I wonder if we might focus on what we want on the IG activities, and not address the 'blanket' issue, as Bill recommends.
M

From: bismith@paypal.com
To: marilynscade@hotmail.com
CC: sdelbianco@netchoice.org; bc-gnso@icann.org
Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] ICANN Board's secret September resolution on internet governance
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:41:38 +0000

While we may disagree with confidential actions, it appears that ICANN’s Bylaws allow it, and likely for good reason. There are any number of issue that a corporate board faces that require confidential deliberation, decision making, and action. I’ve had more than my share of these cases.

I’d caution against the BC taking the broad stance suggested, even if limited to “just” Internet Governance. I am a strong supporter of openness and transparency but there are times that other mechanisms are appropriate. Blanket admonitions rarely achieve a rational result.

On Nov 18, 2013, at 5:18 AM, Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@hotmail.com> wrote:

I intend to say that there is no rationale for secrecy of any work that our Board, or our CEO does in the Internet Governance issue and that is is [pick a modifier] and unnecessarily stressfully disappointing to the community of stakeholders, many of whom are active leaders in other Internet public policy debates. 

And that from today, it must be practiced by the Board, byt he staff and by the CEO, as well as the community that we are open and transparent and collaborative, and understand that the community that built and works at ICANN, is also building and working in the outside ecosystem of multistakeholder approaches.



From: sdelbianco@netchoice.org
To: bc-gnso@icann.org
Subject: [bc-gnso] ICANN Board's secret September resolution on internet governance
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:54:38 +0000

This is the resolution that gave Fadi a mandate for his initiatives in Montevideo and Brazil.


  1. Resolution Re Internet Coordination (Published on 17 November 2013)

    Whereas, the existing, global, open, multi-stakeholder Internet governance system is under increasing pressure to evolve and adapt to global concerns.
    Whereas, such pressures and concerns, if not addressed, may negatively impact many, including ICANN stakeholders and the stability and effectiveness of the open Internet system.
    Whereas ICANN has a responsibility to act in the global public interest.
    Whereas these increasing pressures cannot be addressed by ICANN alone, but only by a group of similarly concerned organizations and entities acting in concert, ICANNshould participate in an effort to form an Internet cooperation agenda ("Coalition").
    Resolved (2013-09-28-C1), the ICANN Board authorizes its CEO to allocate necessary and sufficient time and resources of ICANN and work with other key organizations and leaders to establish a coalition towards the formation of a movement or initiative. The financial resources for building the coalition must be allocated from the already established Strategic Plan funds.
    ICANN's involvement shall be consistent with ICANN's purpose. The CEO shall provide regular reports to the Board of Directors regarding the status of these discussions.
    Resolved (2013-09-28-C2), the Board directs the CEO to: (1) assess the potential for success of the Coalition; (2) in the event of a positive assessment, should the CEO recommend an additional longer term strategy based on Coalition results, the CEO shall present such a plan of action, including any additional financial resources required, for further consideration by the Board.
    Confidentiality Resolution
    Resolved (2013-09-28-C3), the Board directs that pursuant to Article III, Section 5.2 of the ICANN Bylaws, this resolution and rationale be kept confidential. Such resolution shall be held confidentially, without publication, until such time as the Board determines that such a resolution shall be published.

    RATIONALE FOR RESOLUTIONS 2013-09-28-C1 – 2013-09-28-C2

    ICANN uses a multi-stakeholder governance model to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers. This governance model is derived from the approach of global multi-stakeholder cooperation that has been used over time in the development of the Internet and World Wide Web. As ICANN has been participating in discussion regarding Internet Governance, there has been continuing debate on whether to use conventional governance models or a global multi-stakeholder governance model to address broader governance coordination issues. This action by the Board is an initial step in moving towards how ICANN can assist the global community in addressing these issues through global multi-stakeholder cooperation without compromising or increasing ICANN's mandate. The potential for the formation of a Coalition to address these Internet coordination issues appears to be the most promising path forward to starting this work.
    Taking this action allows ICANN to remain responsive to those in the Internet community that wish to continue to use a global multi-stakeholder to address broader Internet governance issues, while remaining accountable to its core mission. The development of a coalition will allow for community participation and input into this coordination work, while not relying solely on ICANN or ICANN processes to move coordination issues to the forefront. Achieving this balance is key for ICANN in its role in acting in the public interest.
    As this resolution directs that all of this initial work be performed within the Board approved budget for Strategy Panels of US$3.5 million this action is not anticipated to have a significant financial impact on ICANN. Similarly, directing ICANN to initiate coordination exercises is not anticipated to have any impact on the security, stability or resiliency of the DNS, though the outcomes of any Coalition could have positive benefits on how these issues are coordinated in the future.
    This is an Organizational Administrative Function for which public comment is not required.