Special Meeting of the Board Minutes 13 May 2002

INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") was held by teleconference on 13 May 2002. The following Directors of the Corporation were present by telephone: Vint Cerf (chairman), Karl Auerbach, Rob Blokzijl, Ivan Moura Campos, Lyman Chapin, Jonathan Cohen, Masanobu Katoh, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Stuart Lynn, Jun Murai, and Linda S. Wilson. Director Alejandro Pisanty joined the call while it was in progress. Also present on the teleconference were Louis Touton, Vice-President, Secretary, and General Counsel of the Corporation, and Andrew McLaughlin, Vice-President and Chief Policy Officer of the Corporation.

The meeting was called to order by Vint Cerf at 13:09 UTC (6:09 am U.S. Pacific Daylight Time).

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Touton proposed that the Board formally approve the minutes of the Board meetings held 2 April 2001, 7 May 2001, 31 July 2001, and 21 January 2002. These had been circulated to the Board members for their review on 21 April and 8 and 9 May 2002. Dr. Wilson pointed out that in describing the Board's discussion of reconsideration request RC 01-6 at the 21 January 2002 meeting, the draft minutes use the phrase "may not be inadequately trained" when "may not be adequately trained" is intended. A correction to the draft minutes was made.

Upon motion made by Mr. Kraaijenbrink and seconded by Dr. Wilson, the Board adopted the following resolution by voice vote, with Mr. Auerbach noting his abstention:

Resolved [02.62] that the minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 2 April 2001, 7 May 2001, and 31 July 2001 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented and the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 21 January 2002 are approved and adopted by the Board as corrected.

Security and Stability Advisory Committee

Dr. Cerf raised the topic of conversion of the status of the Security Committee. At the November 2001 annual meeting, which was devoted to the special topic of security, the Board decided that ICANN should establish a standing committee to give advice on security matters. To expedite the committee coming into operation, the Board directed the President to establish the committee as a President's standing committee, with the understanding that the Board was inclined later to convert the committee into an advisory committee under ICANN's bylaws.

Dr. Campos moved, with Dr. Lynn's second, that the Board adopt the following resolutions:

Whereas, in resolution 01.117, the Board directed the President to appoint a standing committee on the security and stability of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems ("President's Committee on Security and Stability") and to propose a charter, developed in consultation with the committee, for approval by the Board;

Whereas, the President has appointed Dr. Stephen Crocker as chair of the President's Committee on Security and Stability and has appointed the following persons as members: Alain Aina (Consultant), Jaap Akkerhuis (SIDN), Doug Barton (Yahoo!), Steve Bellovin (AT&T), Rob Blokzijl (RIPE), David Conrad (Nominum), Daniel Karrenberg (RIPE-NCC), Mark Kosters (VeriSign), Allison Mankin (ISI), Ram Mohan (Afilias), Russ Mundy (Network Associates Laboratories), Jun Murai (Keio University), Frederico Neves (registro.br), Ray Plzak (ARIN), Doron Shikmoni (ForeScout, ISOC-IL), Ken Silva (VeriSign), Bruce Tonkin (Melbourne IT), Paul Vixie (ISC), and Rick Wesson (Alice's Registry);

Whereas, the President developed a charter for the committee in consultation with the committee's members;

Whereas, the Board approved the charter in resolution 02.27;

Whereas, in view of the importance of sound advice on security and stability issues in guiding the Board's actions, it appears appropriate to convert the President's Committee on Security and Stability into an advisory committee to the Board;

Resolved [02.63], the Security and Stability Advisory Committee is hereby established as an advisory committee under Article VII, Section 3 of the bylaws, replacing the President's Committee on Security and Stability;

Resolved [02.64], the Security and Stability Advisory Committee shall have the charter that was approved in resolution 02.27; and

Resolved [02.65], that the chair and members of the President's Committee on Security and Stability, as stated above, are hereby appointed as the chair and members of the Security and Stability Advisory Committee.

The motion passed on a voice vote without opposition.

MoU for .bi ccTLD

Mr. Touton noted that negotiations have been completed with Centre National de l'Informatique on the terms of a memorandum of understanding governing .bi, the ccTLD for Burundi. The terms of the memorandum of understanding are the same as those of the model memorandum of understanding for bilateral situations as posted on the ICANN web site. Mr. Touton noted that the Burundi government had been notified of the negotiations, and had no objection to entering the memorandum of understanding.

