[Fwd: Re: [ALAC-Internal] Proposed ALAC-statement regarding JPA]
Dear All, Please see the draft below of a proposed At Large statement on the JPA. Time is short - the deadline is tomorrow, but as much participation as possible is the At Large way, so please do what you can re comments. Jacqueline
Annette Muehlberg wrote: Hi all,
i think by replacing the last paragraph we could, wihtout dismissing other positions, reach a consensus. please have a look at the last alternative paragraph.
warm greetings
annette
Proposed ALAC-statement regarding JPA:
As the JPA (between the US Government and ICANN) is under Review, ALAC wishes to underline the unique opportunity the occasion offers to realize the original goals that led to the formation of ICANN. These include, inter alia, acknowledgement of the international nature of ICANN, support of the multi-stakeholder bottom-up approach to the management of ICANN, and the provision of viable and stable channels for the involvement of individual Internet users in the ICANN policy formation process. Measures must be implemented to ensure non-discriminatory availability of ICANN/IANA services as well as the opportunity for the involvement of global individual users in the ICANN process.
In its role as the voice of the individual Internet users, ALAC firmly believes that the current multi-stakeholder framework at ICANN should be further strengthened to allow more proactive involvement of end-users. The process to full participation of individual users through the ALAC/RALO (Regional At-Large Organization) mechanism is being undertaken at this moment. There is, however, a lack of incentives for the participants, especially a lack of direct involvement at the decision-making levels of ICANN. Therefore, we think that ICANN should find ways to implement adequate representation of individual users at the decision-making levels of ICANN so that a real multi-stakeholder framework is achieved.
In addition, we believe that no government should have a pre-eminent role in DNS management and exercise power over database changes and root-server data. We suggest that an institutional form should be found as soon as possible so that ICANN does not lie under the authority of any single national legislation. We also strongly advocate transparency and openness in the process of making any structural change in the ICANN framework for the coming transition.
However, at this mid-term review phase, we do not believe the organization is ready to function without a similar accountability mechanism to the JPA in place.
Alternative replacing the last paragraph:
We are concerned that the successor oversight framework is still not clear and ICANN needs to clarify the transitional arrangements with regard to accountability and transparency as well as to allow further definition and evolution of the multi-stakeholder model of governance under which it operates.
Jacqueline A.Morris ha scritto:
Dear All, Please see the draft below of a proposed At Large statement on the JPA. Time is short - the deadline is tomorrow, but as much participation as possible is the At Large way, so please do what you can re comments.
As I already said on the EURALO list: First of all, this is a delicate matter, with high political relevance, and I do not think that the ALAC can release a statement at the very last minute, without any kind of consultation with the ALSes. As it is common in civil society and NGO circles, usually this kind of statements are drafted in several online cycles, and in the end are opened for subscriptions so that they must be explicitly undersigned. Incidentally, my ALS already submitted a statement several days ago: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/jpacomments2007/jpacomment_028.p... and so of course we would not be able to sign on to a document that says anything different. So the first formulation of the last paragraph is unacceptable to us; while I understand the concerns connected to accountability, I would be astonished to see the ALAC push for the continuation of the US Government control over these key resources of the Internet. It is understandable that big American NGOs think that it is better to keep the US Government into the loop so that they can use their leverage in Washington to influence ICANN, but this is impossible for all the non-American ALSes and not a viable proposal for them. We would like to see a clear stance for the position that ICANN should not be subject to the direct oversight of any government, or, only as a second choice, all governments should have the same weight; and so the JPA should be terminated as soon as possible. If this is unacceptable to others, however, I find the alternate wording of the last paragraph quite reasonable. Ciao, -- vb. Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu <-------- --------> finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/ <--------
participants (2)
-
Jacqueline A.Morris -
Vittorio Bertola