[Chapter-delegates] ICANN Accountability was Re: Internet Society Appointments to theNTIA/IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

Dear Narelle,

On 10/07/2014 04:29, Narelle Clark wrote:
> at the risk of annoying people by being pedantic, can I ask that this
> thread be split into ICANN accountability (or other) topics, and the
> issues for the NTIA/IANA Stewardiship Transition be kept on this or
> other suitably named subject line?
>
> Clearly one MAJOR issue for the co-ordinating group is to keep the
> issues sets cleanly delineated - or to respond appropriately to the
> community if it feels the issues can't be separated.

ICANN has been giving mixed signals about this and I must admit this has
confused a lot of people, so the extent I asked Theresa Swinehart this
questions during a Webinar.
Her response has been that the two topics will be treated in different
working groups but are closely linked. They run in parallel with a high
level of coordination between the two.

I believe it is still too early to see how this is all going to work
out. My personal point of view is that many of us have been stunned by
the number of topics and meetings at ICANN 50 and are only just coming
back to our senses, only to find out the discussion's going in all sorts
of directions in a somehow random, chaotic way.

For example, I find it strange that we are discussing these issues on
the Chapter Delegates list when there is an "ICANN Issues" lnternet
Society Mailing list.
I find it surprising that some speak of "IANA Transition" or "IANA
Functions Transition" as if the IANA functions would be transited
*outside* of ICANN. I am surprised to see that some see the
"Coordinating Group" as being a place where the negotiations will take
place; others see it as a coordinating group where each community will
report their own work; others see it as THE decisional body for the
future of those functions; some see it as a technical discussion group
and others like a pure policy group; some see this an an opportunity to
reboot the complete system of "who does what on the Internet"; some are
arguing that only the discussions relating to Domain Names should take
place on the ICANN platform and the other discussions should take place
in their respective operational bodies..... whilst at the same time
ICANN mentions in its FAQ it will retain the running of the functions
BUT says it is just one of the participants in the Coordination Group.

To top the whole confusion, there was a mailing list run by ICANN on the
matter and now discussions are taking place on the newly established
ICANN Web Site and you need a Log-in on it.... and the darn thing is not
particularly easy to use, so some groups are considering making a formal
complaint already, preferring a mailing list to a Web discussion.

Oh and then there is going to be an ICANN accountability thread that's
both closely linked to the IANA thread (ICANN Staff words) but actually
independent... and that thread is actually under the same budget Item in
ICANN's budget.... but we don't know whether it will be accompanied by
the same ICANN Staff or the ATRT2 ICANN Staff...

Wow -- how more complicated can it get?

So my personal point of view has been to wait & see - and the
coordination group will no doubt need to address these issues in its
first meeting in London.

Kind regards,

Olivier
(own views)