Thanks to the Stress Test team for discussion on today’s call.  As promised, here is v10.3 of Applying Stress Tests.  I made the in-line edits we covered on the call.  And I added two placeholder paragraphs for your consideration:

[placeholder for Do-It-Yourself paragraph: 

Public comment participants may conceive of other contingencies and risks beyond the 26 stress tests identified in this section.  In that case, we encourage commenters to apply their own stress test analysis.  To do so, a commenter can examine ICANN’s present accountability mechanisms to determine whether they adequately address the contingency.  Then, the commenter can examine the proposed accountability enhancements in this document, and assess whether they give the community adequate means to challenge board decisions and to hold the board accountable for its actions.

 

For example, the stress test team evaluated contingencies that could generally be described as external events (cyber attack, financial crisis, etc.).  We discovered that while some risk mitigation was possible, it became clear that no accountability framework could entirely eliminate the risk of such events nor thoroughly alleviate their impact. Instead, it was critical to explore the ability of the community to hold ICANN board and management accountable for their preparation and reaction to the external events. The proposed accountability measures do provide adequate means to do so. 


[placeholder for management summary paragraph requested by Mathieu:

 

The stress test exercise demonstrates that WS1 recommendations do enhance the community’s ability to hold ICANN board and management accountable, relative to present accountability measures.  It is also clear that the CWG proposals are complementary to CCWG measures.    One stress test regarding appeals of ccTLD revocations and assignments (ST 21) has not been adequately addressed in either the CWG or CCWG proposals, awaing policy development from the ccNSO.

 


We understand that staff will attempt to include v10.3 in the draft to be circulated for the full CCWG call at 5:00 UTC on Thursday. 

From: Steve DelBianco
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 10:26 PM
To: "ccwg-accountability4@icann.org"
Cc: Cheryl Langdon-Orr, ACCT-Staff, Mathieu Weill, Thomas Rickert, León Felipe Sánchez Ambía
Subject: CCWG Stress Tests v10.2 for discussion on Wed 29-Apr at 11:00 UTC

To: Stress Test Work party 

Over the weekend, we amended our 'Applying Stress Tests’ section to reflect the latest CWG proposal and our CCWG discussions last week.  (see attached v10.2) 

In two places I've noted text in RED requiring your insights.    While I know we are enabling challenge to board decisions, I don't see where are we recommending any proscriptive measure preventing ICANN from going beyond its limited technical mi​ssion.   If I have that right, we should remove the red text on 2 Stress Tests:

Another proposed measure is to amend ICANN bylaws to prevent the organization from expanding scope beyond what is needed for SSR in DNS operations and to meet mission and core values of ICANN.

Also, co-chair Mathieu Weill added some edit suggestions (in blue underline).   Mathieu also suggested we develop a sort of "management summary for stress tests". Reading the document overall, he observes that:

- the stress tests demonstrate that our WS1 recommendations do increase Icann's accountability significantly, providing adequate mitigation measures in situations where that was not the case without these recommendations
- we can confirm that some of the CWG proposals are providing a useful complement to our own measures.
- our accountability measures do not transform Icann into a body that would be "above the laws", and that's a good sign.
- there is one stress test we do not cover, pending ccTLD adequate process, about delegation and revocations.

ICANN Staff suggested we add a brief guide for readers who come up with their own risks/contingencies/scenarios.   Adam Peake suggested we add a ‘Do-It-Yourself’ section explaining how anyone can use our method to apply their own stress test to the existing and proposed accountability measures. 

Best,
Steve
—
Steve DelBianco
Executive Director
NetChoice
+1.703.615.6206