Board Activities and Meetings
ICANN Meeting in Shanghai Preliminary Report 31 October 2002
(Posted 1 November 2002)
The ICANN Board of Directors held a regular meeting on 31 October 2002 meeting in Shanghai, China, with Directors Vint Cerf (chairman), Amadeu Abril i Abril, Karl Auerbach,Robert Blokzijl, Ivan Moura Campos (by telephone), Lyman Chapin, Jonathan Cohen, Frank Fitzsimmons, Masanobu Katoh, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Sang-Hyon Kyong, Stuart Lynn, Andy Mueller-Maguhn, Jun Murai, Alejandro Pisanty, Nii Quaynor, Helmut Schink, and Linda S. Wilson participating. The Board adopted the following resolutions:
Whereas, the ICANN Evolution and Reform Committee has developed a proposed new set of bylaws for the Corporation;
Whereas, these proposed new bylaws were posted for public review and comment on 2 October 2002;
Whereas, minor modifications to these proposed new bylaws were posted on 23 October 2002 in response to comments received;
Whereas, these proposed new bylaws were the subject of discussion in the open Public Forum held in Shanghai, China on 30 October 2002;
Whereas, these proposed new bylaws were further adjusted in response to the comments received during the Public Forum as attached in Appendix A;
Whereas, the Evolution and Reform Committee plans to submit for the Board's approval (i) a proposed additional Article of the bylaws (the "Transition Article") that will govern the transition to the structure, policies, processes, and procedures contemplated in the proposed new bylaws, as well as (ii) proposed new or revised provisions concerning Regional Internet Registries and ccTLD registries;
Resolved [02.116] that the ICANN Board adopts the proposed new bylaws as attached in Appendix A as the new bylaws of the Corporation, such proposed new bylaws to become effective upon adoption of the Transition Article;
Further resolved [02.117] that the term and membership of the Evolution and Reform Committee is continued until the Transition Article has been adopted.
Internationalized Domain Names
Whereas, the Internationalized Domain Name Committee was established by resolution 01.94 to serve as a general coordination body for the work on policy issues related to Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs);
Whereas, the IDN Committee has issued a series of reports and recommendations regarding IDNs and related issues;
Whereas, earlier this month the Internet Engineering Steering Group approved the publication of three Proposed Standards defining an application-level mechanism for IDNs;
Whereas, technical analysis has shown that the IDN standards are not sufficient to limit collisions, confusion, and other potentially damaging side-effects stemming from the unrestrained potential to register IDNs using arbitrary characters available in the UNICODE encoding system;
Whereas, there remains a variety of other unresolved issues and potential problems associated with the use of IDN-based identifiers;
Whereas, deployment of IDNs before these issues are addressed raises serious operational and other concerns;
Whereas, under resolution 02.89, the IDN Committee is currently scheduled to formally terminate at the conclusion of the ICANN meeting in Shanghai;
Resolved [02.118] that the IDN Committee is continued until the conclusion of the 2002 ICANN annual meeting;
Resolved [02.119] that the President and the Chair of the IDN Committee are directed to prepare a proposed charter and list of members for a new committee to address IDN implementation issues, for presentation to the Board at the 2002 ICANN annual meeting.
Whereas, the ICANN CEO, Stuart Lynn, has advised the Board of his desires to retire from service to ICANN in the first quarter of 2003;
Whereas, at its meeting on 28 June 2002, the Board established an Executive Search Committee composed of Vinton Cerf (chairman), Linda Wilson, Nii Quaynor, Ivan Moura Campos, Masanobu Katoh, and Rob Blokzijl;
Whereas, the Search Committee is reviewing proposals from several firms to support the search;
Whereas, the Search Committee wishes to expand its membership;
Whereas, the Finance Committee has recommended that the Board authorize the expenditure of up to a total of US$ 250,000 for both search and transition costs for the next ICANN CEO with the understanding that the expenditures may occur in both the current and next fiscal years;
It is therefore resolved [02.120] that Helmut Schink and Michael Roberts are appointed as additional members of the Committee;
Further resolved [02.121] that expenditures not to exceed US$ 250,000 are authorized for total costs of search and transition costs for the next CEO of ICANN;
Further resolved [02.122] that the Executive Search Committee is authorized to select a search firm to support the search; and
Further resolved [02.123] that the President is authorized to negotiate the commitment to the selected search firm under this authorization of resources.