Dr. Campos asked whether the government's concurrence made the Burundi memorandum essentially the same as the agreements for the triangular situation, such as entered by ICANN for .au and .jp. Mr. Touton noted that the memorandum of understanding was significantly different in effect than an agreement for a triangular situation, because in the former case the relevant national government has not assumed the responsibility for supervision of the ccTLD manager as to local policies, as contemplated in the triangular situation. In the event that the Burundi government wishes to assume that responsibility in the future, the memorandum of understanding contemplates its termination on ninety days notice to allow appropriate agreements for a triangular situation to be implemented.

Upon a motion made by Mr. Kraaijenbrink and seconded by Mr. Cohen, the Board adopted the following resolutions by voice vote without opposition:

Whereas, negotiators for Centre National de l'Informatique, and ICANN have reached agreement, subject to the ICANN Board's approval, on the terms of an ICANN-ccTLD Manager Memorandum of Understanding for the .bi top-level domain according to the model memorandum of understanding for bilateral situations as posted on the ICANN web site, adapted to the particular circumstances of the .bi top-level domain;

Whereas, the President and General Counsel have presented the ICANN-ccTLD Manager Memorandum of Understanding to the Board and recommended that the Board authorize its entry as negotiated;

Resolved [02.66] that the President is authorized to enter on behalf of ICANN the ICANN-ccTLD Manager Memorandum of Understanding for .bi as presented to the Board, along with any minor corrections or adjustments as appropriate;

Resolved [02.67] that, upon signature of the memorandum, the President is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement it.

Financial Matters

Dr. Lynn reported on ICANN's financial situation. A proposed budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year is scheduled to be posted on 15 May 2002. This budget will be considered by the Board at its meeting on 28 June 2002 in Bucharest. It differs from the preliminary budget posted on 30 March 2002 in two significant respects:

  • Based on strong opposition from the budget advisory group (which is made up of those organizations making payments to ICANN), the funding of the DNSO secretariat in the preliminary budget has been eliminated.
  • The Budget Advisory Group has advised that the presentation of the budget be modified to separate revenues that are certain (based on agreements or near expectations of agreements, including those with gTLD registries and registrars) from revenues that are based on voluntary contributions (such as most of the ccTLDs). The latter should be budgeted at a realistic level based on past experience, not at the level that would apply should all ccTLDs, for example, be under agreement following current models. Members of the group from the gTLD registrar and registry constituencies advocated that ICANN's basic operating budget should be set so as not to rely on unknown voluntary contributions. Actual, but unplanned revenues, would certainly contribute to the important goal of increasing the level of reserves.

In response to a question from Dr. Cerf, Dr. Lynn stated his opinion that gTLD registrars were in support of the approach and levels of the proposed budget.

Evolution and Reform

Mr. Kraaijenbrink gave a report on the progress of the community discussion on ICANN evolution and reform. He noted that the Committee on ICANN Evolution and Reform had received a large number of comments from the community, which have been posted on the ICANN forum web site. He noted that the Committee has posted three working papers, which are intended to prompt additional, focused discussion in the next few weeks. After additional work and consultation with other Board members, the Committee is planning to issue recommendations on approximately 1 June 2002, so they may be discussed in the community before and at the 24-28 June 2002 ICANN meeting in Bucharest.

During the above discussion, Dr. Pisanty joined the meeting.

.org Reassignment

Mr. Touton noted that draft request-for-proposal materials for reassignment of the .org TLD to a successor operator were posted for comment on 1 May 2002. Comments are to be submitted by the day of the Board meeting (13 May 2002). Finalized materials are scheduled to be posted on 20 May 2002.

Other Matters

In final discussions, it was noted that Real Names is going out of business. The Board briefly discussed logistics for the upcoming Board retreat on 25-26 May 2002 and the Bucharest meeting from 24-28 June 2002.

Upon motion by Mr. Kraaijenbrink, seconded by Mr. Cohen, the meeting was adjourned at 13:45 UTC (6:45 am U.S. Pacific Daylight Time).

_______________________
Louis Touton
Secretary