[governance] EC on IG

Thu Jun 18 22:26:56 EDT 2009

Jeffrey

I find it more than passing strange that a private sector-led organisation like ICANN should have invested in an 'Instilling institutional confidence' exercise with a high-level President's Strategy Committee, the outcome of whose process failed to convince any private sector organisations, who responded to the NTIA/JPA inquiry, that ICANN's administrative procedures met the standard of good governance. The PSC process instilled no confidence in the private sector whatsoever. If that is not a serious indictment of ICANN as an institution I don't know what is. 

The question is where to from here? Continuing USG stewardship ad infinitum is not a long term solution. Asking ICANN to improve its administrative procedures and accountability has not produced the kind of changes the private sector (or civil society for that matter)  has confidence in. It's going to look pretty lame if the JPA is extended. What to do? Does anyone have the power to dismiss the ICANN Board?

Willie
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-----Original Message-----
From: "Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1 at ix.netcom.com>

Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:10:02 
To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>; Willie Currie<wcurrie at apc.org>; Eric Dierker<cogitoergosum at sbcglobal.net>; DOC/NTIA ICANN Rep<aheineman at ntia.doc.gov>
Cc: William Drake<william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch>; Milton L Mueller<mueller at syr.edu>; twomey at icann.org<twomey at icann.org>; Paul Levins<paul.levins at icann.org>; Dr. Joe Baptista<baptista at publicroot.org>; Karl Auerbach<karl at CaveBear.com>; Karl E. Peters<kpeters at tldainc.org>
Subject: Re: [governance] EC on IG

Willie and all,

  Good observations here Willie.  Tank you.  Yet much of your
observations have been known for some time, including those
regarding ICANN's many accountability shortcomings still outstanding
despite DOC/NTIA's recent exposures.  ICANN President's Strategy
Committee has been and still is a mostly closed process intentionally.
That is an attitude problem not a knowledge of fact problem.  Does
anyone expect such to actually change with the current ICANN
leadership now in place?  Only a fool would.

Willie Currie wrote:

> Hi Bill
>
> Two other issues also seem pertinent: one is the security argument
> underpinning the the EU
> argument for external accountability by governments which is an echo of
> the 'cybersecurity' agenda in the US:
>
> 'Internet usage and penetration is now so high, especially in developed
> countries
> such as those of the EU, that it has become a critical resource, where
> any serious disruption
> in service can have potentially catastrophic effects on society and the
> economy....Most Internet
> users in the EU therefore have a legitimate expectation about the
> reliability of
> ‘their Internet’. Users will also inevitably turn to their governments
> if there is any major
> national disruption to their Internet service, and not to the various
> Internet governance
> bodies responsible for coordinating resources.'
>
> The USG may well draw the conclusion that the JPA should be extended  if
> the private sector
> submissions to the NTIA inquiry carry the day in combination with the
> Congress' anxieties about cybersecurity.
>
> The second is the competition issue where the EU says:
>
> 'the self-regulatory approach as practised by ICANN means that
> incumbent operators play a potentially inappropriate role (e.g. from the
> standpoint of
> competition policy) in setting entry conditions for new competitors'.
>
> So it looks like a return to the 'enhanced cooperation' agenda by the EU
> on which they
> have been silent about since Tunis. Will the USG go with this approach?
> I can't see it.
> The NTIA inquiry has exposed ICANN's vulnerability regarding
> accountability, in a way the
> ICANN President's Strategy Committee didn't fully forsee. They seemed to
> under-estimate
> the nature of US politics and the strong negative reaction of the
> private sector.
>
> Perhaps USG will surprise us all by looking towards a multi-stakeholder
> process to resolving
> ICANN's external accountability problem. Can't we come up with a
> concrete proposal in this regard?
>
> Willie
>
> William Drake wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > There's a Communications from the EC today that may be of interest.
> >
> > Internet governance: the next steps
> > http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/internet_gov/docs/communication/comm2009_277_fin_en.pdf
> >
> >
> > Two notable bits:
> >
> > First, the EC refers to the JPA as if it's ending and that's a done
> > deal.  Whether that's due to private assurance, disregard for the
> > positions of various DC actors, strategic discourse, or whatever, who
> > knows.  In any event, so moving on, it's time to talk about IANA:
> >
> > "The indication by the US government in 2006 that the current
> > agreement should be the last
> > such agreement with ICANN was largely welcomed by the international
> > community
> > (including the EU). At the same time, the US government has
> > consistently indicated that it
> > will maintain effective control of the coordination of key global
> > naming and addressing
> > functions and this is likely to mean that the problem regarding the
> > ‘unilateral oversight’ of
> > such resources will remain unresolved."
> >
> > Second, multistakeholderism is a nice thing that should be
> > "encouraged" in discussion forums like the IGF.  ICANN, in contrast,
> > involves "private-sector leadership," which "must be maintained."  And
> > public policy and ICANN's external accountability are for governments
> > to deal with:
> >
> > "As regards external accountability, the current arrangements for
> > unilateral oversight in regard to ICANN and IANA need to be replaced
> > with an alternative mechanism to ensure that ICANN has multilateral
> > accountability."
> >
> > "At the same time, public policies for key global Internet resources
> > (especially those that require global coordination) need to be based
> > on multilateral intergovernmental cooperation."
> >
> > So unless I'm missing something, the civil society kids are invited to
> > chat and enjoy in the back seat and leave the driving to the adults in
> > the front.  One big happy family, all in our respective roles and
> > responsibilities...
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > PS: The EC also released a communication on the Internet of the things.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ***********************************************************
> > William J. Drake
> > Senior Associate
> > Centre for International Governance
> > Graduate Institute of International and
> >   Development Studies
> > Geneva, Switzerland
> > william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
> > www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
> > ***********************************************************
> >
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Regards,

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