March 2018 - comments-fy19-budget-19jan18@icann.org

[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] i2Coalition Public Comment on ICANN Budget
by Christian Dawson March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Please find attached Comments from the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition) On ICANN Draft FY19 Operating Plan and Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update Christian Dawson Executive Director i2Coalition <http://i2coalition.com/> c: 703 623 2612

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Blacknight Comments on ICANN Budget
by Michele Neylon - Blacknight March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Dear Sir / Madam The comments below are being submitted on behalf of Blacknight, an Irish based hosting provider, ISP and ICANN accredited registrar. We would first like to thank the ICANN finance team for their co-operation with the broad ICANN community in both providing greater levels of transparency in the published budget documents and their willingness to engage with the community when clarity around expenditure was requested. With respect to the budget as a whole we would urge ICANN to exercise fiscal prudence throughout its operations. We find it odd that ICANN plans to expand its headcount while it also recognises that its revenues are not growing and may be falling in the future. Normal businesses do not hire more staff when their revenues are flat, so this discrepancy warrants further explanation. As others have noted the ICANN staff headcount has mushroomed in the last few years. While some of that increase was definitely warranted it's not convincing that further growth is. We also find it troubling that ICANN continues to spend on projects and programmes that do not have clearly defined KPIs or other means of assessing their success. ICANN needs to ensure that its core competencies are properly funded, so ensuring that the policy development processes receive adequate funding should take precedence over programmes such as the fellowship or NextGen, which do not seem to have clear KPIs. We are therefore pleased to see that there has been a reduction in funding for those programmes. Considering the importance and impact of GDPR on both contracted parties and ICANN org it is worrying that there does not appear to be a specific budget allocation for GDRP related activities. While this comment period is about the budget as a whole and travel funding is but a small part of it, we would ask ICANN to review some of its policies. We understand that some people are granted the right to travel business class due to health reasons and we would not question that. However it is, for example, a bad use of resources that ICANN would fund business class travel for funded travellers on flights within Europe under 4 hours, where most carriers don't even have a "proper" business class cabin. Most businesses apply rules based on length of flights or overall travel. Applying a blanket rule that traveller X should always fly business class for any reason is an odd choice to make. Providing translation and other language services is important for the development of true global internet policy. If participants cannot understand key documents or follow plenary meetings their engagement in policy work will be negatively impacted. So overall we support ICANN's language services work. However we feel that the expenditure should be more targeted. Not every single document needs to be translated into all of the UN languages and ICANN's data should help inform which documents and types of documents are being read in languages other than English. The supply of translation and interpretation services should be based around demand where possible. Regards Michele -- Mr Michele Neylon Blacknight Solutions Hosting, Colocation & Domains https://www.blacknight.com/ https://blacknight.blog/ https://ceo.hosting/ Intl. +353 (0) 59 9183072 ------------------------------- Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd, Unit 12A,Barrowside Business Park,Sleaty Road,Graiguecullen,Carlow,R93 X265, Ireland Company No.: 370845

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Comment on ICANN FY19 Budget and Operating Plan
by Statton Hammock March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Dear ICANN Staff, Please accept the attached comment from MarkMonitor regarding ICANN's draft FY19 Budget and Operating Plan. Thank you. Statton Hammock V.P. Global Policy & Industry Development MarkMonitor / Part of Clarivate Analytics Ph.: 415.971.3561 statton.hammock(a)markmonitor.com

