Garth's email.


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: ICANN 71, ALAC
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2021 17:10:56 +0100
From: Nigel Roberts <nigel.roberts@board.icann.org>
To: Garth Miller <garth.miller@cxda.org.cx>,
patricio.poblete@board.icann.org
CC: nigel.roberts@board.icann.org

Dear Garth

This is to confirm receipt of your email, and thank you for bringing
your concerns to our attention.

Should matters indeed be as you describe (and I will be looking at the
relevant transcripts/recordings shortly) there may be several areas of
concern that should be looked at and, accordingly, I wpuld intend to
take these up with the appropriate people within the Board, Community
and/or Org.

I presume I have your permission to forward your email in its entirety
where necessary?

Please confirm.


Kind regards



On 07/07/2021 14:26, Garth Miller wrote:
> Dear Nigel,
>
>  
>
> I write to express my dismay regarding the presentation by Ms. Holly
> Raiche (an ALAC member) during an ALAC session at ICANN 71.  
>
>  
>
> I am finding it impossible to ignore the impropriety of using the timeme
> granted to the speaker to discuss .au in an internationally streamed
> session to attack the administration of the .cx ccTLD and base the
> attack on publication of child abuse images - for which there is
> absolutely no evidence that I am aware of.  This is beyond the pale.
>
>  
>
> Ms. Raiche`s statement that the .cx ccTLD is "one of the major sites for
> child abuse and other criminal activity" has absolutely no basis in
> fact. This is problematic given that this statement was made in a public
> fora, live streamed globally - and is now available in perpetuity on the
> ICANN website in meeting archives.
>
>  
>
> I am always prepared to be proven wrong, but unless the speaker is
> prepared to back up the claims with substantive evidence, ALAC, as the
> sponsor of the session, should issue a clarification.
>
>  
>
> Of the five Australian entities that run ccTLDs in Australia, Christmas
> Island Domain Administration (cxDA) was the first entity to join the UK
> based Internet Watch foundation (IWF) and support its effort to combat
> sharing of child abuse images. cxDA has been a member and received IWF
> feeds since 2016.
>
>
> A review of publicly available statistics and IWF annual reports would
> not show the .cx ccTLD as a TLD with a major problem. In fact, the .cx
> ccTLD does not appear in any of their annual reports or rankings of
> problematic TLDs.
>
> In 21 years of running the ccTLD cxDA has received three (3) suspension
> requests from the IWF ( which were acted on by cxDA immediately ) and
> none from domestic or international law enforcement agencies.
>
> On the matter of criminal activity, the presenter appears to again have
> made baseless and false claims. The level of abuse in the .cx ccTLD is
> about .06%, half the figure of .12 % , that ICANN reports as the average
> for ccTLDs that are utilising the ICANN Domain Abuse Activity Reporting
> system.
>
>  
>
> cxDA has historically provided Australian Law enforcement, specifically
> the Federal Police, with daily reports and credentials to the .cx ccTLD
> abuse monitoring platform.
>
> The above and other multiple factually incorrect statements in the
> speaker's presentation have created significant reputational damage to
> the cx ccTLD manager in the community.  
>
>  
>
> I would like to formally request that, as the ccNSO representative on
> the ICANN board,  you raise this issue with the ccNSO council and ALAC
> (the session host).
>
>
> Also while presenting, the speaker brought up the nationality of the TLD
> manager. Although far from my main concern, in the ICANN community
> bringing up the race, gender or nationality of a community member in a
> way that implies they should not be entitled to perform a given role on
> that basis is highly inappropriate.
>
>
> While cxDA obviously has concerns, there is also an issue for ICANN to
> address, the use of live streamed ICANN sessions by speakers to launch
> public attacks on other members of the community - without
> accountability or giving the subject of their attack an opportunity to
> counter the accusations.  
>
> Thank you for your consideration.
>
>
> Garth Miller 
>
> Christmas Island Domain Administration Limited 
>
>
>