[Chapter-delegates] [FYI] ISOC position on the ICANN JointProject Agreement

[Veni Markovski]

Today I asked if it is possible to have the 
scripts of ICANN's CEO Paul Twomey's video 
message published, and Kieren provided me with 
this link: http://blog.icann.org/?p=274

You may watch the movie, too, with subtitles in 
different languages. Here is the script, which 
can be used when writing or discussing positions:


Hello. My name is Paul Twomey, and I▓m the 
President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for 
Assigned Names and Numbers ╜ or ICANN.

ICANN is an international, non-profit 
organization created in 1998 by the Internet 
community in response to a call from the United 
States government to coordinate a key part or 
what enables billions of computers and other 
devices worldwide to connect quickly and easily 
with one another and to share information between themselves.

This system, known technically as ▒unique 
identifiers▓, includes such things as domain 
names and internet protocol addresses. Without 
that system, the internet as we know it simply would not exist.

The blueprint for this new institution was as 
unique as the Internet itself. Recognizing that a 
global addressing system this powerful should not 
be managed by one interest group or one 
individual, a new type of multi-stakeholder model 
was envisioned where all parties would sit down, 
devise and agree a policy before it was implemented.

This institution, ICANN, was specifically 
designed to be led by the private sector. Indeed, 
it was the President of the United States who directed that this should occur.

In 2006, however, the memorandum of understanding 
between the United States government and ICANN 
was changed to recognize the significant progress 
ICANN had made. The community and ICANN have 
achieved more in 2007 than in any previous year.

Now, the United States government is asking 
people for their comments in a review of the 
agreement. Over the past nine years ICANN has 
built an Internet-style liberty where anyone at 
all can get involved in developing the policies 
that help define the Internet▓s future expansion.

What the past nine years has taught us, however, 
is that there are no signs of the internet▓s 
capacity for change ending. The steady state of 
the internet is in fact a state of change.

And so ICANN, as a body that seeks to keep pace 
with the internet▓s twist and turns, has learned 
to embrace change going so far as to hardwire it 
into its constitution. Change has become part of 
ICANN▓s makeup. It simply has to be.

We must always strive to do more to serve today▓s 
1.1 billion users of the internet and tomorrow▓s billions more.

What has happened since 1998 could hardly have 
been imagined when the United States government 
first helped create ICANN. And with hindsight the 
original plan to grant the organizational 
autonomy within two years was profoundly optimistic.

But over the course of ICANN▓s nine years the 
organization has developed from the ground up to 
become a stable and transparent body where 
coordination is valued above control; and where 
no one party can claim precedence over another.

At ICANN meetings held three times annually 
individuals from every corner of the globe and 
significantly from every corner of society sit 
and debate the future policies of the internet▓s naming and addressing system.

It is evidence that the organization is 
fulfilling its mandate and responsibilities. For 
example, input from the community has shaped our 
principles and frameworks for accountability and 
transparency which you can find on this website. 
[http://icann.org/transparency/acc-trans-frameworks-principles-10jan08.pdf]

The international board of ICANN believes that 
ICANN is fulfilling the responsibilities it 
assumed in the JPA back in 2006. Moreover, the 
move towards greater community ownership has led 
to more effective and more efficient policy development.

As such, ICANN believes it is now time to take 
the next logical step and recognize the 
successful completion of the joint project 
agreement. This will not change the way things 
are done now to coordinate the internet▓s addressing system.

It could, in fact, be a move that makes it more 
secure as the model is enshrined rather than 
being perceived to be still being evaluated by one government. Let me be clear.

We▓re not talking about terminating the JPA 
tomorrow, but it▓s equally clear that the model 
ICANN represents of coordination√not control√ of 
multi-stakeholder participation and led by the 
private sector needs to be confirmed once and for all.

Until the 15th of February, the United States 
Department of Commerce will be receiving comments 
from the public. If you think now is the time for 
another step in creating confidence in a globally 
coordinated internet√not a controlled one√ then 
now is the time to make your voice heard.

To find out more, please read the ICANN JPA 
submission for more detail. You▓ll find that here 
on the ICANN website under the heading ▒Joint 
Project Agreement, ICANN▓s Response.