Hi folks, During yesterday's Registration Abuse Policies working group, the issue of “policy” creation and how it should be done properly came up. http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-rap-dt/msg00206.html http://audio.icann.org/gnso/gnso-rap-20090601.mp3 Fast forward to 27:10 (27 minutes and 10 seconds) of the MP3 recording and listen to the next 2 minutes where I ask Margie Milam of ICANN a question about policy vs. implementation. At 27:24 or so she says the ICANN Bylaws *require* policy work to go through the GNSO. But, at 28:05 or so she says “The IRT work is *implementation work.*” !!! She dances around the issue for the next 40 seconds. Policies *need* to go through the GNSO. However, ICANN Staff are describing *all* the new gTLD stuff as *implementation*, even though they are definitely creating new policy. Furthermore, take a look at the IRT’s full name “Implementation Recommendation Team.” Once again, this is doublespeak by ICANN, a way to circumvent proper procedures. These recommendations *are policy* and should be going through the GNSO. That would have resulted in balanced work, instead of the abomination and extreme report we received. So, be watchful, as ICANN staff are mischaracterizing and deliberately calling things “implementation” in order to be able to do as much as possible in terms of policy creation in an unaccountable manner. Whether you're a supporter or an opponent of new gTLDs, whether you're a supporter or opponent of the IRT, this unaccountable behaviour of staff should be of concern, as it undermines the the role of the GNSO, and thus the role of the BC. I would hope this would be raised in the GNSO Council, as it is being neutered by staff and made more irrelevant day after day. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/