Hi all, Yesterday (Wednesday) morning I participated in the open GNSO Council Meeting trying to get familiar with this body and the variety of subjects of its six constituencies. The debate comprised issues like domain tasting, new gTLDs, IDNs and changes to the GNSO’s structure and the GNSO Improvements report submitted by the Board Governance Committee (BGC) early February 08. In the afternoon I followed Workshops on the IPv6 Update, Translation Policy and the Operating Plan. In the evening ALAC plus Secretariats had cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with members of the GNSO Council. In this report I would like to share a comment of the Consumer Union of the US on ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement (JPA) which is supported by many at ALAC with you: ___ COMMENTS OF CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH, Consumers Union of the U.S., On ICANN Joint Project Agreement with U.S. Commerce Department February 14, 2008 Consumer Reports WebWatch of the Consumers Union, representing 9 million consumers in the United States and Canada, supports ICANN’s efforts to evolve and move forward toward an existence apart from the JPA agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, at this mid-term review phase, we do not believe the organization is ready to function without a similar accountability mechanism to the JPA in place. Major changes need to occur within the organization to assure more efficient and meaningful user community representation, with long-term guarantees that such representation would endure unforeseen scenarios in the future. Our justifications for this position are simple: First, we do not believe the structure of ICANN as it exists today sufficiently takes into account the needs and opinions of end-users. Based on a review of operational documents and bylaws, we do not see any sort of language guaranteeing meaningful user participation into the future. To address this issue, Consumers Union believes the at-large community needs multiple seats on the ICANN board; the initial bylaws, in fact, called for fully half the board to be elected by the at-large. We base this opinion on Consumer Reports WebWatch’s own 11-month experience as an “at-large structure” recruited by ICANN, and our eight months’ experience as an elected representative to the at-large advisory committee.__Second, though the outreach work of ICANN at-large staff Nick Ashton-Hart and Kieran McCarthy is commendable, ICANN’s staff and public communications budget is insufficient to address a much larger problem of outreach. To elaborate: Currently, the NA-RALO is made up of a scant handful of organizations. While these are valuable partners, in no way could the NA-RALO be characterized as a viable representation of a broad-based user community in the United States and Canada. Further, many consumer organizations in the United States with a mission that includes the intersection of technology and consumer issues, remain skeptical of ICANN's intentions and its viability as an organization that takes consumer views into account. Until something is done to bridge this gap and ICANN demonstrates its good intentions and long-term structural viability to organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and others, we do not believe ICANN can be considered to be acting in accordance with the concerns of the user community in North America.__In addition, there are no guarantees beyond mention in the bylaws that the "at-large community," itself currently under review, would remain a part of the ICANN structure 20 or even 10 years from now. The at-large advisory committee is without a vote in any meaningful policy forum. Without direct user community representation on the ICANN board, we do not believe ICANN is truly acting as a “multi-stakeholder" organization. We are concerned, in fact, that ICANN does sees itself as a multi-stakeholder organization, with industry, government, and industry groups as the stakeholders. It does not help matters much that many within the ICANN community view domain name registrants as the Internet’s “end-users,” and therefore the farthest realm the ICANN needs to reach. Until these issues are addressed we do not believe the organization is ready to progress beyond the JPA, which refers to "the global participation of all stakeholders" and "mechanisms for involvement of those affected by the ICANN policies." As the Internet-using public is a key set of stakeholders affected by ICANN's policies, it is critical, including for Internet security and stability, that the organization be accountable to the public and account effectively for its input. We believe the following three things need to happen in order for ICANN to move forward beyond the JPA: 1. Address lack of meaningful user representation, and assure its long-term viability within the organization, by creating multiple “user community” seats on the ICANN board. 2. Allocate significant budget to get the message that it has done so, out to civil society stakeholder groups in North America and the global user community. 3. Take administrative steps to ensure the long-term structural existence of user community presence and participation in decision-making. We appreciate the opportunity to comment. Beau Brendler, Director, Consumer Reports WebWatch, and member, ICANN at-large advisory committee ___ The complete schedule for ICANN's 31st meeting, as well as links to webcast sessions and our public participation website, can be found at: http://delhi.icann.org/. So far, Best regards from Delhi, Wolf comunica-ch phone +41 79 204 83 87 www.comunica-ch.net http://blog.allmend.ch - Digitale Allmend
