- Ccnso-council - lists.icann.org

FW: Request for Clarification on Threshold Issue
by Stephen Deerhake Feb. 28, 2016

Feb. 28, 2016

FYI, it seems our colleagues in the gNSO are having a bit of buyer's remorse with respect to a particular aspect of the CCWG "final" report, and are requesting further work be undertaken, as indicated in the attached letter to the CCWG co-chairs from Keith Drazek. I really don't see how we can commit the ccNSO to such a moving target. Best, /Stephen PS: FYI, subsequent to the publication of this correspondence, additional CCWG participants have signed onto it. From: accountability-cross-community-bounces(a)icann.org [mailto:accountability-cross-community-bounces@icann.org] On Behalf Of Drazek, Keith Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2016 3:04 PM To: accountability-cross-community(a)icann.org Subject: [CCWG-ACCT] Request for Clarification on Threshold Issue Hi Thomas, Mathieu and Leon. I'm submitting the following on behalf of the undersigned members/participants from the GNSO: --------------------------------------------- Dear CCWG-Accountability Chairs, We are very concerned with the response of the Board to the request for clarification regarding the need to adjust the thresholds for the Empowered Community to exercise its powers if the number of decisional participants is less than 5 SOACs. Currently the text in Annex 1 and 2 regarding this possibility is ambiguous: "The thresholds presented in this document were determined based on this assessment. If fewer than five of ICANN's SOs and ACs agree to be decisional Participants, these thresholds for consensus support may be adjusted. Thresholds may also have to be adjusted if ICANN changes to have more SOs or ACs." In our view, there is no question that the thresholds must be adjusted if there are fewer than five decisional participants. We have acknowledged repeatedly and operated under the assumption that there should not be a requirement of unanimous support for the Empowered Community to exercise its powers. Yet, if there are less than five decisional participants, unless the thresholds are adjusted it would require unanimous support for the Empowered Community to: * Reject a proposed Operating Plan/Strategic Plan/Budget; * Recall the entire Board of Directors; and * Reject an ICANN Board decision relating to reviews of IANA functions, including the triggering of any PTI separation process. These powers are central to ensuring that ICANN remains accountable to the Empowered Community. This matter is too critical to the primary purpose of the CCWG-Accountability proposal to remain unclear. As the Board has noted in its own formal comments, "Leaving this issue for future consideration raises the potential for renegotiation of the community thresholds. This potential for renegotiation adds a level of instability and a lack of predictability." Although it has a superficial resemblance to the recent debate over thresholds in the GAC carve-out, we believe it is fundamentally different. There is a great distinction between an SO or AC choosing to not participate, and an SO or AC being blocked from participation in a specific instance, as was the case in the case of the GAC carve-out. We were willing to accept a unanimous threshold for Board recall in the unique circumstances of the GAC carve-out, where the GAC was blocked from participation, but we believe firmly that if any SO or AC elects, whether through a conscious decision or an inability to decide, to not participate, then the non-unanimity principle must be upheld. However, as we saw with the debate over the thresholds in the GAC carve-out, this could be a contentious issue. It is far better to resolve this matter now (and during the drafting of bylaws), prior to the official transfer of the proposal to NTIA, than to delay it when it could have significant negative ramifications on the transition through a failure to resolve it during the implementation phase. Therefore, we respectfully request that the current text in Annex 1 and Annex 2 be edited to replace "may" with "shall" and add an additional explanatory clause: "The thresholds presented in this document were determined based on this assessment. If fewer than five of ICANN's SOs and ACs agree to be decisional Participants, these thresholds for consensus support shall be adjusted to prevent the need for unanimous support among the decisional Participants to exercise any of the seven Community powers. Thresholds may also have to be adjusted if ICANN changes to have more SOs or ACs." Signed, Phil Corwin Steve DelBianco Keith Drazek James Gannon Robin Gross Ed Morris Brett Schaefer Greg Shatan Matthew Shears

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FW: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate
by Byron Holland Feb. 26, 2016

