (See page 25 of the Strategic Plan). The draft Operating Plan, currently out for public comment, reiterates this Strategic Objective and confirms that community dialogue is needed for reaching an common consensus based definition of a public interest framework bounded by ICANN¹s mission. See page 28 of https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/proposed-opplan-budget-2016-202 0-10nov14-en.pdf.

Best,

Sam

__ Samantha Eisner ICANN Staff Representative

On 12/15/14, 4:55 PM, "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au> wrote:

Hello Jordan,

Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"?

There is no separate "Board" position on this topic.

The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en

- This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person.

- In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by

(i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet;

(ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space;

(iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system;

(iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and

(v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv).

- The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations.

- No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof.

In addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI

" Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; "

Regards, Bruce Tonkin

ICANN Board Liaison _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community

_______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community

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Dear Bruce, Jordan, Paul, This is a very useful exchange. I believe it can be related to one of the questions raised by Professor Scholte during the London meeting (Samantha referred to it earlier on this thread) : what is the purpose of Icann's accountability ? I also believe it echoes some of Mr Arasteh's comments. Is Icann's accountable to acting in the public's interest ? If so, what is meant by public interest ? Is Icann's accountable to respecting its own processes ? Is Icann's accountable to achieving its missions as set in the Bylaws ? to acting according to its Core value ? All of the above ? If you're accountable to too many things, are you still accountable to anything ? There are some deep and fundamental questions below that one, but this is clearly an area that we as a group will need to clarify. We are planning to discuss in our call later today how to best investigate this issue. Best Mathieu Le 16/12/2014 01:55, Bruce Tonkin a écrit :

Hello Jordan,

...

...

Could you please point us to or share with us some thoughts regarding what the ICANN Board sees as "the public interest"? There is no separate "Board" position on this topic.

The best guidance for the Board I think comes from the ICANN's articles of incorporation:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/articles-2012-02-25-en

- This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person.

- In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, and in recognition of the fact that the Internet is an international network of networks, owned by no single nation, individual or organization, the Corporation shall, except as limited by Article 5 hereof, pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens of government and promoting the global public interest in the operational stability of the Internet by

(i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed to maintain universal connectivity on the Internet;

(ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space;

(iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new top-level domains are added to the DNS root system;

(iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; and

(v) engaging in any other related lawful activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv).

- The Corporation shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and applicable international conventions and local law and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws, through open and transparent processes that enable competition and open entry in Internet-related markets. To this effect, the Corporation shall cooperate as appropriate with relevant international organizations.

- No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its members, directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article 3 hereof.

In addition one of the criteria for selecting Board Directors of ICANN is that they have some experience with the public interest:

From: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#VI

" Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet;"

Regards, Bruce Tonkin

ICANN Board Liaison _______________________________________________ Accountability-Cross-Community mailing list Accountability-Cross-Community@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/accountability-cross-community

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