[council] Board resolution on IOC / RC

[Mason Cole <mcole@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Councilors --

In reviewing the IOC/RC issue in preparation for Toronto, the Board's activity 
on the IOC/RC issue prompts a question I'd like the IOC/RC team to consider 
asking the Board.

Specifically, in its recently published rationale behind the decision to not 
follow council advice on IOC/RC protection at the top level, the Board said it 
believed sufficient protections were already in place and thus there was no 
reason to seek a change to the guidebook.  The Board, to my knowledge, has not 
given an opinion on whether or not existing (to be implemented) second-level 
protections are equally sufficient.

Their language suggests an opinion of sorts, by saying:

"Whereas, the Board favors a conservative approach, that restrictions on 
second-level registration can be lifted at a later time, but restrictions 
cannot be applied retroactively after domain names are registered."

Though the Board says it's not seeking to influence policy work, it does seem 
to convey a preference in the outcome of the IOC/RC work.  I find that 
troubling.

Further, considering the difficult timing of the publication of the last set of 
rationale, perhaps the drafting team could ask the Board if the new gTLD 
committee or staff have carried out any review of second-level protections (as 
they did for top-level).  If so making those findings known to us during 
deliberation would save us time and work.