Feb. 26, 2016

Dear El, Thanks for the note. I can assure you that I have spoken to Allan about the email as his inference and labeling was inappropriate. As I am sure you will agree, we should hold every member of our community to the same standard. The "corner" it will be for all who speak inappropriately of others:=) Cheers, Byron -----Original Message----- From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse [mailto:el@lisse.NA] Sent: February-24-16 11:01 AM To: Allan MacGillivray; Byron Holland; ccnso-members(a)icann.org; ccnso-council(a)icann.org Cc: el(a)lisse.NA; paul.rosenzweig(a)redbranchconsulting.com Subject: Re: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate Dear Byron, thank you for posting the press release. Will you please explain to your staff member how the multi stakeholder process works? You have my permission to send him to stand in the corner, but not to spank him. Even conservative think tankers may make as much trouble as me :-)-O, or anyone else. However, this is public knowledge plastered all over the place My personal opinion is that Mr Chehadé's response (if you can call it that) is at the least ill advised but most likely hubris in order to alienate either the next (chronically pissed off) President of the US or a VERY pissed off junior Senator from Alberta, who may just have a point here. As he may have had on the root zone issue. The troublemaker reads in copy. el On 2016-02-24 16:36, Allan MacGillivray wrote: > There is a guy on the CCWG list, Paul Rosenzweig, from a conservative > think tank in DC. He got the press release directly from a Cruz > staffer and sent it to the CCWG list yesterday. And guess who is one > of the CCWG trouble makers, Paul Roesenzweig....... > > Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the TELUS network. > *From: *Byron Holland > *Sent: *Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:25 AM > *To: *ccNSO Members; ccnso-council(a)icann.org > *Subject: *[ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade > Is Misleading the United States Senate > > > > FYI > >> >> _Press(a)cruz.senate.gov <mailto:Cruz_Press@cruz.senate.gov>> >> *Sent: *Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:25 PM >> *Subject: *RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is >> Misleading the United States Senate [...] -- Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse \ / Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (Saar) el(a)lisse.NA / * | Telephone: +264 81 124 6733 (cell) PO Box 8421 \ / Bachbrecht, Namibia ;____/

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ccNSO Members meeting ICANN55: sessions on IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes
by Joke Braeken Feb. 26, 2016

Feb. 26, 2016

Dear all, The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) provided its Chartering Organizations with its final supplemental report on Work Stream 1 recommendations. (https://www.icann.org/news/blog/ccwg-accountability-delivers-report-to-char…) The ccNSO community will be focusing on the IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes during the ccNSO Members meeting on Tuesday morning (BLOCK 1) 7 March, and Wednesday afternoon 8 March (BLOCK 2 & 3), at the occasion of ICANN55 in Marrakech. The ccNSO Council meeting takes place on Wednesday afternoon (17:00 – 18:00) Please find below an overview of the IANA Stewardship Transition Process sessions, during both days of the ccNSO Members meeting. ________ TUESDAY, 8 March BLOCK 1: overview IANA stewardship transition process 11:00 – 12:30 * CWG, CCWG and ICG Processes: Timelines and Interdependencies. * The essence of the Supplemental Final Proposals Work stream 1 CCWG-Accountability WEDNESDAY, 9 March BLOCK 2: Implementation issues final proposal stewardship transition (ICG) 13:30 – 15:15 * Progress with respect to Implementation of the CWG-Stewardship Proposal * CWG Stewardship Proposal Implementation: what does the ccNSO need to do? * Impact of the CCWG-Accountability WS 1 Proposal on the ccNSO BLOCK 3 15:30 – 16:30 Sense of community support CCWG – Accountability Supplemental Final Proposal WS 1 ________ Room: OLIVERAIE. Link to MEETING GUIDE & VENUE MAP<https://meetings.icann.org/en/icann55rakmeetingguide.pdf> Remote participation on Tuesday: https://meetings.icann.org/en/marrakech55/schedule/tue-ccnso-members Remote participation on Wednesday: https://meetings.icann.org/en/marrakech55/schedule/wed-ccnso-members To help the community prepare for upcoming Public Meetings, the Policy Development Support Staff conducts community webinars a week or two before each meeting. During each webinar, the team identifies critical up-coming issues and provides general overviews of other policy development activities that are likely to be discussed at each Public Meeting. The slides, recording and transcript of the presentation of the Webinar held on 25 February have been made available and posted on the ICANN web-site: <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/policy/presentations> http://www.icann.org/en/resources/policy/presentations Best regards, Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken(a)icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org>

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ccNSO Member Revised Minority Statement CCWG Accountability
by Byron Holland Feb. 25, 2016

Feb. 25, 2016

Dear Colleagues, Please see the attached document for the ccNSO CCWG member's minority report from Dr. Lisse. Regards, Byron

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Triage recommendation 04-2016: Charter Amendments of the GNSO gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group
by Joke Braeken Feb. 25, 2016

