[Chapter-delegates] Internet Society Board of Trustees Meeting Highlights

[Kevin Craemer]

UPDATE FROM THE INTERNET SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Internet Society Board of Trustees held meeting #110 on 1 April, and meeting #111 on 7-8 April.  Meeting #110 was a teleconference; meeting #111 was held in Hong Kong in conjunction with the 2014 Internet Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  Below are highlights of both Board meetings.  More details on the agendas and related documents can be found on the Internet Society website at:
http://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/board-trustees/meetings.

Meeting #110, 1 April 2014

Welcome New Chapters:
The Board warmly welcomed the InterPlanetary Networking Chapter to the Internet Society. According to the new Chapter’s application, its primary mission will be to promote the creation of a standard, scalable data communications system for interplanetary use. As a non-geographic Chapter, membership will be open to individuals from international space agencies, academia, commercial entities interested in space exploration, and the general public from around the world.

IASA Update:
Chris Griffiths, IAOC Chair, provided a report on IETF finances, including meetings sponsorship and registration. He pointed out that revenue and attendance for the recent IETF 89 meeting in London exceeded projections, and that expenses were below budget.  The report is available here:
https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/IAOC-Report-April2014-04.pdf

Meeting #111, 7-8 April 2014

Nominations Committee Report:
Keith Davidson, Nominations Committee Chair, provided an informal report on the work of the committee to nominate members to serve as candidates for open Trustee positions in 2014. He indicated that the final slate of candidates was a bit smaller than he had hoped, but that in his opinion any of the individuals on the slate would enhance the Board. Following the petitions period, during which no petitions were received, the following slate was announced:

In the Chapter membership election, there are three candidates for two open Trustee positions:
• Gihan Dias
• Hans Peter Dittler
• Jean-Jacques Subrenat

In the Organisation membership election, there are three candidates for one open Trustee position:
• Hiroshi Esaki
• Moez Chakchouk
• Demi Getschko

Elections Committee Interim Report:
Désirée Miloshevic, Elections Committee Chair, provided an update on the work of the committee. She reported that, due to an oversight, the initial e-ballots sent to voters failed to take into account the 2013 bylaws change which provides for election of one Trustee by Organization representatives and two Trustees by Chapter delegates. As soon as the error was detected, the committee notified members about the error via Advisory Council and Chapter Delegates elists; sent corrected e-ballots to all voting representatives and voting delegates; sent personalized emails to all voting representatives and voting delegates who had already voted and requested that they re-vote using corrected e-ballots; and, disposed of all e-votes cast using the incorrect e-ballots to ensure that no votes from the same voter will be counted twice. She said the committee will also review relevant Elections Committee and staff processes and the linkage of the two to ensure the error is not repeated in the future and will make recommendations for other improvements, including an option on e-ballots to abstain. Miloshevic also reported that the committee launched an online Candidate Forum featuring questions submitted by members and responses from all the candidates. The Candidate Forum is at:
https://www.internetsociety.org/apps/wp/elections2014/

Board Selection Discussion:
Following the nominations and elections committee reports, Bob Hinden, Board Chair, engaged the Trustees in a discussion on ways to improve the nominations and elections processes and presented information on geographic diversity of the Board. A discussion followed about ways to increase nominations and ensure that the membership of the ISOC Board reflects the diversity of the global Internet community. Among other suggestions, there was broad agreement that ISOC should make more information available to interested individuals about the role of Trustees and the commitments involved in Board service.

