Subject: GA-DIGEST V1 #211
From: [email-masked] (GA-DIGEST)
To: [email-masked]

GA-DIGEST           Friday, January 5 2001           Volume 01 : Number 211

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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 13:37:10 -0500
From: Sandy Harris <[email-masked]>
Subject: [ga] Comm ACM article

This month's Communications of the ACM has an interesting article
by Lenny Foner of MIT, "Fixing a Flawed Domain Name System":

  "ICANN's primary mission is broken beyond redemption, and
   arguments about the details of its arrangements anount to
   re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

He refers to the page for a Workshop he chaired at CFP 2000:

http://www.cfp200.org/workshop/materials

For anyone who doesn't know, ACM (http://www.acm.org/) is
the Association for Computing Machinery, the field's oldest
and most prestigous professional society. CFP is the annual
conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy. Information
on the next one is at http://cfp.org/
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Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 21:19:40 +0100 (MET)
From: DNSO Secretariat <[email-masked]>
Subject: [ga] NC telecon, 19 December 2000, minutes

[ To: [email-masked] ]
[ To: [email-masked], [email-masked] ]

[ cf. http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20001219.NCtelecon-minutes.html ]

ICANN/DNSO

       DNSO Names Council Teleconference on 19 December 2000 - minutes
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

21 December 2000.

Proposed agenda and related documents:

http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20001219.NCtelecon-agenda.html

List of attendees:

   Peter de Blanc          ccTLD          (left early, proxy to Porteneuve)
   Elisabeth Porteneuve    ccTLD
   Oscar Robles Garay      ccTLD          absent (apology)
   Philip Sheppard         Business
   Theresa Swinehart       Business       (left early, proxy to Sheppard)
   Hirofumi Hotta          ISPCP
   Tony Harris             ISPCP
   Michael Schneider       ISPCP
   Erica Roberts           Registrars
   Ken Stubbs              Registrars     absent (apology, proxy to Kane)
   Paul Kane               Registrars
   Roger Cochetti          gTLD
   Caroline Chicoine       IP             (left early, proxy to aus der Muhlen)
   Axel Aus der Muhlen     IP
   Guillermo Carey         IP             absent
   Youn Jung Park          NCDNH
   Dany Vandromme          NCDNH
   Zakaria Amar            NCDNH          absent
   Louis Touton            ICANN staff
   Maca Jamin              Scribe

Due to family emergency Ken Stubbs was prevented from chairing this meeting.
Philip Sheppard chaired the entire session on his behalf.

Quorum present at 14:10 (all times reported are CET, which is UTC +1:00
during the winter in the North hemisphere)

Note: BC has not yet replaced Masanobu Katoh, newly elected at-large
Director. The BC aims to do so before the next NC meeting in January. L.
Touton confirmed that according to the ICANN Bylaws M. Katoh cannot
participate in NC meetings anymore and consequently his proxy cannot be
used.

Minutes of the meeting.

   * Agenda Item 1. Approval of the Agenda

     Two items were added under AOB:

     i) Call for nominations for the NC Chairman

     ii) Election of the GA Chair

          Decision D1:

          Including the above modifications the agenda for the meeting was
          unanimously approved.

   * Agenda Item 2. Approval of the summary of the meetings on 19th October
     and 14th November

     October 19th teleconference

          Y.J. Park pointed out that the motion concerning the approval
          process of the minutes (minutes to be approved by the NC first and
          then published) does not figure in the text of the 19th October
          teleconference minutes. She requested setting up a formal process
          and tracking different versions to settle controversial points.

          E. Porteneuve clarified that the only change after the draft
          initially circulated concerned the discussion of the required
          number of votes to adopt Decision D3 and L. Touton stated that
          change was made in a e-mail E. Porteneuve had sent to the whole
          NC. Y.J. Park was still unhappy with the version and to move the
          meeting forward Ph. Sheppard proposed to continue the discussion
          concerning the 19th October minutes off-line.

          E. Roberts suggested putting in place a simple process: scribe
          sends the minutes to the Chair who amends or approves and asks the
          Secretariat to release a draft. Any subsequent change to this
          draft is recorded and approved by the Chair until a final version
          is approved by the NC.

     14th November meeting

          C. Chicoine requested adding a reference to an e-mail from Y J
          Park (3 Oct 2000
          http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/council/Arc04/msg00335.html) to
          clarify the intent of the motion Chicoine had proposed.

          L. Touton expressed his concern about the procedure of using the
          Berkmann Center notes as minutes: they are not generated for this
          purpose and we should be taking this fact into account.

          P. Kane suggested using the session videotape to check on
          controversy.

          E. Roberts remembered C. Chicoine's intervention and supported the
          idea of adding this reference to the minutes.

