[council] Demonstrating Pre-Existing Polices

[Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>]

Erica,

To state the proposition most directly, to demonstrate what policies
were in place at ICANN's inception one should look to the evidence that
illuminates events occurring at or before ICANN's formation. 
Ordinarily, documentary evidence will be the strongest, since it is not
subject to shifting recollections and the like.  This includes not only
ICANN's formation documents (Green and White Papers, Articles, bylaws,
etc.) but also such documents as RFCs, IANA news memos, and other
documents that record policies that were followed.  One should be
careful to distinguish between what policy existed and what some
advocate hoped the policy would become.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Louis


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [council] Finalization of "A Unique, Authoritative Root
for  theDNS"]
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 13:19:08 +0800
From: "erica" <erica.roberts@bigpond.com>
To: "Louis Touton" <touton@icann.org>, <council@dnso.org>
References: <3B4B40EC.33F58001@icann.org>

I am increasingly confused about ICANN policy and would appreciate
clarification of how to determine what policies were in place previous
to
ICANN's creation.
I assume that any claim that something is a pre-exisitng policy must be
evidenced by reference to the Articles, By-laws or RFPs.
However, this is clearly a foundational issue that requires
clarification.
Louis: Can you assist in this please.

erica