Hi Wolf, Thanks for the report, and the interesting statement from the CU. One wonders if it wouldn't be useful to have some sort of panel on such matters at the Paris summit (if there is one), alongside the training-type sessions? It would certainly seem relevant to ALSers... Best, Bill On 2/14/08 7:21 AM, "Wolf Ludwig" <wolf.ludwig@comunica-ch.net> wrote: > Hi all, Yesterday (Wednesday) morning I participated in the open GNSO Council > Meeting trying to get familiar with this body and the variety of subjects of > its six constituencies. The debate comprised issues like domain tasting, new > gTLDs, IDNs and changes to the GNSO¹s structure and the GNSO Improvements > report submitted by the Board Governance Committee (BGC) early February > 08. In the afternoon I followed Workshops on the IPv6 Update, Translation > Policy and the Operating Plan. In the evening ALAC plus Secretariats had > cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with members of the GNSO Council. In this report > I would like to share a comment of the Consumer Union of the US on ICANN¹s > Joint Project Agreement (JPA) which is supported by many at ALAC with > you: ___ COMMENTS OF CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH, Consumers Union of the U.S., > On ICANN Joint Project Agreement with U.S. Commerce Department February 14, > 2008 Consumer Reports WebWatch of the Consumers Union, representing 9 million > consumers in the United States and Canada, supports ICANN¹s efforts to evolve > and move forward toward an existence apart from the JPA agreement with the > U.S. Department of Commerce. However, at this mid-term review phase, we do not > believe the organization is ready to function without a similar accountability > mechanism to the JPA in place. Major changes need to occur within the > organization to assure more efficient and meaningful user community > representation, with long-term guarantees that such representation would > endure unforeseen scenarios in the future. Our justifications for this > position are simple: First, we do not believe the structure of ICANN as it > exists today sufficiently takes into account the needs and opinions of > end-users. Based on a review of operational documents and bylaws, we do not > see any sort of language guaranteeing meaningful user participation into the > future. To address this issue, Consumers Union believes the at-large community > needs multiple seats on the ICANN board; the initial bylaws, in fact, called > for fully half the board to be elected by the at-large. We base this opinion > on Consumer Reports WebWatch¹s own 11-month experience as an ³at-large > structure² recruited by ICANN, and our eight months¹ experience as an elected > representative to the at-large advisory committee.__Second, though the > outreach work of ICANN at-large staff Nick Ashton-Hart and Kieran McCarthy is > commendable, ICANN¹s staff and public communications budget is insufficient to > address a much larger problem of outreach. To elaborate: Currently, the > NA-RALO is made up of a scant handful of organizations. While these are > valuable partners, in no way could the NA-RALO be characterized as a viable > representation of a broad-based user community in the United States and > Canada. Further, many consumer organizations in the United States with a > mission that includes the intersection of technology and consumer issues, > remain skeptical of ICANN's intentions and its viability as an organization > that takes consumer views into account. Until something is done to bridge this > gap and ICANN demonstrates its good intentions and long-term structural > viability to organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy > Rights Clearinghouse and others, we do not believe ICANN can be considered to > be acting in accordance with the concerns of the user community in North > America.__In addition, there are no guarantees beyond mention in the bylaws > that the "at-large community," itself currently under review, would remain a > part of the ICANN structure 20 or even 10 years from now. The at-large > advisory committee is without a vote in any meaningful policy forum. Without > direct user community representation on the ICANN board, we do not believe > ICANN is truly acting as a ³multi-stakeholder" organization. We are concerned, > in fact, that ICANN does sees itself as a multi-stakeholder organization, with > industry, government, and industry groups as the stakeholders. It does not > help matters much that many within the ICANN community view domain name > registrants as the Internet¹s ³end-users,² and therefore the farthest realm > the ICANN needs to reach. Until these issues are addressed we do not believe > the organization is ready to progress beyond the JPA, which refers to "the > global participation of all stakeholders" and "mechanisms for involvement of > those affected by the ICANN policies." As the Internet-using public is a key > set of stakeholders affected by ICANN's policies, it is critical, including > for Internet security and stability, that the organization be accountable to > the public and account effectively for its input. We believe the following > three things need to happen in order for ICANN to move forward beyond the > JPA: 1. Address lack of meaningful user representation, and assure its > long-term viability within the organization, by creating multiple ³user > community² seats on the ICANN board. 2. Allocate significant budget to > get the message that it has done so, out to civil society stakeholder groups > in North America and the global user community. 3. Take administrative > steps to ensure the long-term structural existence of user community presence > and participation in decision-making. We appreciate the opportunity to > comment. Beau Brendler, Director, Consumer Reports WebWatch, and member, > ICANN at-large advisory committee ___ The complete schedule for ICANN's 31st > meeting, as well as links to webcast sessions and our public participation > website, can be found at: http://delhi.icann.org/. So far, Best regards from > Delhi, Wolf comunica-ch phone +41 79 204 83 > 87 www.comunica-ch.net http://blog.allmend.ch - Digitale > Allmend _______________________________________________ EURO-Discuss mailing > list EURO-Discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailm > an/listinfo/euro-discuss_atlarge-lists.icann.org Homepage for the region: > http://www.euralo.org *********************************************************** William J. Drake Director, Project on the Information Revolution and Global Governance/PSIO Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, Switzerland william.drake@graduateinstitute.ch ***********************************************************
I actually hope, that we can come to an agreement to make it an ALAC/RALO statement. If not, the EURALO might want to support it greetings to all annette ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wolf Ludwig" <wolf.ludwig@comunica-ch.net> To: "Europe disc at large" <euro-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org> Cc: "Brendler, Beau" <Brenbe@consumer.org> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:51 AM Subject: [EURO-Discuss] EURALO Delhi report 4
Hi all,
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning I participated in the open GNSO Council Meeting trying to get familiar with this body and the variety of subjects of its six constituencies. The debate comprised issues like domain tasting, new gTLDs, IDNs and changes to the GNSO’s structure and the GNSO Improvements report submitted by the Board Governance Committee (BGC) early February 08.
