[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org] Dear Council Members, Attached, please find the draft minutes of the GNSO Council teleconference held on 3 January 2008 Please let me know if you would like any changes made. Thank you very much. Kind regards, Glen ............................................................................ 3 January 2008 Proposed agenda and documents List of attendees: Philip Sheppard - Commercial & Business Users C Mike Rodenbaugh - Commercial & Business Users C. Bilal Beiram - Commercial & Business Users C Greg Ruth - ISCPC Antonio Harris - ISCPC Tony Holmes - ISCPC Thomas Keller- Registrars - absent Tim Ruiz - Registrars - absent Adrian Kinderis - Registrars Chuck Gomes - gTLD registries Edmon Chung - gTLD registries Jordi Iparraguirre - gTLD registries - absent Kristina Rosette - Intellectual Property Interests C Ute Decker - Intellectual Property Interests C - absent, apologies Cyril Chau - Intellectual Property Interests C - absent, apologies Robin Gross - NCUC Norbert Klein - NCUC - absent apologies Carlos Souza - NCUC Olga Cavalli - Nominating Committee appointee Jon Bing - Nominating Committee appointee Avri Doria - Nominating Committee appointee 15 Council Members ( 18 Votes - quorum) ICANN Staff Denise Michel - Vice President, Policy Development Olof Nordling - Manager, Policy Development Coordination Kurt Pritz - Senior Vice President, Services Liz Gasster - Senior Policy Officer Tina Dam - IDN Director Patrick Jones - Registry Liaison Manager Karen Lentz - gTLD Registry Liaison Craig Schwartz - Chief gTLD Registry Liaison Glen de Saint Géry - GNSO Secretariat GNSO Council Liaisons Suzanne Sene - GAC Liaison - absent - apologies Alan Greenberg - ALAC Liaison Rita Rodin - ICANN Board member - absent, apologies Bruce Tonkin - ICANN Board member MP3 Recording Avri Doria chaired the meeting. Approval of the agenda Item 1: Update any Statements of Interest No updates noted. Item 2: Review/amend agenda. No comments, agenda approved as posted. Item 3: Approval of the draft GNSO Council minutes 31 October 2007 6 December 2007 Chuck Gomes, seconded by Jon Bing moved the adoption of the GNSO Council minutes 31 October 2007 Motion unanimously approved. Robin Gross, seconded by Chuck Gomes moved the adoption of the GNSO Council minutes 6 December 2007 Motion unanimously approved Decision 1: The Council approved the GNSO Council minutes of 31 October 2007 and the GNSO Council minutes of 6 December 2007. Item 4: Update from Denise Michel on Board activities Denise Michel reported that the ICANN Board met on 11 December 2007 and an update of that meeting had been presented to the Council at its meeting on 20 December 2007 ICANN Chairman's report referring to new gTLDs was posted on the ICANN website. Kurt Pritz confirmed that consultants had been retained to write the RFP and the Board had been provided with additional information to help them with their deliberations on the new gTLD policy recommendations. Draft standards for objections based on public morality and on infringement of rights are in preparation for the new gTLD implementation process. Denise further drew Council's attention to the new budget cycle that would be followed up with reports and requests for input from the Council and the ICANN community at the New Delhi meetings. There will also be two opportunities for public comment before the final iteration of the Budget which will run in parallel with the Operational plan. It was agreed to keep the Update on Board activities as a standing agenda item. Item 5: Review/Extend timeline for Whois study suggestions An online form would be posted for the public to submit Whois study suggestions and comments. Mike Rodenbaugh was in agreement with community concerns about 'excessive delay' in resolving any new WHOIS policy, but felt strongly that 18 days (January 7 to January 25, 2008) was not enough time for Constituencies to have proper discussion and scoping proposals for study and requested that the dates after January 7 2008, be moved forward 12 days. The Council discussion indicated broad agreement for extending the timeline for Whois study suggestions Avri Doria proposed submitting a revised time schedule to the Council mailing list, allowing for the extension of the deadline to the end of the ICANN meetings in New Delhi, thereafter a week for collation and summary, followed by a Council teleconference to discuss the submissions and outcomes. Item 6: Decision on appeals note on IDNC WG Avri Doria noted that the Chuck Gomes put forward a counter-proposal, for the Council to consider sending to the ICANN Board (http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg04378.html) in place of the message to the Board relating to resolution 07.89 (http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/repsonse-to-resolution-07-89-20dec07.pdf) Chuck Gomes commented that the response of the ccNSO Chair regarding the involvement of