Voting Transcript | Special Meeting of the Board

Approval of Amendment to .NET Registry Agreement

>>VINT CERF: So I would like to go on the record to take a vote on the amendments that have been negotiated by ICANN with VeriSign on the .net agreement.

So we are going to go on the record now. The recording of this vote will begin now. And I will go through on a roll call, asking you to state your vote yes or no or abstain.

You may, if you wish, make a brief statement regarding your vote and the reasons for it, for the record, or not, if you choose.

So let's begin.

Raimundo, how do you vote?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Abstain.

>>VINT CERF: Do I hear you say "abstain"?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. Vint Cerf votes yes.

Mouhamet. I'm sorry; Mouhamet?

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: Yes. I say yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Demi. Demi Getschko.

>>DEMI GETSCHKO: I vote yes also because I think we are doing some corrections to the previous agreement we have approved yet, and --

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Joichi?

>>DEMI GETSCHKO: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Demi.

Joichi?

>>JOICHI ITO: Yes. I vote yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Joichi.

Veni Markovski.

>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Tom Niles.

>>THOMAS NILES: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Mike Palage.

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: I vote no, and I make the following statement. I appreciate the efforts by staff, Verisign, and the registrar community to produce this document; however, regarding my concerns involving the removal of the registrars, direct approval of the budget is set forth in the ICANN registrar accreditation agreement. Coupled with the removal of the ICANN revenue fee caps and the registry agreements, I believe that it is not prudent to move forward with this resolution at the current time, and it would be in the best interest of the community to wait 30 days based upon a resolution that we will be taking up further later in this call.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your brevity.

Alex Pisanty.

>>ALEJANDRO PISANTY: I vote yes.

>>VINT CERF: Hualin Qian.

>>HAULIN QIAN: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Njeri Rionge. Njeri Rionge, are you on?

[There was an off-the-record conversation regarding recalling Njeri]

>>VINT CERF: Well, we will come back to her.

Vanda Scartezini, how would you vote?

>>VANDA SCARTEZINI: I vote yes, believing that there will be no surprise to the community.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much.

Peter Dengate Thrush.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: I am going to abstain. I make the following statement. I think that I don't feel I have been sufficiently briefed on what is a very complex situation. I'm not sure that we need to do this now. I am not satisfied that there is any harm in delaying for a further period.

I'd like to see it go ahead in conjunction with other decisions we may make today, and it seems to me that transparency would mean that we would have a face-to-face discussion on all of this in Vancouver.

>>VINT CERF: Well, thank you, Peter.

Paul Twomey, how do you vote?

>>PAUL TWOMEY: Yes, and I'd like to put on the record my thanks to the registrar constituency and to staff members and to VeriSign for the intensity and good faith in which they discussed these issues following Luxembourg.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Paul.

Let me come back to ask if Njeri Rionge has rejoined the call.

Mr. Secretary, I'm not sure what to do here. If Njeri rejoins the call later, I think it might be legitimate for me to ask her how she votes and we would amend the record, but at the moment the record reads two abstentions, one no, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten yeses.

We are missing Hagen Hultzsch from the call and Njeri Rionge from the call.

>>JOHN JEFFREY: For clarification, Mr. Chairman, I'm missing one of the abstentions. I have Raimundo Beca.

>>VINT CERF: Raimundo Beca and Peter Dengate Thrush abstained.

So thank you very much, everyone. That was, I think, valuable discussion, and one which apparently we needed to have.

The next item on the agenda would be the .com matter.

I am tempted to delay that while I get some other specific actions out of the way.

So if you will forgive me, I am going to permute the agenda a little bit.

Brussels Office Administrative Approvals

>>VINT CERF: We are in immediate need of approval for -- administrative approvals for the Brussels office. As you know, Paul Verhoef left the organization some months ago, and we need to have a person there with the proper credentials. And that person, it is proposed, would be Olof Nordling.

So I don't know, Paul, whether you or John wants to introduce this, but since it's a timely concern, I want the board to understand what it is that we need to do, why we need to do it, and why we should do it now.

>>PAUL TWOMEY: Vint, I will talk first, and then John can correct me if necessary.

