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Board Action and Next Steps on the SSR2 Review

26 July 2021
By
Maarten Botterman

Maarten Botterman

ICANN Board Member

Maarten Botterman is an independent strategic adviser on Internet governance and related issues with more than 25 years' experience in guiding governments and major organizations on the economic, business, and societal impacts of current and future Internet innovations and technologies. During those 25-plus years, he participated in and led more than 50 international projects and studies and published more than 80 peer-reviewed reports for governments and industry on Future Net issues with teams, including experts with advanced academic degrees from many disciplines, ranging from technology and mathematics to economics and law, and from many different countries and cultures.

Maarten was employed as Head of Unit and Senior Adviser to the Dutch Government (1987–1995) and as Scientific Officer to the Communications Technology Research program that was run by the European Commission (1995–1999). These years brought many insights about the public interest and governance aspects of the developing global, networked knowledge society. These insights were further deepened when working for RAND Corporation, setting up and running an Information Society policy practice in Europe (1999–2006), with an emphasis on policy evaluation and scenario planning. Since 2006, he has been working as an independent strategic adviser to governments and businesses in close cooperation with leading independent research institutions in Europe (including RAND Europe, TNO Netherlands, DTI Danmark, Inno France, and CIVIC Germany). Today, he is internationally recognized as a governance and future Internet expert and is a regular contributor to international Internet governance events such as the Internet Governance Forum, where he is leading the Dynamic Coalition for the Internet of Things.

Next to advising the Dutch government and the European Commission on Internet governance issues, he got deeply involved in ICANN's work as a Board member and Chairman of the Public Interest Registry (2008–2016), over time actively participating in more than 40 ICANN meetings. Having worked internationally since 1995, he has extensive experience in working with people from different national and cultural backgrounds, and is comfortable in engaging in English, German, French, and Dutch (mother tongue). He has a reputation as an independent, trustworthy, out-of-the-box thinker who is able to look at issues from several perspectives with strong awareness of the bigger picture. Having served on boards and having reported to boards, he has extensive experience with effective board governance and the responsibilities and obligations that come with a director's position on a U.S. nonprofit board. Over the years, he has been a frequent guest speaker and/or moderator, mostly at smart technology-related events.

Maarten holds an advanced degree in business economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is a certified coach and has a certificate in medical-based knowledge, both of which help in better understanding of what drives people in decision-making and going through life. In addition, he has completed several board excellence trainings with internationally renowned institutions, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, IMD, MIT, Yale School of Management, and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His areas of interest include government, civil society, and technology.

Maarten is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board by the Nominating Committee in 2016 and served as Board Chair from 2019 until 2022. His third and final term will expire at the Annual General Meeting in 2025.

On 25 January 2021, the Second Security, Stability, and Resiliency (SSR2) Review Team delivered its Final Report to the ICANN Board. This achievement represents more than four years of research, evaluation, and consideration. On behalf of the ICANN Board, I thank the SSR2 Review Team for its dedication and extensive work in preparing the recommendations.

The SSR Review is one of four Specific Reviews anchored in the ICANN Bylaws and relates to key elements of the ICANN's Strategic Plan. The Bylaws require the Board to take action on the SSR2 Review Team Final Report within six months of receipt, by 25 July 2021. On 22 July 2021, the Board took action on all recommendations included in the report.

The SSR2 Review Team, which began its work in 2017, delivered a Final Report that contains 63 recommendations in the following areas:

  • The extent to which prior SSR Review recommendations have been implemented and whether implementation has resulted in the intended effect.
  • SSR within ICANN.
  • Contracts, compliance, and transparency around Domain Name System (DNS) abuse.
  • Additional SSR-related concerns regarding the global DNS.

Many of the recommendations are complex and touch on other significant areas of work underway. It is important to follow up on any clarification needed, and to align SSR2 recommendations to complement existing community advice, other community recommendations, and public input. This clarification and alignment will ensure that the SSR2 recommendations are in alignment with ICANN's Strategic Plan prior to implementation.

