As a member of Working Group C, I object to the release of this report "Report (Part One) of Working Group C of the Domain Name Supporting Organization, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" (hereafter referred to as "Report of Working Group C") for the following reasons:
1. The members of Working Group C have never given approval of this Report. As such, this is not a "Report of Working Group C".
2. The members of Working Group C have not given approval to allow the co-chairman of Working Group C to use his absolute discretion in determining what goes in this particular report and then releasing this report as a "Report of Working Group C". As such, this is not a "Report of Working Group C".
3. The co-chairman of Working Group C has decided to release this report as the "Report of Working Group C" over the known objections of some members of Working Group C to releasing the report as the "Report of Working Group C'.
4. Some members of Working Group C probably do not know this "Report of Working Group C" exists. An extremely short period of time (approximately 7 days) was allowed to review and provide any suggestions regarding this document.
5. The co-chairman has refused to change the name of the report to "The Co-Chairman's Report on the Progress of Working Group C". This would permit the material in the report to be released but allow the members of Working Group C to approve and release a report from Working Group C entitled "Report of Working Group C".
6. The issuance of this report, without the members of Working Group C approving, either the language in the report or granting this authority to the co-chairman, sets a bad precedent for future reports. Why have members?
7. Public Comments have never been requested on this "Report of Working Group C". Prior public comments were received on an Interim Report. The "Report of Working Group C" being released now has new materials for which public comments have never been received.
8. The release of any "Report of Working Group C" without first obtaining public comments on a draft of the report is contrary to ICANN's stated policy of " the development of consensus based policies (such as policies concerning new names) in an open, transparent and bottom-up manner in which interested individuals have an opportunity to participate and comment" (see ICANN FAQ on new generic top level domains - posted September 13,1999).
9. This report was hurriedly prepared and little time allowed
for review because "Members of the Names Council" requested "WG-C file
a report before the NC's meeting in Cairo next week." Either
Working Group C should be allowed sufficient time to study the issues,
explore all the options and timely complete a report or the Names Council
should disband the Working Group. To require a Working Group to hastily
prepare a report for the sake of an upcoming meeting, with insufficient
time for members to study, provide comments and approve the report, does
not establish a lot of faith in the ICANN process.
Bob Broxton
Member of Working Group C
Richmond, VA