          Y.J. Park expressed a desire to consult the videotape of the
          meeting and make amendments later.

          Decision D2:

          The minutes of Oct 19 were approved. The minutes of 14 November
          were approved, with the insertion of the e-mail reference. The
          reservation expressed by Y.J. Park was noted.

   * Agenda Item 4. Secretarial support to DNSO prior to recruitment of
     permanent staff and openess and recording of NC meetings

          4.1 Status of AFNIC support

               E. Porteneuve described the current functioning of the
               Secretariat now that she was an NC member. Her role is that
               of a Project Manager consisting in managing administrative
               and technical matters. A third party takes minutes of the
               meetings.

               E. Roberts questioned if the primary task consisted in
               maintaining the DNSO web page.

               E. Porteneuve provided detailed description of the tasks:
               monitoring mailing lists, managing security tools, ensuring
               back-up functions, updating the site, providing support to
               the GA, etc.

               E. Roberts suggested discussing this under the item on the
               Budget Committee

          4.2 Recording secretary

               L. Touton pointed out that arrangements should be made to
               compensate a third party for taking minutes. The question was
               raised if the interim recording scribe is needed to work in
               tandem with E. Porteneuve until we recruit a full time
               secretary.

               P. de Blanc recalled that there were some suggestions to hire
               a stenographer. R. Cochetti developed this idea by suggesting
               that the NC Chair or ICANN staff ensure that the minutes are
               taken and audio recording made at reasonable cost.

               P. de Blanc said that a certain degree of formality should be
               added in case of controversial points. The latter will not be
               approved until a portion of a tape was circulated to all NC
               members.

               R. Cochetti suggested giving a responsibility to the Chair
               and a practical part to the Project Manager and ICANN staff
               to provide recording secretary and audio tape recording for
               each meeting.

               P.Kane added that this should be on an interim basis until a
               permanent support has been put in place.

               Y.J. Park raised the issue of procedures for eventual
               transcripts, and impacted cost.

               Th. Swinehart stressed that a tape transcription could be
               costly.

               The following motion was approved by all with Y.J. Park
               abstaining:

               Decision D3:

               Until such time as the DNSO has internal staff support that
               is sufficient to provide these services, the Chair, or in the
               Chair's absence, the ICANN Secretary in conjunction with the
               AFNIC Project Manager, are requested to procure and, at
               reasonable cost, compensate, a scribe for each teleconference
               or other Names Council meeting. The scribe will prepare
               minutes of each meeting and the taking and maintenance of an
               audio recording of each meeting provided that if any NC
               member disputes what he or she has said in the resulting
               draft minutes, a transcript of the relevant portion of the
               audio recording shall be prepared and made available to the
               NC before its formal approval of the minutes. The NC Chair
               and ICANN Secretary are further requested to report
               periodically to the NC on the costs incurred.

     C. Chicoine states she had to leave the meeting and asked to switch
     item 6 with item 5.

   * Agenda Item 6. LA follow-up - proposed "Review Working Group"

          C. Chicoine restated that her intention in proposing a group
          during the NC meeting in Marina del Rey was limited to the
          proposals made in YJ Park's e-mail of 3 October (referenced
          above).

          Ph. Sheppard recalled that since then there had been
          misunderstanding on what had been intended in the request made of
          Y J Park. Nevertheless the NC now had a revised proposal (December
          10 e-mail from Y J Park Subject: Terms of Reference[version 0.2] :
          Review Working Group) for a Review Working Group (WG) and needed
          to react to that proposal. He noted that the terms of reference
          proposed in that proposal included:
             + Prepare a repsponse to the questionnaire prepared by the
               Review Task Force
             + Review DNSO responsibilties and performance
             + Develop recommendations for making DNSO work as designed

          Y.J. Park referred to discussions in Yokohama to form a Working
          Group. Following informal discussions with selected parties she
          had proposed terms of reference for a Review Working Group with a
          mission to:
             + respond to the questionnaire of the NC Review Task Force
               (RTF)
             + Review DNSO procedures
             + Send comments to the ICANN Board.

          P. Kane expressed his support of a Working Group as a means of
          outreach. As a representative of the Registrars constituency he
          wanted though to find out if the intention was to provide answers
          to the Review Task Force Questionnaire or NC as this would be
          preferable, instead of forwarding comments to the ICANN Board
          directly.

          Y.J. Park agreed that the WG output would go to the NC.

          C. Chicoine supported the idea that all results should come out of
          the collaborative work within the NC Review Task Force and not as
          a separate initiative.

          In order to find a proper balance Y.J. Park suggested that Th.
          Swinehart, a leader of the NC Review Task Force helps to
          co-ordinate the two activities.