alternates, as well as allowing the GNSO Chair to observe on the Internationalized Domain Names ccTLD Working Group (referred to by the Board as IDNC Working Group) accommodated Council's concerns and it was no longer necessary to push for equal membership on that group. The critical issue, which names would fall into the ccNSO or GNSO space, should be handled separately from the IDNC by a community-wide group and should not become a ccNSO vs. GNSO issue. The counter-proposal states: Therefore, the GNSO Council recommends the following: * A new ICANN working group should be formed independent of groups already working on fast track IDN TLDs for countries or new gTLDs. * The ccNSO, GNSO, GAC and ALAC should jointly develop the statement of work of this group along with any participants from other ICANN bodies as desired. * This group should operate concurrently with present efforts such as the IDNC and the implementation efforts regarding new gTLDs with a goal of completing final recommendations within 120 days, thereby avoiding any unnecessary time delays that might impact fast track names or the new gTLD process. In addition, the proposal was not intended as a response to provide input to the Issues Report on Introduction of IDN ccTLDs (http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19dec07.htm). Denise Michel clarified that the IDNC working group had a limited scope, with no decision making authority, to develop feasible methods that could be used for the introduction of a limited number of IDN ccTLD’s associated with ISO 3166 -1 two letter codes. The community, the GNSO, ccNSO, GAC and other interested groups would vet the proposals and have the opportunity to comment before they were forwarded to the board. As a separate, long term endeavour, the ccNSO was launching a full policy development process to develop an overall policy for the introduction of IDN ccTTLD’s. A third, ongoing endeavor was the GNSO’s work in responding to the Issue Report on Introduction of IDN ccTLDs (http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19dec07.htm). Avri Doria commented that while the IDNC charter may be limited, essentially, there were several implicit details about the treatment of the name space and the intent of the charter was problematic without proper full representation. Chuck Gomes further commented that the implementation of the fast-track recommendations would depend on where the names would fit in the policy development space, whether in the ccNSO or the GNSO. Chuck Gomes's counter-proposal was generally considered a better approach to the first message because the division of the general name space between the country codes and the generics did not belong in the IDNC, and a new group would be more appropriate to handle the issue. For the message to reach the Board in time for consideration at its next meeting on 23 January 2008, Avri Doria proposed the following resolution: Whereas a GNSO drafting team proposed a message relating to Board Resolution 07.89 regarding a fast-track for IDN ccTLDs (http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/message-to-board-resolution-07-89-20dec07.pdf) Whereas Chuck Gomes proposed an alternate Message to Draft 0.3 distributed by Avri Doria relating to Board Resolution 07.89 regarding a fast-track for IDN ccTLDs (http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg04378.html) Council resolved that: Chuck Gomes will spend 2 days processing any editorial changes suggested on the Council mailing list. On 6 January 2008 a final version will be posted on the mailing list. If there are no substantive objections to the wording, the message will then be forwarded to the Board by the Chair. The motion carried unanimously by voice vote. Item 7: Discuss memo on proxy voting and formation of Drafting Team Liz Gasster reported that the memo on proxy voting drafted in collaboration with Dan Halloran considered the implementation issues associated with proxy voting with the focus on addressing the concerns that John Jeffrey had previously raised related to its implementation. One such concern was that no other organization within ICANN used proxy voting so it would be a change to the bylaws and the structural changes within ICANN. In addition, Councils, like Boards of Directors, require active participation from the members. Proxy voting could possibly be applied to the GNSO Council, but not to task forces or working groups. Electronic voting was considered in lieu of proxy voting so a vote could take place over a period of time following a discussion, to give absentees the chance to both review the discussions and have their vote considered. Several councillors expressed their support for the idea of extending votes and felt that it made the process more flexible. Roll call votes, rather than votes by acclamation should be considered for proxy votes. Avri Doria suggested forming a drafting team to report back at the next Council meeting on 17 January 2008. Philip Sheppard volunteered to lead the drafting team consisting of Chuck Gomes and Robin Gross with Liz Gasster as staff support. Item 8: Long term Travel funding plan for Council members - Vote on letter to CEO/COO Avri Doria noted that there were two separate issues: 1. In terms of New Delhi, ICANN's response was that they would provide, through their travel desk, only coach fares, and no lodging. Council members should work individually with the ICANN travel desk and/ or Denise Michel on their airfare arrangements. 