In the afternoon I followed Workshops on the IPv6 Update, Translation Policy and the Operating Plan. In the evening ALAC plus Secretariats had cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with members of the GNSO Council. In this report I would like to share a comment of the Consumer Union of the US on ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement (JPA) which is supported by many at ALAC with you:
___ COMMENTS OF CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH, Consumers Union of the U.S., On ICANN Joint Project Agreement with U.S. Commerce Department February 14, 2008
Consumer Reports WebWatch of the Consumers Union, representing 9 million consumers in the United States and Canada, supports ICANN’s efforts to evolve and move forward toward an existence apart from the JPA agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, at this mid-term review phase, we do not believe the organization is ready to function without a similar accountability mechanism to the JPA in place. Major changes need to occur within the organization to assure more efficient and meaningful user community representation, with long-term guarantees that such representation would endure unforeseen scenarios in the future.
Our justifications for this position are simple: First, we do not believe the structure of ICANN as it exists today sufficiently takes into account the needs and opinions of end-users. Based on a review of operational documents and bylaws, we do not see any sort of language guaranteeing meaningful user participation into the future. To address this issue, Consumers Union believes the at-large community needs multiple seats on the ICANN board; the initial bylaws, in fact, called for fully half the board to be elected by the at-large.
We base this opinion on Consumer Reports WebWatch’s own 11-month experience as an “at-large structure” recruited by ICANN, and our eight months’ experience as an elected representative to the at-large advisory committee.__Second, though the outreach work of ICANN at-large staff Nick Ashton-Hart and Kieran McCarthy is commendable, ICANN’s staff and public communications budget is insufficient to address a much larger problem of outreach. To elaborate: Currently, the NA-RALO is made up of a scant handful of organizations. While these are valuable partners, in no way could the NA-RALO be characterized as a viable representation of a broad-based user community in the United States and Canada. Further, many consumer organizations in the United States with a mission that includes the intersection of technology and consumer issues, remain skeptical of ICANN's intentions and its viability as an organization that takes consumer views into account. Until something is done to bridge this gap and ICANN demonstrates its good intentions and long-term structural viability to organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and others, we do not believe ICANN can be considered to be acting in accordance with the concerns of the user community in North America.__In addition, there are no guarantees beyond mention in the bylaws that the "at-large community," itself currently under review, would remain a part of the ICANN structure 20 or even 10 years from now. The at-large advisory committee is without a vote in any meaningful policy forum. Without direct user community representation on the ICANN board, we do not believe ICANN is truly acting as a “multi-stakeholder" organization. We are concerned, in fact, that ICANN does sees itself as a multi-stakeholder organization, with industry, government, and industry groups as the stakeholders. It does not help matters much that many within the ICANN community view domain name registrants as the Internet’s “end-users,” and therefore the farthest realm the ICANN needs to reach.
Until these issues are addressed we do not believe the organization is ready to progress beyond the JPA, which refers to "the global participation of all stakeholders" and "mechanisms for involvement of those affected by the ICANN policies." As the Internet-using public is a key set of stakeholders affected by ICANN's policies, it is critical, including for Internet security and stability, that the organization be accountable to the public and account effectively for its input.
We believe the following three things need to happen in order for ICANN to move forward beyond the JPA: 1. Address lack of meaningful user representation, and assure its long-term viability within the organization, by creating multiple “user community” seats on the ICANN board. 2. Allocate significant budget to get the message that it has done so, out to civil society stakeholder groups in North America and the global user community. 3. Take administrative steps to ensure the long-term structural existence of user community presence and participation in decision-making.
We appreciate the opportunity to comment.
Beau Brendler, Director, Consumer Reports WebWatch, and member, ICANN at-large advisory committee ___
The complete schedule for ICANN's 31st meeting, as well as links to webcast sessions and our public participation website, can be found at: http://delhi.icann.org/. So far,
Best regards from Delhi, Wolf
comunica-ch phone +41 79 204 83 87 www.comunica-ch.net
http://blog.allmend.ch - Digitale Allmend
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Annette Muehlberg ha scritto:
I actually hope, that we can come to an agreement to make it an ALAC/RALO statement. If not, the EURALO might want to support it
The statement, if I understand it correctly, seems to say that the JPA with the US Government should not be terminated, at least for the moment, and that ICANN should remain dependent from the USG. I understand the concerns that lead to this position, but I do not think that this is a position that the EURALO could support. I imagine that big US NGOs think that they can have some leverage in Washington if ICANN does something that they don't like, but we Europeans are not in the same position, so unless the JPA is substituted with something that gives to our governments the same degree of authority of the USG, I do not think that we should support the continuation of this kind of agreements - and even in that case, perhaps no governmental oversight at all, even with the risks of reduced accountability, could still be a better option. Ciao, -- vb. Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu <-------- --------> finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/ <--------
participants (4)
-
Annette Muehlberg -
Vittorio Bertola -
William Drake -
Wolf Ludwig