Hi all, For your review and consideration, attached is a draft GNSO Council response to the ICANN Board's letter of 27 August 2019 (also attached) concerning Verisign's request for a deferral of the Thick Whois implementation. Please review the Board's letter, which requested a response shortly after our 19 September Council meeting, and the draft reply. We can discuss this on the list, and we will add it to the agenda for our meeting. Pam, Rafik and I coordinated on this proposed draft, which acknowledges the work ahead of Council on reviewing existing policies and procedures, including the Thick Whois consensus policy, in the context of EPDP Phase One Recommendation 27. It also points out that a single contracted party request for an implementation compliance deferral is not policy, per se, and is therefore the responsibility of ICANN Org and not the GNSO Council. I will note here that I am sensitive to views or concerns around a conflict of interest on this topic, in that Verisign is the contracted party requesting the deferral and is also my employer. As such, Pam, Rafik and I coordinated drafting this proposed response, and they have agreed to take the lead on shepherding the draft to a conclusion, so we can respond to the Board's request in a timely manner. I feel that this draft strikes the right procedural balance and avoids the substantive discussions that will need to take place in the near future as we tackle the issue of reviewing and amending the Thick Whois Consensus Policy in the context of the EPDP's Recommendations 7 and 27. If anyone has feedback for me on this, please let me know. Please respond with any comments on the draft letter so we can finalize and approve it at our next meeting. Best, Keith