The purpose of this resolution is, as you pointed out, is an administrative one. For the purpose of Belgian law, there is a requirement that somebody resident in Belgium has certain rights granted to them by the board, and those rights were -- the previous board resolution ascribed those nominations to Paul Verhoef. Paul no longer being with us, we need to nominate another person, so Olof has been nominated.

>>VINT CERF: So this resolution, if the board accepts it, essentially simply designates Olof as the authority to take whatever actions are needed to operate that office, but is not conferring upon him any special title. Is that correct?

>>PAUL TWOMEY: That's right.

>>JOHN JEFFREY: That's correct. And additionally, the language in the resolution beyond the appointment of Mr. Nordling for the branch manager is to set forth all of the things that are required for our business license within Brussels.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. Thank you very much.

So I would entertain a motion to place this resolution on the table, this administrative resolution on the table.

Is there anyone who wants to do that?

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: Mike Palage does.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Mike.

Is there a second? Lots of seconds. Did I hear Raimundo?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Raimundo.

Is there any further discussion of this resolution? If there are no further questions for the staff, I will call a roll call vote on this one.

We are again going to record this roll call vote. I will begin with Mr. Beca. How do you vote?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Vint Cerf votes yes.

Mouhamet Diop? Mouhamet Diop? Mouhamet? [technical discussion regarding conferencing tools]

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: I'm back. I was disconnected, Vint. I am back.

>>VINT CERF: Are you aware that we're -- we're trying to vote on an administrative action to make sure that Olof Nordling can serve as the cognizant employee in Brussels. If you -- If you don't want to vote on this because you weren't part of the discussion, I will understand.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: Yeah, I did not follow the discussion because I was dropped for more than ten minutes, but....

>>VINT CERF: It is purely an administrative action so that we have an employee in Brussels who can take actions on behalf of the Brussels office.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: Okay. Thank you. Okay. It's okay.

>>VINT CERF: So will you vote yes on that?

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: Yeah, I vote yes on that.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Demi.

>>DEMI GETSCHKO: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Joi Ito? Joi Ito?

>>JOICHI ITO: Yes.

>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Joichi said yes, Vint.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. Thank you.

Veni Markovski.

>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Mike Palage.

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Alex?

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: You missed Tom Niles, I think, Vint.

>>VINT CERF: I missed Tom. Excuse me. Tom.

>>THOMAS NILES: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Alex.

>>ALEJANDRO PISANTY: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Hualin Qian?

>>HAULIN QIAN: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Njeri Rionge.

>>NJERI RIONGE: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Vanda Scartezini.

>>VANDA SCARTEZINI: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Let's see. Peter?

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: And Paul Twomey.

>>PAUL TWOMEY: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. So Mr. Secretary, with the exception of Hagen Hultzsch who is not on the call, it was a unanimous approval of that resolution.

Okay. Someone wanted to ask a question?

No.

All right. The next item --

>>JOHN JEFFREY: Are we on or off the record, Mr. Chairman?

>>VINT CERF: Thank you. We are off the record.

(Off the record.)

Appointment of New Chief Financial Officer

>>VINT CERF: All right. Since we're back on the record, I am going to ask if there is any objection to my calling for a voice vote rather than a roll-call vote on this one.

If there are no objections, I'll do it that way on the presumption that this is not a controversial matter.

Hearing no objections, I'll call for a voice vote on this.

All those in favor of the resolution which would appoint Melanie Keller Chief Financial Officer, provide her with signature authority up to $10,000, and to acknowledge Diane Schroeder's service in the past as our CFO, please say aye.

>> Aye.

>>VINT CERF: Are there any who wish to abstain?

Are there any voting no?

Okay. Mr. Secretary, it's unanimous, and I presume all except Hagen Hultzsch have voted in favor, and Hagen is simply not on the call.

Okay. Thank you very much for handling these things expeditiously. It's much appreciated.

>>VINT CERF: We are off the record.

(Off the record.)

Redelegation of .TK (Tokelau)

>>VINT CERF: I think that in that case we are probably ready to go on the record for a vote. Do I hear any objection to that?

All right. We're on the record now for a vote on the redelegation of the Tokelau, .tk, top-level domain.

The resolution --

>>SHARIL TARMIZI: Vint?

>>VINT CERF: I'm sorry; is there an interrupt?