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Comments on ICANN Budget
by Jaifa Margarita Mezher Arango March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Dear all, Understanding the commitment of ICANN to the multistakeholder internet governance model, I am writing in order to request support for the maintenance of the sponsorship to ICANNWiki in the FY19 budget and beyond, and to analyze the support given to the travel budget for SO/ACs. Based on our experience with ICANNWiki and supported by their Annual Report for 2016-2017, we believe they play an important role in making ICANN become more accessible, engaging and inclusive towards all its community. ICANNWiki has identified a total of 320,977 unique site visitors from more than 195 different countries. Also, ICANNWiki has reached a total amount of 6,800 neutral and well-referenced articles, including more than 3,000 profiles about community members itself. Last but not least, the wiki production is now available in 5 additional languages, beyond English, which gather an overall of 442 articles written by 248 contributors, this proves that diversity and inclusiveness. On the other hand, as members of the internet community and ICANN Fellowship Program beneficiaries, we have evidenced how ICANNWiki is an essential source of information, interaction and dialogue within the global internet governance community. Throughout our attendance to this specific program, ICANNWiki has proven that the existing tools provided by their team, are key in receiving a proper internet governance training and update dialogues in several discussions. Finally, the travel support to SO and ACs and also the different program for newcomers could be maintained and even enhanced by using creative ways of making them more sustainable. Some ideas: offer different types of fellowships, like partial funding (ticket or hotel), offer only full fellowship for those participants that do really need it to participate, let those who want to travel business and can afford it make an upgrade on their own, among other ideas that may come up. Considering the above, we respectfully ask the Board to bear in mind this request. Jaifa Mezher Arango Jefe de la Oficina Internacional Tel. + (571) 344 34 60 Ext. 2206 Edificio Murillo Toro - Cra. 8a entre calles 12 y 13 Código postal: 111711 - Bogotá D.C. - Colombia www.mintic.gov.co<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mintic.…> - www.vivedigital.gov.co<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vivedig…> [logo firma] Declinación de responsabilidades Para más información haga clic aquí<http://www.mintic.gov.co/info/declinacion_responsabilidad.htm> Declinación de responsabilidades Para más información haga clic aquí<http://www.mintic.gov.co/info/declinacion_responsabilidad.htm>

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Support for ICANN’s continued support of ICANNWiki
by Shantall .Ramatsui March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Support for ICANN’s continued support of ICANNWiki 06 March 2018 Submission by the CEO of Registry Africa: Mr Lucky Masilela As a non-profit organisation, ICANNWiki is dedicated to providing a community-developed wiki focused specifically on ICANN, Internet Governance issues and the provision of educational resources. It specialises in outreach, engagement and accessibility and was established to provide partners with a platform to contribute to the future of the Internet while building a strong sense of community. It can be easily seen from the above that Registry Africa and, in fact, the entire African ICT community have similar goals to that of ICANNWiki. There has been historical collaboration between us and it should continue for the future benefit of the Internet in Africa. As the administrator of the dotAfrica gTLD, Registry Africa is determined to be the catalyst for ICT development in Africa and the right partners are paramount in this regard. Foremost amongst these is surely ICANNWiki, an organisation that has community outreach at the centre of its being. ICANNWiki has a long history of helping to develop the Internet in Africa, an important and growing world market of over 1.2 billion people. Since its inception, in 1998, ICANNWiki has become a strong advocate for the African ICT community when it comes to Internet access and the necessity of bridging the digital divide. ICANNWiki has been a key supporter of the African ICT developmental goals as outlined in the OR Tambo and Abuja Declarations through the creation of a community of online content developers and the building of capacity of these developers and by raising awareness about internet governance. The translation of policy documents into local African languages is an ongoing programme which needs to be phased into African regions other than the East and Southern regions of Africa to indeed bridge the current massive digital divide. ICANNWiki programmes have supported the World Economic Forum's Internet For All (IFA) programme which aims to create millions of new Internet users with a focus on the hardest to reach. This initiative specifically brings together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, non-profits, academia, international organisations, donors and civil society to create multistakeholder partnerships, all in pursuit of this developmental goal. With the delegation by ICANN of the dotAfrica gTLD, the African continent has a real chance of being the birthplace of these legions of new Internet users that are the goal of the IFA campaign and which will take the web well into the 21st century. It goes without saying that the creation of new Internet users will ensure longterm sustainability within the domain name space. Aside from its support of the above campaign, ICANNWiki helps boost the Internet in Africa by providing access to translation services that are helping many more Africans understand the workings of ICANN and its policies. ICANNWiki is specifically providing language services to communities in the East African region, an important hub for the web on this continent. Through collaboration and support of centres of excellence such as the Universities of Dodoma and Nairobi, ICANNWiki is transferring skills that are much needed by many Africans to allow them to participate in the digital economy. The first phase of the translation services provided to Southern Africa has been completed, and with our ISOC partners, we are well on our way to move onto the next phase of translating more languages to increase participation in Africa’s role in expediting presence in the in the 4th Industrial Revolution by allowing our people to adequately access the written word. ICANNWiki has implemented programmes to support language localisation and translation services in both East Africa and Southern Africa. The support of ICANNWiki in translating ICANN material and updates into Swahili, the most widely spoken language in Africa, has specifically been designed to bridge the language gap - and the digital divide by extension. This programme is now at a point where we can replicate to other parts of Africa, and the support of ICANNWiki is of utmost important. ICANN's support of ICANNWiki is crucial in ensuring that the services it provides to the ICT community continues until we reach an inclusive world where over a billion Africans have become Internet users and are able to access information in a language they understand. ICANNWiki must continue to be the best resourced tool for narrowing the digital divide. The current programmes, which have proven to provide more Africans based in East and Southern Africa access to the internet are still heavily reliant on the support and capacity building initiatives as provided by ICANNWiki. It is for these reasons that the continued funding by ICANN is of utmost importance to allow Registry Africa and other ICT communities to ensure that we not only grow access to the internet but also to the possibilities of Africa’s sustained participation in the global digital economy.

