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December 9, 1999 |
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December 9, 1999 |
A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (the "Corporation") was
held by teleconference on December 9, 1999. The following Directors
of the Corporation were present by telephone: Esther Dyson, Chairman,
Jean-François Abramatic, Amadeu Abril i Abril, Robert Blokzijl,
Geraldine Capdeboscq, Jonathan Cohen, Greg Crew, Philip Davidson,
Frank Fitzsimmons, Ken Fockler, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Jun Murai,
Alejandro Pisanty, Michael Roberts, Linda S. Wilson, and Pindar
Wong. Director Eugenio Triana joined the teleconference while
it was in progress. Also present on the teleconference were Louis
Touton, Vice-President, Secretary, and General Counsel of the
Corporation; Andrew McLaughlin, Chief Financial Officer of the
Corporation; and Joe Sims of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
The meeting was called to order by Esther Dyson at 8:05 am U.S.
Eastern Standard Time.
REPORT
ON STATUS OF MARCH MEETING SITE AND RELATED PLANS
Mr. McLaughlin opened the discussion by reviewing the proposals
received from organizers proposing to host the ICANN meeting in
Africa scheduled for March 7-10, 2000. Proposals were received
for Cairo, Accra, and Tunis and, at the time of the teleconference,
were being analyzed. (Preliminary expressions of interest from
other locations in Africa did not develop into viable proposals.)
Although all three proposals showed good facilities for the meeting,
it was noted that Cairo offers lower cost and more frequent airline
connections from locations both within and without Africa. The
Cairo proposal also offers the lowest cost of lodging.
After discussion of the various venues, it was concluded that
the decision should be made by the staff based on objective criteria.
The Board expressed the hope that all proposers be involved in
planning for the meeting regardless of which proposal is accepted
and that staff take measures to encourage broad attendance, especially
from within Africa.
REVIEW
OF PLANNING FOR AGENDA FOR THE MARCH ICANN MEETING
Mr. Roberts discussed the planning process for the agenda for
the March meeting. He discussed the various requirements of the
bylaws and past practices for calendaring items on quarterly meeting
agendas, and indicated that the following topics might be appropriate
for the March meeting agenda:
1. At large membership and elections
2. Considerations and policies relating to creation of new top-level domain name registries
3. ccTLD delegation and administration policies
4. ICANN budget for 2000-2001 fiscal year
The Board then discussed the nature of each
of these issues to determine whether they should be included in
tentative plans for the March 2000 meeting agenda.
Mr. Roberts noted that one of the Corporation's remaining organizational
tasks, completion of the at-large membership, should be discussed
at the March 2000 meeting. This item was discussed in more detail
later in the meeting, as reported below.
The status of policy development by the DNSO concerning gTLD expansion
and famous names was discussed. At its May 1999 meeting in Berlin,
the Board referred the recommendations of the World Intellectual
Property Organization concerning gTLD expansion and famous names
to the DNSO (Resolution 99.48).
The Names Council established
two working groups (WG-C and WG-B) to analyze and report on these
issues. Despite considerable work, both working groups have had
difficulty developing consensus on significant sub-issues. Given
the scheduling requirements of the bylaws, it will be impractical
for the Board to adopt a policy in either of these areas at its
March 2000 meeting. Nonetheless, the Board felt it was appropriate
to schedule these issues for substantive, detailed discussion
at the public forum in March, so that the Board might become more
familiar with the various viewpoints and so it might contribute
to progress toward consensus.
It was noted that at the November 1999 Los Angeles annual meeting
the Board adopted the recommendations set forth in the Final Report
of the President's Task Force on Funding, including a recommendation
that the ccTLD registries contribute a portion of ICANN's budget
(Resolution 99.134),
and directed the President to implement that recommendation through
appropriate contractual relationships (Resolution
99.136). As the President carries out this direction, issues
may arise which are appropriate for Board consideration. In addition,
recent requests for delegations or redelegations have presented
other issues regarding ccTLD relationships and operations. This
factor, too, makes it timely for the Board to conduct a review
at the March 2000 meeting of the policies and practices concerning
ccTLDs.
During the above discussion, Director Triana joined the call.
Mr. Roberts noted that a discussion of the 2000-2001 budget would
be appropriate at the March 2000 meeting, so that the budget can
be adopted before the 2000-2001 fiscal year begins on July 1,
2000.
PROGRESS
REPORT ON AT LARGE MEMBERSHIP IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM
Mr. Roberts noted that the Board had established sufficient policy
for the establishment of a membership and, with recently acquired
funding, he is implementing a program to create the membership.
By the time of the March 2000 meeting, significant steps should
be underway
to achieve the minimum goal of 5000 members, and an initial assessment
by the Board of the results of those steps will be appropriate.
In addition, details of the manner of election of the At Large
Council remain to be established, which should be done no later
than the March 2000 meeting if the nine Directors selected by
the At Large Council are to be seated by the end of September
2000.
Mr. McLaughlin noted that, in response to a call for expressions
of interest, he had received a large number of responses volunteering
to serve on the Membership Implementation Task Force. He noted,
however, that a large portion of these expressions were from persons
in North America and that it would be desirable to obtain more
responses from other regions of the world. It was noted that because
most policy questions concerning membership have been settled
by Board action, the Membership Implementation Task Force will
be concerned with carrying out those policies, and that it will
likely operate through several task groups in that regard.
PROGRESS
REPORT ON POST-LOS ANGELES CONTRACTUAL ISSUES
Mr. Touton gave a report on progress in implementing various policies
adopted at the Los Angeles meeting or before. He reported that
the final adjustments to the language of the agreements among
Network Solutions, the United States Department of Commerce, and
the Corporation had been made and the agreements were signed on
November 10, 1999. Subsequently, the staff prepared new registrar
accreditation agreements and sent them out for signature by the
other registrars. In addition, the Corporation continues to receive
a steady stream of new applications for .com/.net/.org registrar
accreditation. With regard to the Board's direction to the President
to establish contractual relationships concerning ccTLD registries,
the staff has been gathering information regarding the viewpoints
of ccTLD operators, governments, and other interested parties.
Over the near term, the staff will continue that effort and begin
seeking to facilitate a convergence of views. Discussions with
RIRs regarding financial contributions are also ongoing. Implementation
of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy is in progress, with
the policy having gone into effect for most registrars on December
1, 1999, and scheduled to go into effect for the remaining registrars
on January 3, 2000. One dispute-resolution provider (WIPO) has
been approved, and the staff expects to approve one or two others
in the very near future.
AD-HOC
GROUP
Mr. Kraaijenbrink reported on progress in identifying an editorial
group for the discussion forum of the Ad Hoc group chartered in
Resolution 99.138. He
indicated that the editorial group's membership was nearly completed
and that he expected to begin operations near the beginning of
2000.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:33am Eastern Standard Time.
_______________________
Louis Touton
Secretary