Since receiving the SSR2 Final Report, a great deal of work has been underway to review materials, including public comments and briefings from ICANN organization (ICANN org), to better understand the complexities of the SSR2 recommendations and their potential impacts. The Board also engaged with the community and listened carefully to related discussions during ICANN70 and ICANN71. The Board Caucus Group on SSR2 (SSR2 Caucus) was established to facilitate the interactions between the Board and the SSR2 Review Team. The SSR2 Caucus includes the Board-appointed members of the SSR2 Review Team. The SSR2 Caucus led the Board's efforts in the substantive analysis of the recommendations and ICANN org's assessments in preparation for Board action. The SSR2 Caucus will continue its involvement in the ongoing work on SSR2 recommendations.

Noting that the recommendations encompass broad areas and themes, many of which also are emphasized in public comments, the Board developed six categories of action to move some recommendations to final action now, while allowing sufficient additional time for fulsome analysis and consideration of the relevant significant factors impacting the feasibility of implementing other recommendations. The categories are noted here, with the number of recommendations placed in each category:

  • Recommendations the Board approves, subject to prioritization, risk assessment and mitigation, costing, and implementation considerations; and recommendations that the Board approves, with the understanding that they are already fully implemented (13 recommendations, of which two recommendations are fully implemented). Approved recommendations are consistent with ICANN's mission, serve the public interest, and fall within the Board's remit. Further, approved recommendations are clear, do not have dependencies (including any requiring mitigation of other work), and have community support and a clear path to implementation.
  • Recommendations the Board rejects because the recommendation cannot be approved in full (6 recommendations). While portions of these recommendations could be feasible, and in some cases, work is already underway to deal with the underlying issues on portions of these recommendations, limitations imposed by other portions of the same recommendation could impact feasibility in light of the Bylaws and Board/ICANN org remit. The Board does not have the option to selectively approve or reject parts of a single, indivisible community recommendation; they must act on a recommendation as written and not as interpreted by ICANN org or the Board. The Board notes that part of the community intent in incorporating Specific Reviews into the ICANN Bylaws in 2016 was to require the Board to act on recommendations as written, not as interpreted by ICANN org or Board.
  • Recommendations the Board rejects (10 recommendations). The detailed rationale for each recommendation sets out the specific reasons for the Board's decision.
  • Recommendations the Board determines to be pending, likely to be approved once further information is gathered to enable approval (4 recommendations). The Board expects specific actions to take place in order to take further Board decision on these recommendations.
  • Recommendations that the Board determines to be pending, holding to seek clarity or further information (24 recommendations). The Board is unable to signal at this time whether it is likely to accept or reject these recommendations pending additional information.
  • Recommendations the Board determines to be pending, likely to be rejected unless additional information shows implementation is feasible (6 recommendations). The Board expects specific actions to take place in order to take further Board decision on these recommendations. Based on the information available to date, the Board anticipates that each of these recommendations will be rejected.

The detailed rationale for each recommendation sets out the specific reasons for the Board's decision for each category.

The Board has committed to take further action on the recommendations placed into the pending categories subsequent to the completion of the steps identified in the scorecard. The Board has also asked ICANN org to provide the information requested in the scorecard within six months and advise if additional time is needed to support the Board reaching decisions on the pending recommendations.

Although the Board is not able to selectively approve portions of recommendations and must reject some recommendations in their entirety, the Board still recognizes that it is important to acknowledge where work and further efforts could be achieved. While the Board might direct ICANN org to take some action on rejected recommendations, those actions will not be tracked as part of the implementation of approved SSR2 recommendations. However, it is important to note that ICANN org regularly reports on general security, stability, and resiliency-related activities through ICANN annual reports as well as strategic and operating plans. The Board is supportive of further reporting for greater transparency and understanding.

