Re: [council] ICANN's mission

["J. Scott Evans" <jse@adamspat.com>]

Philip:

 

My problem with the wording from the ICANN document is that it does not clearly state that ICANN's mission include coordinating the technical and policy functions of the Internet.  I think it is important that ICANN's mission clearly articulate that ICANN's mission is to coordinate both the technical and policy functions of the DNS.  I think that is the very essence of ICANN's mission.  I think that the first sentence of the formulation captured from the ICANN paper is not a "mission" statement, but a summary of the technical responsibilities that ICANN performs.  A mission statement should be a very high level formulation that drives the organization.  Hence, I believe the wording that I propose clearly states the mission the "White Paper" enunciated for ICANN.  Consequently, I would request that we consider replacing the formulation originally included in your report with the revised wording in red below.

 

J. Scott

----- Original Message -----

From: Philip Sheppard

To: NC (list)

Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 2:44 AM

Subject: [council] ICANN's mission

J Scott and NC members,

thanks for your input. You suggest alternative wording for ICANN's mission. For clarity let me recall I had repeated the wording from the ICANN staff document (not tried to write anything new). This seemed the least controversial route assuming that the NC was broadly in support of the functions as described in that staff note. Although I believe yours is a more elegant draft, it would be helpful to understand what the difference is that you want to make explicit between the two versions.

 

J Scott:

"ICANN's mission is to coordinate technical and policy functions of the DNS in order to promote a safe, stable and commercially viable domain name system, promote competition, and achieve broad representation of global Internet communities."

 

ICANN STAFF note used in draft NC conclusions:

"ICANN is responsible for coordinating the Internet's naming, address allocation, and protocol parameter assignment systems. These systems enable globally unique and universally interoperable identifiers for the benefit of the Internet and its users.
ICANN's paramount concern is the stability of these services.
ICANN's role includes both operational and policymaking functions. "

 

On the proposed recommendation I am happy to adopt your revised wording as a friendly amendment as it gives needed clarity (only the first sentence changes):

J Scott new:

Recommendation 1: Create clearly delineated divisions within ICANN responsible for the administration of its operational and policy functions. This would establish separate staff functions for policy and  operational functions.

 

Previous Sheppard draft (v2):

Recommendation 1: Create clearly delineated divisions within ICANN responsible for the administration of certain technical functions. This would establish separate staff functions for policy and  operational functions.