[ga] "Discussion Draft" on Unique Root

[Bruce James <bmj@keyname.net>]

From:     http://www.lextext.com/icann/index.html


"Discussion Draft" on Unique Root. Contrary to the idea that policy
pronouncements are made "bottom up" from the Supporting Organizations, ICANN
Staff posted a draft paper yesterday on "A Unique, Authoritative Root." The
paper claims to be a draft statement of policy, but neither the paper itself
nor the concerns it purports to address originated with any Supporting
Organization. It was not the product of any working group or task force and
has not been adopted by the ICANN Board. Although titled a "Discussion
Draft," ICANN provided no time on the Public Forum agenda in Stockholm for
discussion of the subject and did not create a public forum for posting
comments.

More importantly, the paper interrupts a DNSO process meant to examine the
issue of alternate roots and alternative naming systems. A General Assembly
group of the DNSO is now discussing these issues, and the DNSO's Names
Council will begin a discussion on the subject with a presentation in
Stockholm (Forsyth paper/Mueller paper). The ICANN paper states what the
DNSO's conclusion should be.

This is not the kind of "bottom up" policy development that is supposed to
characterize the ICANN process. In a later added preface, ICANN President
Stuart Lynn claims the draft as his own work and writes that he felt it
necessary to publish it because he found a "lack of completeness" on the
"documentation of the policy basis for ICANN's commitment to a unique,
authoritative root." Of course the documentation was incomplete -- ICANN has
never set an official policy on these issues. The DNSO's Names Council took
the first steps in a possible policy process last month when it called for
an informational presentation in Stockholm. But the prominent display on the
ICANN web site of one draft contribution from ICANN's senior staff is
inappropriate and, even in the best light, premature.
-- May 29, 2001 --

From:
 http://www.lextext.com/icann/index.html

/Bruce








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