          Th. Swinehart expressed some concern about this idea and briefly
          reviewed the whole process:
             + She expressed concern that the practice that has been
               followed by the group convened by YJ is not consistent with
               YJ's proposal.
             + She stated that any NC liaison to a Working Group should be
               formally appointed by the NC.

          P. Sheppard stated that the second and third tasks proposed for
          the Working Group overlapped with the tasks assigned to the Task
          Force. Therefore, the Working Group should focus on the first task
          (answering the Task Force's questionnaire).

          R. Cochetti recalled that it was approved at the Marina del Rey
          meeting, that there was to be a close link between the Working
          Group and the DNSO Review Task Force. A mechanism is needed to
          provide broad comments and the GA could play an important role
          here. There is no point in a Review Working Group and Review Task
          Force reporting separately to the NC.

          Th. Swinehart informed that GA is preparing comments R. Gaetano,
          GA Chair, is working on that, and she observed time is limited. We
          are going through the second round of consultation right now and
          we have no possibility of extending the January 9 deadline. A
          report has to be sent to the ICANN Board before the meeting in
          Melbourne.

          After this intervention Th. Swinehart had to leave the call

          Y.J. Park pointed out the timing difficulty in conducting this
          work by January 9, as the WG had not been created after the
          Yokohama meeting. She also stressed that certain GA members she
          had spoken to were not happy with the process, which they saw as a
          top-down process.

          P. Kane remarked that if GA members are talking to Y.J. they are
          taking part in the process, and that that together with the two
          calls for Constituency consultation, means we cannot speak of a
          top-down but definitely of a bottom-up approach. He also raised
          the question: Does the Working Group propose to review answers to
          the Review Task Force questions only or are there any other issues
          the group is interested to address?

          Y.J. Park explained that if we had not had more responses by now,
          it is because people are suspicious. The main goal of the Working
          Group is to enable those people to take an active part in the
          process.

          P. de Blanc insisted that sufficient credibility should be given
          to the process itself, aimed at providing a sound DNSO
          contribution to the Board. He supported the idea of the Working
          Group because of its inherent promotional value ensuring that the
          highest importance is given to the issue.

          P. de Blanc left the call after his intervention at 15:31 - proxy
          given to E. Porteneuve.

          E. Roberts restated that comments are due by January 9th. The
          possibility of extending that deadline could only be envisaged if
          it also allowed enough time for the Review Task Force to draft its
          report. The working group will therefore, have to conclude by
          January.

          Y.J. Park noted the practical problems of a short life time of the
          WG especially given the likely period of inactivity during the
          Christmas period.

          C. Chicoine rejoined a call at 15:36 and recommended that
          responding to the Review Task Force Questionnaire would be a valid
          and useful role for the WG.

          T. Harris seconded C. Chicoine's point.

          Ph. Sheppard summarised debate as centered around two questions:

               - do we need a Review Working Group ?

               - if yes to define a clear objective and timetable.

          P. Kane stressed the importance of the outreach in raising
          awareness on any issue. He suggested producing a press release in
          order to reach the largest possible audience.

          Ph. Sheppard reminded the NC that the key objective is twofold:
          get the largest possible response to the RTF questionnaire and
          provide input to the Board according to a set timetable.

          E. Porteneuve was in favour of setting up of a Working Group even
          for a short period of time and to stimulate participation by
          issuing a press release.

          Ph. Sheppard proposed a possible solution to the debate:

               - set-up a Working Group immediately with a mission to
               provide additional answers to the Review Task Force
               questionnaire and report them back to the Review Task Force

               - give it a deadline of January 15th

               - issue a press release to increase participation.

          Y.J. Park noted that the discussion is taking place on a different
          ground, as it is unrealistic that these objectives be achieved by
          January 15th.

          D. Vandromme supported that idea because in his view it seems
          rather difficult to get high quality work done in such a short
          period of time. He suggested extending the lifetime of the Working
          Group.

          L. Touton reminded the NC of the problems in setting up a
          different schedule from the one stated by Th. Swinehart as
          necessary to get the report to the ICANN Board in time for the
          Melbourne meeting

          E. Roberts supported the idea of coping with the timetable as set.
          Two rounds of constituency and GA outreach had already been done.
          Establishing a Working Group is a great idea, but extending the
          time table past January 15 will prevent us complying with the
          request of the ICANN Board.

          D. Vandromme insisted that it is better to have more time and
          produce a good report instead of providing an empty shell on time.

          E. Roberts said that the report would not be an empty shell as
          there are lots of comments already available.

          Ph. Sheppard urged not to extend the timeline too far and make
          sure the process stays on track.

          D. Vandromme pointed out that the Review Working Group covers a
          different population.

          T. Harris opposed the idea of extending the timeline for
          questionnaire replies as that would reduce the time for public
          comments on the NC final report itself.

