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WELCOME |
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Welcome to
Bizconst News, where we aim to keep you up to date with current issues
and events. This issue includes a summary of the ICANN meetings in
Montreal, and an outline of changes which could affect the way the
BC is represented on the GNSO, an important issue for the BC and its
members.
Happy reading!
Gary
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ICANN
MEETINGS IN MONTREAL: A SUMMARY |
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At
the ICANN meetings in June, the BC continued its cross constituency
leadership outreach by co-hosting a cross-constituency meeting with the
ISPCP and the IP Constituencies. The BC then held its own meeting for
members.
Summaries
of the meetings:
1. Cross Constituency
with ISPCP and Intellectual Property
Among the issues discussed:
- Dot Org registry. PIR, who took over dot org from Verisign,
reported on progress
- Development of the Country Code Name Supporting Organisation
- Development of the At-Large Supporting Organisation
- a Q&A session with the ICANN board on key issues, including
stability, WIPO, and 2 reps/3 reps (see below).
2. BC Meeting
Among the issues discussed:
- Analysis of the new ICANN board and Nom-Com reps
- 2 reps/3 reps
- Update on ICANN issues, including WHOIS, WIPO, New gTLDS, CCNSO and
GAC.
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BC
LOBBYING TO KEEP THREE REPS ON COUNCIL |
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BC members and the elected
leadership continue to lead a cross constituency effort to seek a
change in the by-laws of ICANN, which will disadvantage the business
constituency members and weaken ICANN's geographic diversity and
representation.
The new ICANN by-laws
state that "In the absence of further action on the topic by the
New Board, each of the GNSO constituencies shall select two
representatives to the GNSO Council".
At the time this proposal was
debated the BC and indeed the Names Council opposed the change: a
Names Council resolution of 1 August 2002 called for "three
representatives per Constituency on the GNSO Council".
The BC is keeping up a lobby to get the new Board to maintain the
status quo of three reps. The BC believes that to not do so challenges
two of ICANN core values:
Core value 2.4 is:
"Seeking and supporting broad, informed participation reflecting
the functional, geographic, and cultural diversity of the Internet at
all levels of policy development and decision-making".
Core value 2.7 is "Employing open and transparent policy
development mechanisms that (i) promote well-informed decisions based
on expert advice, and (ii) ensure that those entities most affected
can assist in the policy development process."
In short, two representatives per Constituency challenges
geographic and cultural diversity within the constituency. With three
representatives per constituency, the majority of ICANN regions are
represented. With two, the majority of ICANN regions are not
represented.
Two representatives per
Constituency challenges ICANN well-informed decision making.
Experience has shown that three representatives improves the
constituencies ability to share the workload of a council member, to
be able to participate in task forces of the council, and to
outreach to multiple regions.
Moreover, there is no evidence of
increased effectiveness with two representatives rather than three.
The BC will continue to work with other Council members and the new
Board to effect this change.
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GNSO
web site move |
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Congratulations
to the ICANN Staff, especially Glen de St Géry and Kent Crispin, and to
the AFNIC staff for a smooth transition of the GNSO web site to the
ICANN site.
You can see the
new site, which includes all DNSO archives, here:
http://gnso.icann.org
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ICANN
NEWS |
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A launching group has
been established by Country Code Registries to assist in setting up the
CCNSO.
The BC has long
supported the ccTLDS in their efforts to develop a supporting organization
for the CCs. A mutually acceptable agreement between the board and
ccTLDS was
approved, and bylaws have been published.
- After
Louis Touton's departure from ICANN in June, Dan Halloran is now acting legal counsel.
- Theresa Swineheart,
Counsel for International Legal Affairs, made a presentation on behalf
of ICANN to the United States Telecommunications Training Institute.
USTTI offers training opportunities for telecom professionals from
the developing world. The course was developed and sponsored by
AT&T.
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WSIS
PRELIMINARY MEETINGS |
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The
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held a preliminary
meeting on 18 July at UNESCO in Paris. The meeting was one of a
series of preparatory meetings for the main summit in Geneva in December
2003. Around
400 delegates attended.
The summit aims to "adopt
a Declaration of principles and a Plan of Action for implementation by
governments, institutions and all sectors of civil society to deal with
the new challenges of the ever-evolving information society."
The preliminary meetings
will deal with the texts of these documents. Fifteen heads of state have
already indicated they will attend the summit which will also look at
the means by which the gap can be closed between the industrialised and
developing worlds.
The WSIS web site can be
found here:
http://www.itu.int/wsis
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SECOND
EUROPEAN DOMAIN NAME SUMMIT |
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The
summit, held in Paris on 3 July, was organised by ISOC France, the Paris
Chamber of Commerce, and BC members CIGREF and MEDEF. Speakers
from over 20 countries participated in the event, including Paul Twomey,
ICANN CEO, and Philip Sheppard, BC Rep.
There was open discussion
around essential issues: the European position in respect of internet
governance, security, and decentralisation of root servers. Also,
European public sector representatives within ICANN accepted the need to
reinforce dialogue with the private sector.
Quotes on the summit:
"Everyone must play
a role in internet governance. Cigref is working to support users'
interests, especially from the private sector . . . We have created a
unique platform for exchanging and sharing views"
Sébastien Bachollet
"We hope to
accompany ICANN's entry into the Age of Reason, through ensuring that
the voice of French businesses, both large and small, can be heard in
order to encourage the creation of a stable and secure internet
space"
Catherine Gabay
The partners are now
organising the next summit in 2004
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