Re: [Ianaplan] control and negotiation (was Re: draft-ietf-ianaplan-icg-response-02 working group last call)

[Alissa Cooper <[e-mail]>]

Hi David,

On Nov 7, 2014, at 12:55 PM, David Conrad <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Milton,
> 
> On Nov 6, 2014, at 6:37 AM, Milton L Mueller <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> It is completely invalid to call a final ICG proposal that was developed by the entire community, is endorsed consensually by all 3 operational communities, has survived one or more public comment periods, and is accepted by the NTIA  - as a kind of extortion, especially when ICANN itself was fully represented in the development of the proposal and had the ability to publicly comment on it. 
> 
> I was told ICANN staff on the ICG are forbidden to speak unless in response to a question.  Was I told incorrectly?

I think you’re confusing several different roles here:

* There is an ICANN staff member (Elise) who is an appointed liaison to the ICG. She and the ICANN Board liaison (Kuo Wei) participate in all ICG deliberations other than consensus calls on substantive matters. https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/icg-guidelines-decision-making-17sep14-en.pdf

* The ICG is currently supported by an ICANN staff secretariat. Their roles are not specified anywhere specifically but they are quite proactive in terms of getting their secretarial duties done (e.g., posting things to the appropriate web sites). They don’t participate in substantive discussions, but then I don’t think anyone would expect them to.

* There is an ICANN staff member (Theresa Swinehart) who attends the ICG meetings and is subscribed to the ICG mailing list. In terms of the ICG’s own deliberations, perhaps this is what you were referring to, as Theresa is available to answer ICANN-specific questions or to coordinate things with other parts of the ICANN staff. But she does not proactively participate in the ICG’s own deliberations, in the same way that no other non-ICG members participate.

* As far as the operational community processes, the ICG is encouraging everyone to participate as much as they want. This is reflected in the ICG charter <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/charter-icg-27aug14-en.pdf> and in the RFP itself <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/rfp-iana-stewardship-08sep14-en.pdf>. That participation includes ICANN staff, and I’m sure you’ve seen how active the staff have been in the CWG-IANA concerning naming resources. The ICG is working on a specific statement to encourage participation from ICANN staff and board members in the community processes if they are so inclined <http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/internal-cg/2014-October/002162.html>, but this statement was motivated more by concerns regarding the board than the staff, and the generic statements made in the charter and RFP of course extend to anyone who wants to participate.

Best,
Alissa

> 
> Thanks,
> -drc
> (ICANN CTO, but speaking only for myself. Really.)
> 
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