<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">On Sep 19, 2016, at 5:28 PM, Mueller, Milton L <<a href="mailto:milton@gatech.edu" class="">milton@gatech.edu</a>> wrote:<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">John, we are in violent agreement about most of the important issues.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">But aside from the empirical validity of the analysis below, I am still not sure what is accomplished by telling us on this list that we should have finished the transition plan 16 months ago. </span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div>I believe that the administration is doing everything possible to make the transition</div><div>happen, but it simply may not be possible due to the politically charged period which</div><div>precedes a Presidential election. This is important to remember if the transition does </div><div>not continue, including remembering that we were all warned about risk of delay when </div><div>the timeline was laid out. </div><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">As far as I am concerned, it should have happened 10 years ago. We all know what issues held the process up (separation of IANA from ICANN and membership - for which the ICANN board and staff are responsible; and role of governments, for which GAC and ALAC are responsible). Had we abolished the GAC as I have advocated for nearly a decade, Cruz et al would not have a leg to stand on in these debates. Without GAC it would be impossible to paint a plausible picture that we are giving the internet away to China, Russia et al. But I don’t think it’s relevant to point that out now.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div>Certainly that change re GAC would alter the dynamics of the argument somewhat, </div><div>although its not just the GAC aspect but also other treaty organizations being mentioned</div><div>in some of the coverage. I also believe that separation of the names community from </div><div>ICANN (as you proposed) – thus making ICANN a vendor to the names community, </div><div>would have also simplified things and make the accountability work much more </div><div>straightforward. </div><div><br class=""></div><div>If this all were being done in 2015, there would be options (e.g. veto) which would </div><div>be quite severe but would not result in direct impact to the Presidential election.</div><div>As it is, we’ve providing an unusually complicated proposal much later than was </div><div>originally intended, and this is important for folks to keep in mind if the transition </div><div>ends up being delayed due to our present continuing resolution antics. </div><div><br class=""></div><div>/John</div><div><br class=""></div><div>p.s. my views alone,</div><div><br class=""></div></body></html>