          Ph. Sheppard made the following proposal:

               Decision D4:

               - establish a Review Working Group, chaired by Y.J. Park

               - make the "terms of reference" "responding to the RTF
               questionnaire"

               - make the lifetime of the WG January 15th

               - ask the group to report by January 15th to the NC Review
               Task Force.

               - issue a press release immediately to encourage
               participation in this WG.

          The following members voted in favour: Chicoine, aus der Mühlen,
          Roberts, Hotta, Harris, Cochetti, Sheppard, Swinehart (by proxy),
          de Blanc (by proxy), Porteneuve, Kane, Stubbs (by proxy), YJ Park
          (with the reserve that the given timeframe is too short to
          accomplish this task properly).

          Vandromme abstained.

          Ph. Sheppard offered to draft the press release, to liase with YJ
          Park and to ask Ken Stubbs as NC Chair (assuming availability) to
          approve it on behalf of the NC.

          C. Chicoine left the meeting and gave her proxy to A. aus der
          Muhlen

   * Agenda Item 5. LA follow up - Business Plan

          Ph. Sheppard informed participants that a Business Plan Task Force
          (TF) had been established comprising one representative from each
          of the NC constituencies. The TF had agreed on a draft set of
          objectives for the business plan and this draft will now be sent
          to the NC with a request to circulate the plan for comments by
          Constituencies. Following the comment period - which will be
          focused only on the proposed top-line objectives for the NC, the
          TF will revise the business plan and add detail of the strategies,
          actions and measures of success necessary to fulfill the agreed
          objectives. After that revision the final plan will be presented
          to the NC for approval.

   * Agenda Item 7. New TLDs

          The discussion on this subject was postponed until the January
          meeting. On a request, L. Touton briefly reported on negotiation
          over new TLDs. More work is needed and ICANN does not expect to
          finalise agreements for all seven TLDs by end December as
          originally hoped.

   * Agenda Item 8. LA follow-up -WHOIS

          P. Kane announced that Rebecca Nesson is doing a good job as
          co-ordinator of an informal ICANN consulting group on WHOIS
          issues.

          L.Touton added that the group will send a report to ICANN staff by
          the end of January who will then refer issues of policy to the NC
          for discussion.

   * Agenda Item 9. Budget Committee status report

          R. Cochetti apologised for not being able to provide a written
          report to the NC (he had his laptop stolen). He informed the NC:

               i) the budget committee has reviewed an invoice sent by AFNIC
               for NC secretariat services 2000 and it recommends paying the
               full subject to:

                    - provision of services at no cost during an interim
                    period not to exceed March 31st 2001,

                    - a satisfactory solution to questions of intellectual
                    property rights in mail lists, databases, web site
                    content etc

                    - provision of greater detail on certain cost items.

               ii) the budget committee is completing a proposed budget for
               2001 based on certain assumptions:

                    - the money collected in year 2000 and the dues
                    outstanding

                    - expenditures in 2000

                    - a presumption that voluntary funds raised in 2001 will
                    cover an estimated cost of $120,000 to hire an NC
                    secretary.

          Depending on the final outcome of budget committee discussions the
          proposed budget for 2001 is not expected to result in a call for
          NC constituency contributions in excess of $13,000 each. A full
          report will be circulated to the NC in January.

   * Agenda Item 10. Independent review panel nomination committee proposal
     - status report

          Ph. Sheppard informed that some names had now been forwarded to
          the NC Secretariat.

          L.Touton stated that the NC was charged to appoint two people.

          E. Roberts requested more details on the role of the nominating
          committee. L. Touton will send necessary information.

          It was agreed that the Intake Committee will add a point for the
          January agenda to recommend two names at that meeting.

   * Agenda Item 11. Request from GA Chair for NC to consider an individuals
     Constituency

          This item was postponed to the next meeting.

   * Agenda Item 12. Duke University Law Report

          As P. de Blanc had to leave the meeting earlier, the discussion
          was postponed to the next meeting.

   * Agenda Item 13. Any Other Business

          NC Chair

               The term of office for Ken Stubbs expires 6 months after the
               July meeting in Yokohama and so a new Chair will be required
               following the NC meeting in January. To help with the choice,
               E. Porteneuve will communicate to all NC members the
               statistics about the past chairs. Members of the NC are
               requested to send nominations.

          GA Chair

               E. Porteneuve will send an e-mail to the Names Council
               updating the NC on the status of the election of the GA
               Chair.

Ph. Sheppard closed the meeting and thanked all attendees for their
participation.

End of meeting at 16:40 CET. Next Names Council Teleconference is scheduled
for Wednesday January 24th 2001
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

                 Information from:  © DNSO Names Council

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End of GA-DIGEST V1 #211
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