Additionally, the Board acknowledges process restrictions that require the Board to "reject because the recommendation cannot be approved in full," even though the Board agrees in principle with the intent of the recommendation. The Board encourages ICANN org to work with the community on ways to address these process restrictions. This could include socializing the existing process restrictions and the associated gaps via a thought paper. Addressing possible existing process restrictions should proceed in collaboration with the ICANN community within the context of broader work to improve future outcomes from ICANN's review program.

Proper analysis and engagement with the community will pave the way for implementation that is consistent with intent of the recommendations and in line with ICANN's mission. As part of our continued analysis and assessment of the pending recommendations, the Board and ICANN org will engage with the SSR2 Implementation Shepherds to better understand the SSR2 Review Team's intent and the desired outcome of the recommendation in cases where this is not clear. The Board thanks the Implementation Shepherds for their ongoing dedication to this important review. The Board will also take into account the differing opinions registered through Public Comment suggesting that more community engagement and discussion may be required to consider how to best address overarching issues in a balanced way.

The Board looks forward to the positive contributions the approved recommendations will make to the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet's system of unique identifiers that ICANN coordinates, as well as to the continuous improvement of ICANN as a whole. We will provide periodic updates as the Board progresses through the pending recommendations.

Authors

Maarten Botterman

Maarten Botterman

ICANN Board Member
Maarten Botterman

Maarten Botterman

ICANN Board Member

Maarten Botterman is an independent strategic adviser on Internet governance and related issues with more than 25 years' experience in guiding governments and major organizations on the economic, business, and societal impacts of current and future Internet innovations and technologies. During those 25-plus years, he participated in and led more than 50 international projects and studies and published more than 80 peer-reviewed reports for governments and industry on Future Net issues with teams, including experts with advanced academic degrees from many disciplines, ranging from technology and mathematics to economics and law, and from many different countries and cultures.

Maarten was employed as Head of Unit and Senior Adviser to the Dutch Government (1987–1995) and as Scientific Officer to the Communications Technology Research program that was run by the European Commission (1995–1999). These years brought many insights about the public interest and governance aspects of the developing global, networked knowledge society. These insights were further deepened when working for RAND Corporation, setting up and running an Information Society policy practice in Europe (1999–2006), with an emphasis on policy evaluation and scenario planning. Since 2006, he has been working as an independent strategic adviser to governments and businesses in close cooperation with leading independent research institutions in Europe (including RAND Europe, TNO Netherlands, DTI Danmark, Inno France, and CIVIC Germany). Today, he is internationally recognized as a governance and future Internet expert and is a regular contributor to international Internet governance events such as the Internet Governance Forum, where he is leading the Dynamic Coalition for the Internet of Things.

Next to advising the Dutch government and the European Commission on Internet governance issues, he got deeply involved in ICANN's work as a Board member and Chairman of the Public Interest Registry (2008–2016), over time actively participating in more than 40 ICANN meetings. Having worked internationally since 1995, he has extensive experience in working with people from different national and cultural backgrounds, and is comfortable in engaging in English, German, French, and Dutch (mother tongue). He has a reputation as an independent, trustworthy, out-of-the-box thinker who is able to look at issues from several perspectives with strong awareness of the bigger picture. Having served on boards and having reported to boards, he has extensive experience with effective board governance and the responsibilities and obligations that come with a director's position on a U.S. nonprofit board. Over the years, he has been a frequent guest speaker and/or moderator, mostly at smart technology-related events.

Maarten holds an advanced degree in business economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is a certified coach and has a certificate in medical-based knowledge, both of which help in better understanding of what drives people in decision-making and going through life. In addition, he has completed several board excellence trainings with internationally renowned institutions, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, IMD, MIT, Yale School of Management, and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His areas of interest include government, civil society, and technology.

Maarten is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board by the Nominating Committee in 2016 and served as Board Chair from 2019 until 2022. His third and final term will expire at the Annual General Meeting in 2025.

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