[Chapter-delegates] ISOC plans for response to the US government Notice of Inquiry on the Joint Project Agreement

[Bill Graham]

First, thanks to those of you who responded with input to the earlier  
request for comments on the ISOC response to the US government Notice  
of Inquiry on the Transition of the Technical Coordination and  
Management of the Internet's Domain Name and Addressing System. The  
responses were very supportive of the approach that was proposed.  We  
have now developed a final draft response which was taken to a special  
meeting of the Board of Trustees, where members approved our  
recommended course of action.  I expect to be able to post the reply  
to the US government later this week, ahead of the deadline of June 8,  
and wanted to give you a preview of what it will say.

There are two sections of the response.  The first simply recommends  
that the JPA be ended when it expires on 30 September 2009. We state  
clearly that we believe the open, transparent, bottom-up model is  
strong enough to make a successful transition to private,  
multistakeholder leadership in ICANN.  We believe the right place to  
deal with any continuing challenges is within the organization itself.

The second section makes recommendations for inclusion in the joint  
report on the conclusion of the DNS Project that the US Department of  
Commerce and ICANN are going to prepare.  As I mentioned in my earlier  
note, we state very strongly that the report should emphasize the  
responsibility for promoting the shared public interest in the  
operational stability of the Internet -- a stewardship role.  Even  
though this may sometimes require that decisions are made that do not  
please all interest groups, it is important for ICANN to step up to  
its responsibilities, and act as a steward.  Because that emphasis  
requires a strong governance model, the ISOC response goes on to  
identify seven areas that we believe ICANN needs to concentrate on as  
it moves forward.  Those are: transparency, participation, evidence- 
based decision making, inclusive dialogue based on discussion of  
issues among all constituencies, accountability, evaluation, and an  
effective means of responding to complaints.  Each of those is briefly  
described.

The conclusion of the report anticipates that the IAB will also be  
making comments to the NOI, and states ISOC's support for the notion  
of recoginizing the IETF role in the IANA function, as we have done in  
past submissions to the US government inquiries.  We then say that  
ISOC is committed to playing a positive role during ICANN's  
transition, and call on all stakeholders, including the US government,  
to do the same from within the ICANN model.

I hope you find this summary useful.  I will be sure to let you know  
when the document itself is submitted.

regards

Bill
========================
Bill Graham
Global Strategic Engagement
The Internet Society
graham at isoc.org
tel +1.613.231.8543 or
  +1.703.439.2157