Feb. 25, 2016

Dear Councillors, Please find below the proposed Triage recommendation 04-2016. Kindly provide me with your input by the end of 29 February 2016, 23:59 UTC, in case you do not agree with the proposed recommendation. Thank you. Best regards, Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken(a)icann.org Topic: 04-2016: Charter Amendments of the GNSO gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group Originator: gNSO Summary of request: This public comment proceeding seeks to obtain community input on proposed amendments to the charter of the GNSO’s gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group. Current Status: Amendments have been approved by the membership of the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group. Next Steps: The ICANN Board of Directors is expected to review the proposed amendments and take action. https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rysg-charter-draft-2016-02-22-en Date received: 23 Feb. 2016 Last day for Comments/input/response, if any: 4 April 2016 23:59 UTC Recommended action, if any: No action Expertise needed, if any: Strategic, operational, managerial Date of submission to Triage Committee: 23 Feb. 2016 Triage Committee input: 24 Feb. 2016 Date of submission to Council: 25 Feb. 2016 Deadline council decision: 29 Feb. 2016 23:59 UTC Impact ccNSO/ccTLDs:

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Triage recommendation 03-2016: Draft Framework of Principles for Cross Community Working Groups
by Joke Braeken Feb. 25, 2016

Feb. 25, 2016

Dear Councillors, Please find below the proposed Triage recommendation 03-2016. Kindly provide me with your input by the end of 29 Feb. 2016 23:59 UTC, 23:59 UTC, in case you do not agree with the proposed recommendation. Thank you. Best regards, Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken(a)icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org> Topic: 03-2016: Draft Framework of Principles for Cross Community Working Groups Originator: Chartered by the ccNSO and gNSO Councils in March 2014 Summary of request: This public comment proceeding seeks to obtain community feedback on a proposed draft framework of uniform principles to guide the initiation and operations of future cross community working groups. Current Status: The draft framework document has been published for public comment. Next Steps: After the review of public comments received, the final framework document will be prepared. https://www.icann.org/public-comments/ccwg-framework-principles-draft-2016-… Date received: 23 Feb. 2016 Last day for Comments/input/response, if any: 2 April 2016 23:59 UTC Recommended action, if any: ccNSO secretariat to send out call for public comment to the ccNSO-members, ccnso-council and ccTLDcommunity mailing lists Expertise needed, if any: Strategic, operational, managerial Date of submission to Triage Committee: 23 Feb. 2016 Triage Committee input: 24 Feb. 2016 Date of submission to Council: 25 Feb. 2016 Deadline council decision: 29 Feb. 2016 23:59 UTC Impact ccNSO/ccTLDs:

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Re: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate
by Burr, Becky Feb. 24, 2016

Feb. 24, 2016

With all due respect Allan, Paul is outspoken, and I do not agree with all of the positions he has taken, but he has been a thoughtful contributor in the CCWG. The Senator from Alberta (credit to E. Lisse) is an entirely different cat. J. Beckwith Burr Neustar, Inc. / Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer 1775 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington D.C. 20006 Office: +1.202.533.2932 Mobile: +1.202.352.6367 / neustar.biz<http://www.neustar.biz> From: Allan MacGillivray <allan.macgillivray(a)cira.ca<mailto:allan.macgillivray@cira.ca>> Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 9:36 AM To: Byron Holland <byron.holland(a)cira.ca<mailto:byron.holland@cira.ca>>, "ccnso-members(a)icann.org<mailto:ccnso-members@icann.org>" <ccnso-members(a)icann.org<mailto:ccnso-members@icann.org>>, "'ccnso-council@icann. org'" <ccnso-council(a)icann.org<mailto:ccnso-council@icann.org>> Subject: Re: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate There is a guy on the CCWG list, Paul Rosenzweig, from a conservative think tank in DC. He got the press release directly from a Cruz staffer and sent it to the CCWG list yesterday. And guess who is one of the CCWG trouble makers, Paul Roesenzweig....... Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the TELUS network. From: Byron Holland Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:25 AM To: ccNSO Members; ccnso-council(a)icann.org<mailto:ccnso-council@icann.org> Subject: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate FYI _Press(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:Cruz_Press@cruz.senate.gov>> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:25 PM Subject: RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate [cid:203CB0EA-4171-4ABB-8801-6A4498EBB699] UNITED STATES SENATE Sen. Ted Cruz Press Office FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cruz Press Office: 202-228-7561 Rachael Slobodien rachael_slobodien(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:rachael_slobodien@cruz.senate.gov> Phil Novack: phil_novack(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:phil_novack@cruz.senate.gov> February 23, 2015 Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate Chehade should recuse himself from all ICANN decisions that could impact the Chinese government WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement today regarding a letter that Cruz, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) received from Fadi Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Friday. Chehade’s letter<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cruz.senate.gov_files_d…> was in reply to one that Cruz, Lankford, and Lee sent on February 4<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cruz.senate.gov_-3F…> raising serious concerns and requesting information regarding Mr. Chehade’s involvement with the World Internet Conference, which is organized by the Chinese government, a regime notorious for its censorship of the Internet and criminalization of online speech. “Either the World Internet Conference and the People’s Republic of China have misreported the events that took place during their own conference or Fadi Chehade isn’t being completely honest with the United States Senate,” said Sen. Cruz. “While Chehade continues to state that his first meeting won’t take place until later this year, the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China, reported on December 17, 2015 that, ‘The advisory committee held its first meeting on the sidelines of the second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen of east China's Zhejiang Province. Jack Ma, founder of China’s Internet giant Alibaba, and Fadi Chehade, president and CEO of ICANN, act as co-chairman of the advisory committee.’ It should also be noted that Chehade has admitted that he has entered into an arrangement while still serving as the CEO of ICANN and performing under a contract with the United States government, through which his future travel costs to the Chinese government’s state-sponsored World Internet Conference will be compensated. Travel compensation from the Chinese government can be a form of personal conflict of interest, which could impair Chehade’s ability to act impartially and in the best interest of the government when performing under the contract. As such, Chehade should recuse himself from all ICANN decisions that could impact the Chinese government, which include all negotiations and discussions pertaining to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.”

