[governance] so do i owe bill drake a pizza or not?

[Willie Currie]

Ok, so the main shift is the establishment of four review processes 
which will assess ICANN's performance in four areas in three year 
cycles. The review teams will be jointly established by the ICANN Chair 
or CEO and the Chair of the GAC. These reviews will replace the role of 
the US DoC in reviewing ICANN's performance. One can see an increased 
role for the GAC in oversight of ICANN here, but it is a 'soft' form of 
oversight - the 'recommendations of the reviews will be provided to the 
Board and posted for public comment. The Board will take action within 
six months of receipt of the recommendations'. In other words, there is 
no enforcement mechanism for the recommendations - the ICANN Board is 
not obliged to implement the recommendations, i.e. the reviews will have 
the soft force of persuasion and moral or political pressure but not the 
instruments of 'hard' oversight. This is reinforced in the Affirmation 
by the clear statement that 'ICANN is a private organization and nothing 
in this Affirmation should be construed as control by any one entity.' 
So  the Board  remains the key body of power within ICANN  and the least 
accountable, as there is no democratic mechanism for the bottom-up ICANN 
community to dismiss the Board.

Nevertheless this is a step forward, with respect to diluting unilateral 
US oversight of ICANN. It remains to be seen to what extent civil 
society is represented on any of the review teams and whether the 
recommendations of the reviews are accepted and implemented by the ICANN 
Board. The EU has come out in support of the continuation of the IGF 'as 
it is the only place where all internet related topics can be addressed 
by a wide range of stakeholders from all over the world, including 
Parliamentarians.' It will be interesting to see what role the IGF may 
be able to play as a space where the reviews can be deliberated on in a 
multi-stakeholder fashion and boost the transparency of the review 
process and perhaps its soft power.

Willie

Avri Doria wrote:
>
> On 30 Sep 2009, at 11:21, Bertrand de La Chapelle wrote:
>
>> Hi Mc tim,
>>
>> I must have misunderstood. I thought Milton bought pizza if nothing 
>> changed ?
>>
>> B.
>
>
> And something did change.
>
> Though I am not sure how much there is for Civil society to be cheer 
> about.
> It is like the old days of WSIS, CS will be beholden to the gov't 
> chair for right of participation.
>
> Or, in the long run, other then outward appearance, how significant 
> the change will turn out to be for ICANN processes.
>
> a.
>
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