2. Sending a letter to either the CEO, Dr Paul Twomey or the COO, Doug Brent, or both regarding the long term issue of travel funding for Council members to ICANN meetings. Denise Michel clarified that the CEO was developing a long term policy proposal and practice for funding ICANN volunteers' travel as part of the next fiscal year's budget and this would be actively discussed at the New Delhi meetings. Since the letter involved both a political and operational decision, it was agreed to address it to both the CEO and the COO. The letter would include the Council vote by which it was approved. Jon Bing mentioned that although all his expenses were paid as a Nominating Committee representative, he would still vote. This also applied to the two other Nominating Committee representatives, Avri Doria and Olga Cavalli who were voting as Council members. Avri Doria proposed Whereas the GNSO council remains concerned about funding the council members to attend future ICANN meetings Resolved that the letter drafted in http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg04353.html To: Paul Twomey CC: Doug Brent Dear Sirs, I am writing on behalf to the GNSO council with a request for travel funding for all GNSO council members for all future ICANN meetings. While this issue originally came up in regard to an urgent need for the New Delhi meeting which has been resolved, it remains an issue of concern in the GNSO council. A [strong] majority of those in the council has requested that all GNSO council members receive the same consideration for their travel expenses as is received by Members of the ICANN Board. The GSNO council appreciates your prompt consideration of this request. We look forward to receiving a response to the request as soon as possible. Thank you, Avri Doria Chair, GNSO Council be sent to the CEO of ICANN and to the COO of ICANN. The motion carried 12 votes in favour: Philip Sheppard, Bilal Beiram, Mike Rodenbaugh, Kristina Rosette, Tony Holmes, Tony Harris, Greg Ruth, Robin Gross, Carlos Souza, Olga Cavalli, Jon Bing, Avri Doria (one vote each). 6 votes against: Adrian Kinderis, Chuck Gomes, Edmon Chung (2 votes each). Absent Council members: Ute Decker, Cyril Chua, Norbert Klein, Tim Ruiz, Tom Keller, Jordi Iparraguirre. Item 9: Discuss New Delhi meeting organisation The GNSO Council has scheduled two working days, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 February 2008 before the official meetings start. Among the topics to be discussed at the face to face meetings are: - GNSO Improvements - Inter-Registrar Transfer working group recommendations - Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy Development Process (PDP) Initial Report discussion - IDN issues related to the Board Resolutions 07.57 and 07.89 - Domain Name Tasting The Open Council meeting formula will again be used, where an overview of the topics will be presented, followed by open discussion and then concluded by Council discussion. In addition there will be an open comment period at the end. Council input would be collated by the chair and the staff, and further proposals would be presented to the Council for discussion later. Item 10: Action Items Only two constituency statements had been received for the Inter-Registrar Transfer PDP by the deadline on 25 December 2007 and the time line was extended to 20 January 2008 for the Initial Report. The Domain Name Tasting PDP still has one constituency statement pending which will be incorporated into the Final report along with a summary of public comments if possible. Preparation of the Final Report will not be delayed any longer. Item 10: AOB Kristina Rosette mentioned the difficulties of not being able to edit Google documents during meeting hours from 9:00am to 9:00pm as a result of proprietary restrictions at her workplace. A resolution was mentioned that included the fact that in addition to the ability to edit on Google documents, it was also possible to just view using Google. Additionally, any edits someone wanted to make could be sent to the mailing list and they would be entered onto the Google documents on the person's behalf. Avri Doria adjourned the GNSO Council meeting and thanked everyone for their participation. The meeting ended at 22:48 UTC. Next GNSO Council teleconference will be on 17 January 2008 at 15:00 UTC. see: Calendar -- Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org