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Additional SSAC Comment on FY19 Budget
by Steve Sheng March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Dear Becky, On behalf of SSAC Chair Rod Rasmussen, attached please find an additional funding request for SSAC outreach in FY19 budget. Best Steve Sheng SSAC Support Staff

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Comments on Draft FY19 Operating Plan and Budget
by Dr Eberhard W Lisse March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Dear Becky, please find enclosed our comments limited to the Fellowship part of the Budget and acknowledge receipt hereof by return email in order to conform with the deadline. greetings, el -- Dr Eberhard W Lisse Managing Director Namibian Network Information Center (Pty) Ltd. PO Box 8421 Bachbrecht Namibia

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Comments on my personal capacity about changes in the ICANN Budget and possible impact in the community
by Olga Cavalli March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Hello, I have been a long-standing active member of the ICANN community in many capacities an in different SO, ACs and CCWGs, as well as supporting capacity development in the LAC region through initiatives like the South School on Internet Governance SSIG and Dominios LatinoAmerica. In all of my capacities, and based on my experience, I strongly believe that: - ICANN should continue to fund ICANNWiki and the service it provides to the community. They provide outreach, capacity development, and great content spread across all regions. Their role in the LAC region has been recognized by many and has been included in the LAC Strategy Renewal 2018-2020. The complete discontinuation of funding to ICANNWiki would be short-sighted and disregard the investment by both the community and ICANN itself that has built ICANNWiki into a critical part of the community over the years. - ICANN should keep and enhance the fellowship program, the on boarding program, the next gen program and very important also should keep and enhance the travel support for members of the SO and ACs. This travel support for both new comers and experienced and very active members of the ICANN community are of high importance for developing and least developed economies and essential to the policy work that ICANN does. It is the only way to ensure that a real international community is active and participating. The travel support to SO and ACs and also the different program for newcomers could be maintained and even enhanced by using creative ways of making them more sustainable. Some ideas: offer different types of fellowships, like partial funding (ticket or hotel), offer only full fellowship for those participants that do really need it to participate, let those who want to travel business and can afford it make an upgrade on their own, among other ideas that may come up. Thanks for letting me send these comments. Best regards Olga Cavalli

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Re: [Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] ICANN Wiki Support
by Pablo Rodriguez March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

For several ICANN meetings,* .pr *has been a proud sponsor of ICANNWiki and we are always in awe of the great work, energy and color they provide to every event. We believe that they should not be cut out from the ICANN's Budget, instead, they should be supported and embraced to continue their engaging approach and work with ICANN's Community and as well newcomers, veterans, special programming for beginners and others in order to deliver what is ICANN and what does the organization do and so forth. Cordially, -Pablo Rodriguez PRTLD *"Tu identidad en Internet"* PABLO RODRIGUEZ EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Phone: (787) 753-5869 | Mobile: (787) 425-1517 Direct: (787) 455-9842 | Email: pablo(a)nic.pr www.domains.pr <https://twitter.com/puntopr> <https://www.facebook.com/domainspr> <https://www.instagram.com/puntopr/> This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.

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[Comments-fy19-budget-19jan18] Submission by Amrita Choudhury on ICANNs Draft Operating Plan and Budget for FY2019
by Amrita March 7, 2018

March 7, 2018

Hi, Please find attached my comments on ICANN <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/proposed-total-budget-fy19-19ja n18-en.pdf> 's draft Operating Plan and Budget for the fiscal year 2019. Regards, Amrita Choudhury CCAOI India

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