[Bruce] it is better to proceed in such a way that minimises risk in the first round, but also allows flexibility to update the recommendations based on experience of the first round.
Do you have anything specific in mind? what and where are the provisions to ensure such flexibility? I think it is important to know concretely how this can be handled, should the need arise. I don't see any contradiction between the fact that a lot of work has been put into a PDP, and the possibility for the *Council* to determine in the end the level of support for each recommendation so that, as Bruce has put it, at least the recommendations that are capable of supermajority be secured and built on later on. The argument that the recommendations cannot be considered individually because they are inter-dependent is a fallacious one because i) most of the recommendations have been discussed separately during the process, and ii) if recommendations are so inter-related that it wouldn't make sense to adopt/implement one without the other, then clearly those who support one will support the other. Similarly, the idea of the committee having thoroughly discussed the issues raised by NCUC (for example) without any proponents of those ideas/issues being there to explain and respond is deceitful.
Note Not all the recommendations please everyone. It is not appropriate for Council to revisit issues just because individuals wish to re-run arguments that earlier failed to persuade. If that's how we will play it then the BC will return with our original wish list, so may the IPC, so may the ISPs, so may ... etc.
This is so bright! just that in such perspective, the PDP process is nothing but a merely political process governed by corporatism. (You may note, Liz, that this is not the best mindset and environment for dialogue between constituencies as you've been encouraging for.) If that's the case, then it should be no surprise that courts become (are?) the only place where some sense of higher norms and overall legitimacy is re-stablished in the ICANN's decisions. That shouldn't worry me, but I'm worried that this is the perspective of an aspirant chairman for the council. Mawaki --- Philip Sheppard <philip.sheppard@aim.be> wrote:
Bruce, allow me to respond to your questions about how we handle the gTLD report.
1. We treated this issue as a committee of the whole of Council. This process was explicitly to ensure incremental buy-in to recommendations by Council. It escapes all logic that Council would then vote on each recommendation. That process would seem suited to a task force report. Have we all been wasting our time? I trust not.
2. We also opened the group to observers and received excellent input. That was also a process designed to explicitly ensure incremental buy-in to recommendations by the wider community.
3. Staff have diligently drafted version upon version of the report so that we were all able to track emerging recommendations that achieved broad support. What was the point of all that if we now vote on each recommendation as if it came from nowhere ?
4. The recommendations were not made in glorious isolation. Many are inter-dependent. We will end up with a pigs breakfast if we assume the recommendations can operate in isolation.
Conclusion We must vote on the report as a whole.
Note Not all the recommendations please everyone. It is not appropriate for Council to revisit issues just because individuals wish to re-run arguments that earlier failed to persuade. If that's how we will play it then the BC will return with our original wish list, so may the IPC, so may the ISPs, so may ... etc.
Further work There are a lot of issues that need further work or at least feedback to Council on their implementation. Indeed this applies to most recommendations ! It would be useful therefore to explicitly mark in the report where Council expects formal feedback from staff. That makes it clear for us, clear for staff.
Link to the sub groups We also need to make explicit reference to the inclusion and support for these reports where appropriate.
Philip