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Re: [ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate
by Nigel Roberts Feb. 24, 2016

Feb. 24, 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objection_%28argument%29 On 24/02/16 14:36, Allan MacGillivray wrote: > There is a guy on the CCWG list, Paul Rosenzweig, from a conservative > think tank in DC. He got the press release directly from a Cruz staffer > and sent it to the CCWG list yesterday. And guess who is one of the CCWG > trouble makers, Paul Roesenzweig....... > > Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the TELUS network. > *From: *Byron Holland > *Sent: *Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:25 AM > *To: *ccNSO Members; ccnso-council(a)icann.org > *Subject: *[ccnso-members] RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is > Misleading the United States Senate > > > > FYI > >> _Press(a)cruz.senate.gov <mailto:Cruz_Press@cruz.senate.gov>> >> *Sent:*Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:25 PM >> *Subject:*RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading >> the United States Senate >> >> *UNITED STATES SENATE* >> *Sen. Ted Cruz Press Office* >> ** >> *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* >> *Cruz Press Office: 202-228-7561* >> Rachael Slobodienrachael_slobodien(a)cruz.senate.gov >> <mailto:rachael_slobodien@cruz.senate.gov> >> Phil Novack:phil_novack@cruz.senate.gov >> <mailto:phil_novack@cruz.senate.gov> >> February 23, 2015 >> ** >> *Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States >> Senate* >> /Chehade should recuse himself from all ICANN decisions that could >> impact the Chinese government/ >> // >> WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the >> following statement today regarding a letter that Cruz, Sen. James >> Lankford (R-Okla.), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) received from Fadi >> Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and >> Numbers (ICANN) on Friday. Chehade’sletter >> <http://cruz.senate.gov/files/documents/Letters/20160219_ICANN_CEOLetter.pdf>was >> in reply to one thatCruz, Lankford, and Lee sent on February 4 >> <http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2588>raising >> serious concerns and requesting information regarding Mr. >> Chehade’s involvement with the World Internet Conference, which is >> organized by the Chinese government, a regime notorious for its >> censorship of the Internet and criminalization of online speech. >> “Either the World Internet Conference and the People’s Republic of >> China have misreported the events that took place during their own >> conference or Fadi Chehade isn’t being completely honest with the >> United States Senate,” said Sen. Cruz. “While Chehade continues to >> state that his first meeting won’t take place until later this >> year, the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the >> People’s Republic of China, reported on December 17, 2015 that, >> ‘The advisory committee held its first meeting on the sidelines of >> the second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen of east China's >> Zhejiang Province. Jack Ma, founder of China’s Internet giant >> Alibaba, and Fadi Chehade, president and CEO of ICANN, act as >> co-chairman of the advisory committee.’ It should also be noted >> that Chehade has admitted that he has entered into an arrangement >> while still serving as the CEO of ICANN and performing under a >> contract with the United States government, through which his >> future travel costs to the Chinese government’s state-sponsored >> World Internet Conference will be compensated. Travel compensation >> from the Chinese government can be a form of personal conflict of >> interest, which could impair Chehade’s ability to act impartially >> and in the best interest of the government when performing under >> the contract. As such, Chehade should recuse himself from all >> ICANN decisions that could impact the Chinese government, which >> include all negotiations and discussions pertaining to the >> Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.” >> >

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Fw: CCWG Final report for your consideration
by Byron Holland Feb. 24, 2016

