Re: [atlarge-discuss] Issues

[DannyYounger@cs.com]

The "Big Picture" may be viewed in a very small document called the 
Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the U.S. Department of 
Commerce.  That document outlines a series of tasks for ICANN to complete.  
Although reform/replacement of the beast is uppermost on everyone's mind, the 
reality is that most of us volunteered to participate in ICANN in order to 
get actual "work" done.  This includes solving the problems associated with 
abuse of the transfers process, problems relating to privacy concerns, to 
cyberquatting, to self-dealing on the part of registrars and resellers at the 
expense of the public, to slamming, and so forth.  These tasks are the raison 
d'etre behind our participation as members of the user community.

A "Tea Party" may provide for immense satisfaction, but true relief comes 
only from solving outstanding matters such as the "substantive domain name 
issues" to which Alex referred.  Whatever construct eventually emerges, once 
the DoC places their stamp of approval on the project we will have no choice 
but to work within that particular model... feel free to fight to your 
heart's content until September 30, but starting October 1 you will be called 
upon to attend to the tasks at hand.  

This would be a good time to prioritize your user concerns, and to start 
thinking about how this group will contribute to problem resolution 
activities.  Namely, will we be assigning liaisons to interface with the GAC, 
the SOs, and the Constituencies?  Will we be sending representatives to WIPO 
sessions?  Will we be collaborating in the production of documents and 
position papers?  Will we be sending representatives to Task Forces and 
Working Groups?  Will our representatives be required to convey the 
collective views of the membership, or will they be authorized to act as 
independent agents subject only to the prospect of replacement at election 
time?  How will the group, as it increases in size, ascertain the views of 
its membership?  Will voting or polling on everything become de rigueur, or 
will our people actually be empowered to "represent"?  What issues should we 
concentrate upon first?  Should such work be done in parallel with the 
efforts of the Steering Committees of the Supporting Organizations?  How will 
we better engage the broader membership in our activities?  Will we establish 
our own working groups with timelines and procedures to be followed?  Can the 
recommendations of such groups be overturned by the Interim Panel?  Will 
recommendations need to be vetted by the entire membership for purposes of 
legitimacy?  

Real work requires real planning... I just hope that the folks that want to 
take on a leadership role will commit themselves to doing a thorough job.


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