Dear Milton, Dear colleagues, As one of the co-chairs of the drafting team for the accountability cross community working group, this message has obviously drawn my attention. Milton, you raise an issue about the inter-relation between the two tracks, but I must admit I have difficulties understanding both what triggered the discussion and what the actual consequences might be. This is of course because I have neither been in Frankfurt nor managed to read all the transcripts. Could anyone be kind enough to point me to the relevant parts of the transcript ? Best Mathieu Le 21/11/2014 00:15, Milton L Mueller a écrit :
Jonathan
I've been reading the transcripts of the Frankfurt meeting. Sorry I couldn't be there to correct what I saw as an oversight or error in the discussion. Although others committed the same error, it was most concisely expressed in a quote from you, so that's why I am picking on you ;-) You said:
"Then there's the broader ICANN accountability issue, which I think is beyond the remit of this committee and into the next working group, except to the extent it deals with accountability for IANA functions."
This implies that IANA accountability and ICANN accountability are two completely separate things. The problem is that they are interrelated. This interdependency is explicitly recognized in the ICG's charter:
"The IANA stewardship transition process is taking place alongside a parallel and related process on enhancing ICANN accountability. While maintaining the accountability of Internet identifier governance is central to both processes, this group's scope is focused on the arrangements required for the continuance of IANA functions in an accountable and widely accepted manner after the expiry of the NTIA-ICANN contract. Nevertheless, the two processes are interrelated and interdependent and should appropriately coordinate their work."
Of course the IANA transition process cannot fix all the accountability issues in ICANN's policy making process, nor do we want it to. But "interrelated and interdependent" means that how we handle accountability in the IANA transition will have direct impact on the enhanced accountability process for the rest of ICANN. As a simple example, if the IANA transition merely hands over control of IANA to ICANN with no oversight or separability whatsoever, then the enhanced accountability CWG will have a _/lot/_ more urgent work to do, especially in track 1. On the other hand, if the IANA transition process allows the community to take IANA away from a misbehaving ICANN, or otherwise leverages the control of IANA to ensure that ICANN complies with certain good governance requirements, then the IANA transition has implications for ICANN accountability, not just IANA accountability.
The clear intent of the ICG charter is to recognize that both ICANN and IANA accountability are related. The creation of two tracks in the ICANN accountability CWG - one that must be completed before the IANA transition is effectuated and the other involving reforms that can wait until after the transition - is another explicit recognition of the interdependency of the IANA and ICANN accountability. The simple fact is that the IANA transition process _/must/_ take into account the broader implications of its proposed changes for the overall accountability of ICANN.
I hope the CWG Frankfurt meeting's failure to recognize the interdependency this did not prevent it from making progress in other areas.
Milton L Mueller
Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://faculty.ischool.syr.edu/mueller/
Internet Governance Project
http://internetgovernance.org <http://internetgovernance.org/>
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