[wg-review] New constituencies was: "We are in the starting line......"

["Bret A. Fausett" <baf@fausett.com>]

> Who gets to decide what is and what is not a constituency?  That ability
> to decide represents a big source of power.

At the creation of the DNSO, there was significant discussion on whether the
DNSO should be a part of ICANN (legally) or a separate, stand-alone legal
entity. At the end of that discussion, it was generally agreed that making
the DNSO a part of ICANN was preferable, and accordingly, significant
elements of the DNSO's structure were incorporated into the ICANN Bylaws.

As a consequence, the creation of constituencies is a creature of the
Bylaws, and not something that the DNSO, on its own, can change. You'll see
that under Article VI-B, Section 3(a), constituencies are created by a
majority vote of the Board of Directors:

     http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#VI-B

It's also my belief, and I understand that many on the NC share it, that
petitions for new constituencies can be made directly to the Board and do
not need to go through the Names Council. (I seem to recall Ken Stubbs
making this statement in a General Assembly discussion.) Importantly, the
Bylaws now provide: "Each Constituency shall self-organize, and shall
determine its own criteria for participation...."

Under the current Bylaw structure, a recommendation from this WG that new
constituencies be created would not be sufficient to actually create them --
the recommendation would have to be accompanied by a petition from one or
more self-organized groups, complete with founding members and charters for
participation.

If there's a better way to create new constituencies, I would certainly
expect the Board to look favorably on consensus recommendations from the
DNSO about changes to Article VI-B of the ICANN Bylaws (the section devoted
to the DNSO). But the language in the ICANN Bylaws is the current method.

By the way, I think it would be worth everyone's time to take a quick read
of Article VI-B (linked above) to understand what's "hard-wired" into the
Bylaws and what's susceptible of change by the NC alone. These distinctions
will likely affect the specifics of this WG's report and recommendation. (In
other words, some recommendations will require implementation by the Board
and some will require implementation by the Names Council.)

           -- Bret