IETF Update:
Jari Arkko, IETF Chair, provided an update on recent IETF activities to combat pervasive monitoring.  He observed that the Snowden revelations have served to re-energise the IETF community to pay closer attention to security and privacy in general, and highlighted several specific examples.  Arkko also discussed the IETF's perspective on proposed IANA changes. The IETF update on its work to strengthen the Internet against pervasive surveillance is at:
http://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/IETF%20Update-Pervasive%20Monitoring.pdf
The update on the IETF view of IANA changes is here:
http://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/IETF%20Update-IANA.pdf

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Transition:
Kathy Brown, President and CEO, provided a brief update on discussions among global stakeholders to develop a plan for transitioning of the IANA functions. ISOC was named by the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as one of the key Internet organizations to be included in planning for the IANA transition.  Brown said she is concerned about the process for selecting ISOC representatives for a proposed steering committee for the ICANN process and will get back to the Board on a recommendation.  She stated that, in parallel to that proceeding, ISOC will focus on advocating for an outcome which provides for continued evolution of the IANA functions and security of the Internet while strengthening the multistakeholder model. She also reported that more than 300 members had subscribed to ISOC's dedicated email list on the IANA transfer, and that many useful comments and ideas had been submitted.

Advisory Council Update:
Izumi Okutani, Advisory Council Co-Chair, reported on recent activities of the AC, including meetings at IETF 89 in London and ICANN 49 in Singapore. The London meeting included staff briefings on Internet governance, routing resiliency, ISOC Internet leadership programmes, and the new IXP Toolkit. It also featured "Lightning Talks" by Advisory Council members on BGP security, and on CGN address translators and their implications for IPv6. Okutani also discussed the AC Luncheon held at ICANN 49 in Singapore.  The Board thanked Okutani for the report and congratulated her and co-chairs, Scott Mansfield and Russ White, on the ways they have engaged members in AC meetings.  The Advisory Council presentation is available here:
https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/2014-03-AC-report.pdf

Presentation by the Hong Kong Chapter:
Chester Soong, Chairman of the Internet Society Hong Kong, presented a report on the Chapter's organization and activities. He outlined the Chapter's working groups and events which focus on six main topics: IPv6 and Internet of Things; Internet Security and Privacy; Web Accessibility; Copyright and Creativity; Startup and Application Developer; and Others. Soong presented an extensive list of seminars, workshops and certification courses which the Chapter presented over the past year for its 1000+ individual and corporate members. He credited the Chapter's member-volunteers and its full-time General Secretary, Ping Wong, for producing so many successful events. The Board congratulated Soong for his Chapter's work to advance the ISOC mission in Hong Kong and presented him with a crystal trophy commemorating the occasion. The Board also thanked Soong and the Internet Society Hong Kong for serving as the local host of the Internet Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Internet Society Hong Kong presentation is available here:
https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/ISOC%20BoT%20Presentation%202014-HK.pdf

Internet Governance Update:
Markus Kummer, ISOC's Vice-President for Public Policy, and other public policy staff briefed the Board on ISOC plans for participation in upcoming events focusing on governance of the Internet. These included ITU WTDC, Net Mundial, WSIS+10, UN ECOSOC, UN General Assembly, IGF and the ITU Plenipotentiary. Kummer indicated the overarching objective for all is to maintain and strengthen multistakeholder Internet governance processes, both globally and locally. He discussed individual objectives for each meeting and outlined steps to achieve them.

Update on Proposed ISOC Organizational Changes:
Kathy Brown and senior staff presented a proposal for organizational realignment focusing on the three priorities identified by the Board during its strategic planning retreat in January. As announced in a 12 March email to Advisory Council members and Chapter Delegates, these include:

#1.  Maintaining and strengthening multi-stakeholder processes both globally and locally,
#2.  Promoting robustness and resiliency of Internet security and privacy through technology standards and deployment; and
#3.  Advancing the deployment of core Internet infrastructure and evolution of technology to ensure the sustainability and reliability of the Internet.

The proposal by staff identified specific initiatives and key activities for each of the three priorities, and for the supporting priorities of Human Rights and Stakeholder Engagement & Communications. The Board expressed its pleasure with the proposal and its cross-functional approach to addressing the priorities.

The next meeting of the Board will be held by teleconference in June prior to the Annual General Meeting in London.

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