The GNSO Review Working Group of the ICANN Board, of which I am a member, has posted an initial working document about possible changes in the structure and procedures of the GNSO: http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19jun07.htm The document is the result of several weeks of discussion among the working group members, drawing on the external review of the GNSO released last year by the London School of Economics, and on other inputs and considerations. It is not a draft report, but rather a document that examines some of the rationales and possible consequences for implementing the LSE recommendations. One of the main threads of thoughts emerging from this work is the desire to reduce the internal controversies in the GNSO, by moving from policy discussions that are shaped by the constituency structure and focused on attempts to outvote each other on competing proposals to a consensus-based online working group model much similar to the ones adopted by the IETF or the W3C. Personally, I think that the GNSO Council should keep a role of oversight and strategizing, but policy should be discussed in open working groups that aim at promoting and reaching rough consensus, if not full consensus, among all participants. The document also raises again the long-standing issue of a possible new Individual Registrants Constituency in the GNSO, which would in my opinion be a good addition, even if of course its relationship with the ALAC should be studied. Generally speaking, the membership and internal rules of all constituencies should become more transparent and accountable. Moreover, the document discusses the possibility of collapsing the constituencies into four broad groupings - registries, registrars, business users and non-commercial users - that would then be sub-divided in the individual constituencies. This is just a first step to foster the discussion online and in person, at a workshop that will be held in San Juan. I encourage people to read the full document and submit comments. -- vb. Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu <-------- --------> finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/ <--------