Feb. 24, 2016

Dear Colleagues Please see the note below from the CCWG Byron From:leonfelipe@sanchez.mx Sent:February 23, 2016 3:20 PM Subject:CCWG Final report for your consideration Dear Chartering Organizations, The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) is pleased to provide its Chartering Organizations with its report on Work Stream 1 recommendations. You can download the full report here: https://community.icann.org/x/8w2AAw. As per the CCWG-Accountability’s Charter, we now seek your approval to submit this final report to the ICANN Board and ask you to consider this approval in accordance with your respective SO or AC rules and procedures by 9 March 2016 to meet the overall timing requirements, which would allow the IANA Stewardship Transition (as a whole) to proceed. The report is the result of extensive work by the CCWG-Accountability’s 28 members, 175 participants and a team of highly qualified legal advisors since December 2014, which included over 221 calls or meetings, 3 public consultations and more than 13,900 email messages. It represents a carefully crafted balance between key requirements, specific legal advice, and significant compromises by all who participated and includes diligent attention to the input received through the Public Comment proceedings. The final proposal has received the consensus support of the CCWG-Accountability with five minority statements from members recorded for Chartering Organization consideration (see Appendix A). Please note that we are publishing our report today with the minority statements delivered by the original 19 February deadline, but we have given our members a final opportunity to revise, retract or add minority statements based on our compromise reached this morning. We will send you a revised Appendix A on 25 February. As noted in the CCWG-Accountability report, the group worked to meet both NTIA requirements for the overall IANA Stewardship Transition (Annex 14), and the CWG-Stewardship dependencies for the naming community on ICANN accountability enhancements (Annex 13). The co-chairs of the CWG-Stewardship and the CCWG-Accountability have coordinated their efforts. The CWG-Stewardship will deliver a letter to you confirming that its dependencies have been met, thus allowing the IANA Stewardship Transition proposal to move forward. We will make ourselves together with or other key contributors available to you before and during the ICANN 55 meeting in Marrakech to answer any questions you may have and explain any details of the report. For your information, further background documents as well as the slides, recordings and transcripts of recent webinars explain the details of the final proposal are available here: https://community.icann.org/x/ogDxAg. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you very much for your continued support. Thomas Rickert, Mathieu Weill and Leon Sanchez CCWG-Accountability Co-Chairs

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RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate
by Byron Holland Feb. 24, 2016

Feb. 24, 2016

FYI _Press(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:Cruz_Press@cruz.senate.gov>> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:25 PM Subject: RELEASE: Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate [cid:203CB0EA-4171-4ABB-8801-6A4498EBB699] UNITED STATES SENATE Sen. Ted Cruz Press Office FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cruz Press Office: 202-228-7561 Rachael Slobodien rachael_slobodien(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:rachael_slobodien@cruz.senate.gov> Phil Novack: phil_novack(a)cruz.senate.gov<mailto:phil_novack@cruz.senate.gov> February 23, 2015 Sen. Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate Chehade should recuse himself from all ICANN decisions that could impact the Chinese government WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement today regarding a letter that Cruz, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) received from Fadi Chehade, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Friday. Chehade’s letter<http://cruz.senate.gov/files/documents/Letters/20160219_ICANN_CEOLetter.pdf> was in reply to one that Cruz, Lankford, and Lee sent on February 4<http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2588> raising serious concerns and requesting information regarding Mr. Chehade’s involvement with the World Internet Conference, which is organized by the Chinese government, a regime notorious for its censorship of the Internet and criminalization of online speech. “Either the World Internet Conference and the People’s Republic of China have misreported the events that took place during their own conference or Fadi Chehade isn’t being completely honest with the United States Senate,” said Sen. Cruz. “While Chehade continues to state that his first meeting won’t take place until later this year, the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China, reported on December 17, 2015 that, ‘The advisory committee held its first meeting on the sidelines of the second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen of east China's Zhejiang Province. Jack Ma, founder of China’s Internet giant Alibaba, and Fadi Chehade, president and CEO of ICANN, act as co-chairman of the advisory committee.’ It should also be noted that Chehade has admitted that he has entered into an arrangement while still serving as the CEO of ICANN and performing under a contract with the United States government, through which his future travel costs to the Chinese government’s state-sponsored World Internet Conference will be compensated. Travel compensation from the Chinese government can be a form of personal conflict of interest, which could impair Chehade’s ability to act impartially and in the best interest of the government when performing under the contract. As such, Chehade should recuse himself from all ICANN decisions that could impact the Chinese government, which include all negotiations and discussions pertaining to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.”

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