Whereas, in resolution 02.100 the Board authorized the President and General Counsel to conduct negotiations with VeriSign toward appropriate revisions of the .com and .net registry agreements to permit the offering of a Wait-Listing Service under stated conditions;
Whereas, on 16 October 2002 VeriSign's Deputy General Counsel sent ICANN's outside counsel a letter "formally request[ing] that the Board reconsider three of [the conditions] at the Shanghai meeting";
Whereas, the Board's reconsideration policy states that "[r]equests for review or reconsideration must be submitted by email to reconsider@icann.org";
Whereas, the Board is of the view that, despite VeriSign's failure to comply with the published procedures for seeking reconsideration, the letter should be treated as if it were submitted to the e-mail address;
Whereas, the Reconsideration Committee currently has pending a request (No. 02-5) also seeking review of the Board's action in resolution 02.100;
Resolved [02.124] that VeriSign's 16 October 2002 letter is hereby referred to the Reconsideration Committee, with instructions to treat it as if it had been submitted on that date to the e-mail address as required by the Reconsideration Policy.
Whereas, the Address Supporting Organization Memorandum of Understanding (ASO MoU) provides that ICANN will develop requirements and policies for the approval of additional Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and provides general guidance for minimum requirements;
Whereas, after an open and consultative process the ASO recommended the "Criteria for the Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries" as a more elaborate statement of essential requirements, in supplementation to section 9 of the ASO MoU, and as a framework for consideration of applications for recognition of new RIRs;
Whereas, after public posting and comment, the ICANN Board, at its Stockholm meeting on 4 June 2001 in resolution 01.67, accepted the "Criteria", which was later designated ICP-2;
Whereas the President has adopted a set of procedures and standards for the receipt and evaluation of applications for recognition as an RIR;
Whereas an application for recognition, together with a detailed transition plan – including draft bylaws, policies, funding model, and staff resumes – was submitted to ICANN by the Regional Latin-American and Caribbean IP Address Registry (LACNIC);
Whereas APNIC, ARIN, and the RIPE NCC communicated a joint statement praising the excellent work of the LACNIC organization, noting the close cooperation between ARIN and LACNIC, and recommending a favorable response to the application by recognizing LACNIC's accomplishments and according an interim status to LACNIC;
Whereas the Board, on 14 March 2002 at its Accra meeting in resolution 02.28, gave its provisional approval to the LACNIC application for recognition and transition plan, with the expectation that the transition plan would be completed and a final application for recognition submitted;
Whereas the LACNIC organization has reached the conclusion of its transition plan, and submitted a final application for approval and recognition;
Whereas the President of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), from whose current service region the LACNIC service region is drawn, has communicated ARIN's favorable assessment and recommendation for final approval and recognition of LACNIC;
Whereas the President has reviewed the LACNIC application and determined that it is in full conformance with the criteria set forth in ICP-2 and the ASO MoU; and
Whereas on 30 October 2002 at the ICANN Shanghai meeting, the President of ICANN and Chair of LACNIC signed the Joinder of Regional Latin-American and Caribbean IP Address Registry (LACNIC) into RIR-ICANN Memorandum of Understanding;
It is:
Resolved [02.125] the Board gives its enthusiastic endorsement to the President's evaluation of the LACNIC application, and to his conclusion that LACNIC has completed its transition plan and met all of the requirements for final recognition;
Resolved [02.126] the Board proclaims LACNIC to be a fully approved and recognized Regional Internet Registry, to provide IP address registration and other services for the Latin American and Caribbean service region;
Resolved [02.127] the Board congratulates and thanks the organizers, Board, President, staff, and members of LACNIC for their tireless efforts, dedication to excellence in services at the executive, registration, and technical levels, and commitment to the values of regional representation, global coordination, openness, and bottom-up self-management, in the best traditions of the Internet;
Resolved [02.128] the Board gives particular recognition to the Internet Steering Committee of Brazil (Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil) for its crucial start-up support for LACNIC; and
Resolved [02.129] the Board thanks the President, Board, and staff of ARIN for their extraordinary work to support the formation of LACNIC and to ensure a transparent, secure, and successful transition of information and registry responsibilities.