>>SHARIL TARMIZI: Yes. Sorry, Vint. Sharil. It seems I have a problem with the muting.

Can I just ask a question to Barbara, please.

>>VINT CERF: Yes. Go ahead.

>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Are we on the record?

>>SHARIL TARMIZI: Off the record.

(Off the record.)

>>VINT CERF: We are now on the record again. We are voting on the redelegation of the Tokelau .tk top-level domain.

If you vote in favor of this, you will, in fact, approve the proposed redelegation of .tk, the Telecommunication Tokelau Corporation, and implicitly you will be authorizing the staff to conduct whatever other exchanges are needed in order to finalize this redelegation.

Let me again ask if there is any objection to a voice vote on this redelegation.

>>ALEJANDRO PISANTY: No.

>>VINT CERF: Not hearing any --

>>ALEJANDRO PISANTY: No objection.

>>VINT CERF: Very good. Thank you.

In that case, all of you in favor of redelegating the top-level domain .tk to Telecommunication Tokelau Corporation, please say aye.

>> Aye.

>>VINT CERF: Are there any objections?

[beeping sound, technical discussion regarding conferencing tool]

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: You may have to do a roll to figure out who you lost.

>>VINT CERF: Yes, I'm afraid so.

[technical issue regarding conferencing discussed off the record]
>>MICHAEL PALAGE: Vint, if I can, I just have a quick statement to read while they are dialing, if you could put this on the record.

>>VINT CERF: This is with regard to the redelegation of .tk?

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: That is correct.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. Yes, go ahead.

>>MICHAEL PALAGE: I would like to thank IANA for their update in the step-by-step guidelines regarding ccTLD redelegations.

The other two points that I wanted to note was the second principle in the U.S. principles on the Internet domain name and addressing system which states governments have some legitimate interests in the management of their ccTLDs and the role of the Tokelau government in connection with this redelegation.

And the final point is another request to IANA to move forward expeditiously with the translation of these ccTLD redelegation documents in other languages to help all countries, particularly developing countries, in this vital task.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Michael.

Okay. Do we have Demi back on?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: We weren't sure whether we caught your vote on the redelegation. Were you in favor?

>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Yes.

>>VINT CERF: Thank you.

Mr. Secretary, it was a unanimous vote with the exception of Hagen Hultzsch.

So thank you for that. And Barbara, thank you and the rest of your colleagues at IANA for carrying out this redelegation.

>>BARBARA ROSEMAN: Thank you very much.

>>VINT CERF: We are off the record again.

(Off the record.)

Review of the GNSO Recommendation to Modify ICANN's Bylaws

>>VINT CERF: So we are going to go on the record now.

We are voting on a resolution to review a GNSO request for bylaw changes to ICANN that are intended --

>>Peter Dengate Thrush: Sorry, Vint. Can I interrupt? I was locked in silent mode. I was trying to make a comment earlier. May I just say something?

>>VINT CERF: Yes, of course. We are on the record. Should we go off the record for this?

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Yes, I think so, please.

>>VINT CERF: Okay. We are off the record.

(Off the record.)

>>VINT CERF: In that case, we will move, without objection, to on-the-record vote for this.

Is there any objection to voting voice vote on this one?

All right. Then we are on the record to vote on the request by the GNSO to review bylaws with the possibility of modification to improve frankness, openness, and transparency.

>>VINT CERF: To approve this resolution, we will be asking the general counsel to analyze the GNSO request and to seek clarification from them, if necessary, and then to come back to the board with either recommendations for bylaw modifications or any other means of implementing the intentions of these requests.

Let me ask, all those in favor, please say aye.

>> Aye.

>>VINT CERF: Are there any opposed?

Are there any abstentions?

Okay. Let's move --

>>STEPHEN CROCKER: Vint, I'm sorry about coming in on this. One fear that I would have is that this could be colored as accepting the premise --

>>Is this on the record?

>>VINT CERF: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Peter -- sorry. Steve, is that you talking?

>>STEPHEN CROCKER: It is.

>>VINT CERF: Do you want to be on or off the record?

>>STEPHEN CROCKER: I guess I want to be off the record.

>>VINT CERF: We completed the vote, so we are off the record. Thank you.

(Off the record.)

MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 4:04 PM PT.