[Chapter-delegates] Letter to ICANN Board on the subject of "DNS" from Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of ISOC.

Thu Apr 15 12:07:11 PDT 2010

Dear chapter representatives.

The Board has been working for a long time with the staff on different  
ways to  improve the consultation processes and how to engage better  
the membership in the elaboration of ISOC public statements, what has  
been also a claim from many people from different chapters.

I think that this has been a very good example of consultation and  
engagement of the members (organizational and chapters) that goes in  
the direction of what all expect. Therefore, I would like to take  
advantage of this opportunity to congratulate Bill Graham and the rest  
of the staff for the good work done with regard to this issue.

Raúl Echeberría
ISOC BoT
Chair

El 15/04/2010, a las 03:40 a.m., Anne Lord escribió:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> The email below contains the text of a letter which was sent  
> yesterday to the Members of the ICANN Board of Directors from Lynn  
> St. Amour, President and CEO of ISOC.
>
> regards,
> Anne
> ------------
>
> April 14, 2010
>
> To the Members of the Board of Directors
> c/o Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
> 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
> Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
>
> Dear Board Members,
>
> On behalf of the Internet Society, I am writing to express concern  
> about recent developments brought forth by ICANN pertaining to the  
> security and stability of the Internet. The Internet Society shares  
> the global community’s responsibility to preserve and improve  
> security and stability for everyone who uses the Internet.  However,  
> in our view, any effort to improve security and stability must be  
> based on substantiated facts and careful planning.  During the  
> Nairobi ICANN meeting, ICANN’s Chief Executive Officer claimed that  
> the Internet is under attack as never before; which has raised  
> concern among many, yet the facts to substantiate that statement  
> have not yet been made available to the community.
>
> While acknowledging that there are security and stability challenges  
> facing the domain name infrastructure, many recognized experts in  
> DNS security and operators of key Internet infrastructure are on  
> record saying they do not agree that the Internet is suddenly  
> experiencing dramatically greater or new types of attack, or that  
> the DNS, or the Internet itself, are likely to collapse at any  
> moment. The Internet Society believes it is important for the  
> community to work together through established processes and  
> institutions, each within its mandate, to maintain and improve  
> security and stability.  ISOC believes the institutions of the  
> security, registry and root server operator communities, for  
> example, recognize the seriousness of attacks on Internet  
> infrastructure; and the community is continuously stepping up  
> activities (operational and development) to address them. The  
> statements made in Nairobi did not say why ICANN believes those  
> existing and planned activities are inadequate.
>
> Nonetheless, in the context of its expressed concern for DNS  
> security, ICANN has recently put forward two proposals to create a  
> global DNS CERT capability.  No doubt, vigilance is an important  
> part of the community’s efforts, as are capacity building efforts.  
> The Internet Society has reviewed the ICANN proposals and, as a  
> starting point, agrees that taking steps to strengthen global DNS  
> security, stability and resilience is important. That said, we have  
> strong concerns about how the proposals have been developed and  
> their future path in the ICANN community. As with all important  
> initiatives concerning the functioning of the Internet, ISOC  
> believes it is vital to rely on the Internet model to get the best  
> result. By the Internet model, we mean relying on open, freely  
> accessible, multi-stakeholder, and knowledge-based processes for  
> both technology and policy development.
>
> While we agree that the security and stability of the DNS are  
> vitally important, we are concerned that the current proposals do  
> not show convincingly that there has been a full analysis of  
> alternate approaches.  ISOC believes the proposals have been put  
> forward prematurely – without the full backing of the supporting  
> organizations and advisory committees in ICANN, nor with the broader  
> community, including the technical community.  Specifically, there  
> are many concerned with DNS security and stability from a variety of  
> institutional, national and regional organizations, including from  
> existing CERTs, who are not regular participants in ICANN processes  
> yet who need to be engaged in any such discussion. That engagement  
> should take place in the appropriate forums: often meaning that the  
> relevant expertise exists outside of the ICANN process and community.
>
> Finally, and consistent with the Internet Society’s comments in  
> several past consultations by and about ICANN, we continue to be  
> concerned that ICANN may be broadening out from its principle  
> mandate as coordinator of the global resource that is the domain  
> name system into the management of new and peripheral operational  
> functions. More specifically, the two proposals to create a DNS CERT  
> capability could potentially distract ICANN from its narrow  
> technical mandate and distract management’s attention and resources.
>
> For all the above reasons, ISOC strongly recommends that the  
> “Proposed Strategic Initiatives for Improved DNS Security, Stability  
> and Resiliency (SSR)” and the plan to create a global DNS-CERT be  
> brought forward with the global Internet community to ensure that  
> all relevant bodies have the opportunity to contribute to enhancing  
> the security and stability of the Internet’s domain name  
> infrastructure.
>
> Once again, the Internet Society offers these comments in the spirit  
> of continued cooperation and collaboration. We remain committed to  
> supporting ICANN as we work together to carry out our public service  
> responsibilities.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> <clip_image002.jpg>
>
> Lynn St Amour
> President and Chief Executive Officer
> Internet Society
>
>
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