Whereas, the ICANN Board wishes to consider whether it should establish an advisory committee addressing issues of privacy within ICANN's mission and responsibilities;
Resolved [02.130] that the Chairman of the Board is requested to form a working group of directors to investigate, including appropriate consultation with the community, the possible role or roles of an advisory committee on privacy, to propose a possible charter for such a committee, and to develop a proposal for the Board's consideration including a recommendation for the structure and composition of such a committee.
The Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) met on 30 and 31 October 2002, in Shanghai, China. The attending Board Members, which included no representatives from national governments, distinct economies as recognized in international fora, and multinational governmental and treaty organizations, had useful discussions concerning ICANN and related DNS issues.
[Resolution 02.131] Noting that Dr. Paul Twomey, the distinguished Chairman of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which met on 27, 28, and 29 October 2002, in Shanghai, China, announced at the ICANN meeting on 14 March 2002, in Accra, Ghana, his intention to step down from his GAC position and its chairmanship at the close of the October 2002 meeting in Shanghai, and recalling with measured concern that the ICANN Board has already expressed its deep (though apparently premature) appreciation of Dr. Twomey for his many contributions and extraordinary leadership, the ICANN Board warmly reiterates the sentiments expressed in resolution 02.34.
Whereas, Herbert Vitzthum has served as ICANN's ccTLD Liaison since early 2001;
Whereas, Herbert has announced that he will be leaving ICANN in the coming months to pursue the most admirable goals of traveling less, spending more time with his family and friends in Salzburg, and undertaking new challenges;
Whereas, Herbert has compiled a remarkable record of accomplishment, devoting his enormous personal energy to the resolution of difficult delegation and redelegation situations on behalf of the IANA, explaining ICANN and IANA policies to many local Internet communities around the world, and strengthening ICANN's existing ccTLD relationships through improved dialogue and mutual understanding;
Whereas Herbert has combined his hard work with a warm personality, a ready smile, and an unfailingly positive attitude; and
Whereas Herbert will be greatly missed;
It is:
Resolved [02.132] that the ICANN Board thanks Herbert Vitzthum for his dedicated service to ICANN and the global Internet community, and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Thanks to Meeting Hosts, Sponsors, Etc.
Whereas, ICANN has successfully completed its Fall 2002 meeting in Shanghai, China;
Whereas, the planning and execution of the meeting has been conducted in exemplary fashion;
Whereas, the gracious and warm hospitality, splendid facilities, strong support, and close attention to fulfilling the needs of participants have all been truly magnificent;
Now therefore [resolution 02.133]:
The ICANN Board expresses its deep appreciation and thanks, on its own behalf and on behalf of all participants to CNNIC and the Internet Society of China and other local hosts and organizers, in particular: Madame Qiheng Hu, Director Wei Mao, Director Chengqing Huang, Yangyi Wu, and Yang Yu.
The Board thanks the City of Shanghai government for its support to make the ICANN meeting possible.
The Board also extends its thanks to all sponsors of the meeting, including CNC, China Mobile, Great Wall Broadband Network, Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre, Hewlett Packard, NeuStar and VeriSign for their generous support.
The Board thankfully acknowledges the unstinting hard work of the staff of the splendid Riverside Oriental Hotel and Conference Center: the magnificence of the location and surroundings, the impressive facilities, and the thoughtful service all contributed to the success of the meeting. On behalf of the meeting participants worldwide, the Board also thanks the team at the University of Oregon for their webcasting assistance.
The Board expresses its great appreciation to John Crain, Diane Schroeder, Theresa Swinehart, Mary Hewitt, Dan Halloran, Herbert Vitzthum; Steve Conte; Laura Brewer; and Terri Darrenougue and the rest of the ICANN staff for their dedicated efforts in ensuring the smooth operation of the meeting.
Whereas, the ICANN Board wishes to consider whether it should establish a committee addressing issues related to the Board's own operation, and related matters;
Resolved [02.134] that the Chairman of the Board is requested to form a working group of directors to investigate the formation and remit of such a committee.