GNSO Council Vancouver Meeting Minutes

28 November 2005

Proposed agenda and related documents

List of attendees:
Philip Sheppard - Commercial & Business Users C.
Marilyn Cade - Commercial & Business Users C.
Grant Forsyth - Commercial & Business Users C - remote participation
Greg Ruth - ISCPC - absent - apologies - proxy to Tony Holmes
Antonio Harris - ISCPC - proxy to Tony Holmes (joined meeting after roll call)
Tony Holmes - ISCPC
Thomas Keller- Registrars
Ross Rader - Registrars (joined meeting after roll call)
Bruce Tonkin - Registrars
Ken Stubbs - gTLD registries
Philip Colebrook - gTLD registries - remote participation
Cary Karp - gTLD registries
Lucy Nichols - Intellectual Property Interests C - absent - apologies - proxy to Niklas Lagergren
Niklas Lagergren - Intellectual Property Interests C
Kiyoshi Tsuru - Intellectual Property Interests C. - absent - apologies - proxy to Niklas Lagergren
Robin Gross - Non Commercial Users C.- remote participation
Norbert Klein - Non Commercial Users C.
Alick Wilson - Nominating Committee appointee - remote participation
Maureen Cubberley - Nominating Committee appointee
Avri Doria - Nominating Committee appointee

17 Council Members

ICANN Staff
Olof Nordling - Manager, Policy Development Coordination
Maria Farrell - ICANN GNSO Policy Support Officer
Liz Williams - Senior Policy Counselor
Tina Dam - Chief gTLD Registry Liaison
Diane Schroeder - General Manager, Conferences, Administration & Finance
Glen de Saint G�ry - GNSO Secretariat


GNSO Council Liaisons
Suzanne Sene - GAC Liaison - absent - apologies
Bret Fausett - acting ALAC Liaison - absent - apologies

Michael Palage - ICANN Board member - absent - apologies
Quorum present at 9: 12 PST.

Two MP3 recordings of the second part of the meeting (not very clear)
http://gnso-audio.icann.org/GNSO-Council20051122.mp3
http://gnso-audio.icann.org/GNSO2-20051122;MP3.mp3


Bruce Tonkin and Philip Sheppard chaired this teleconference.

Approval of Agenda

Diane Schroeder addressed the meeting informing the Council of an important time modification to the schedule for the GNSO Public Forum and GNSO Council meeting on Friday 2 December 2005 in Vancouver.

Marilyn Cade proposed ending the meeting early to prepare for the joint meeting with the ICANN Board in the afternoon.

Ken Stubbs, seconded by Marilyn Cade proposed Philip Sheppard as chair for the election process.

Motion carried unanimously
Decision 1: Philip Sheppard chaired the GNSO Council meeting for the election process.

Item 3: Election of GNSO Council chair
- Bruce Tonkin has been nominated and seconded
- term from 18 Nov 2005 until one month after 2005 AGM (4 Jan 2006)

Philip Sheppard proposed:
Whereas Bruce Tonkin had been nominated by Ken Stubbs and seconded by Ross Rader as GNSO Council chair for the period from 18 November 2005 until one month after 2005 AGM (4 January 2006)
Recommended that Bruce Tonkin be elected as GNSO Council chair for the period 18 November 2005 until one month after the 2005 ICANN Annual General Meeting (4 January 2006).

Philip Sheppard called for a formal roll call vote.

The motion carried unanimously.
No vote was recorded for Tony Harris who joined the meeting late.

Decision 2: Bruce Tonkin was elected as GNSO Council chair for the period 18 November 2005 until one month after the 2005 ICANN Annual General Meeting (4 January 2006).

Philip Sheppard formally handed the chair to Bruce Tonkin.

Item 4: Approval of minutes
- GNSO Council teleconference - 13 October 2005
- GNSO Council teleconference - 20 October 2005

Maureen Cubberley moved the adoption of the minutes.
The motion carried. Niklas Lagergren abstained

Decision 3: The GNSO Council minutes of 13 October 2005 and 20 October 2005 were adopted.

Item 5: Evaluation of new gtlds (.biz, .info etc as well as .travel,
.jobs. .mobi etc)
- update on questions to structure the evaluation

Olof Nordling commented that the document elaborated the need for further evaluation of recently introduced gTLDs and proposed an approach for this, focused to inform ongoing work on policy aspects regarding the introduction of new gTLDs.
Discussions on an evaluation of the ongoing sTLD round were under way with the consultant that performed the main evaluation of the “proof-of-concept” round for ICANN. It was recommended that the GNSO Council stated that questions relating to selection criteria, allocation methods and contractual conditions were of particular relevance in this context. The document proposed a draft list of questions to this end.
The report was designed to give the GNSO Council the information necessary to discuss and decide on ways to proceed with additional evaluation aspects of assigned new TLDs.

Maureen Cubberley referred to page 8 of the report, 'consideration for additional review', and commented that there was a need for emphasis on the process of decision making that informed the evaluation. It was essential to look at the content of the recent Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sponsored round of gTLDs .

Bruce Tonkin pointed out that the new gTLD process was under discussion, and that the evaluation was driven by a process several years ago. There were two issues, one, how to improve the process and the second, should new gTLDs be introduced.

Marilyn Cade noted from the Business Constituency’s perspective, that clear guidance was given for the recent round of gTLDs to be sponsored. Sponsored was discussed in depth yet there appeared to be a limited match in the case of some of the applicants. Further guidance and criteria on ‘sponsored’was required.

Maureen Cubberley commented that ambiguities in the RFP led to the issue.

Bruce Tonkin proposed that the project manager (Miriam Sapiro) produce a ‘lessons learnt’ paper, a quick follow up of the report in terms of the outcome, which should not be wider but intended as input to a subsequent wider process and that an "independent external review" be carried out by someone different from the project manager.

ACTION
Council was encouraged to examine the list of questions and provide further questions to Miriam Sapiro.
Further it was suggested that Miriam Sapiro do a presentation at the GNSO Public Forum on Friday 2 December 2005.

Item 6: Policy Development Process for new gtlds
- discuss issues report
- decide whether to commence a PDP

Bruce Tonkin referred to the ICANN Bylaws.
Section 2. Creation of the Issue Report
Within fifteen (15) calendar days after receiving either (i) an instruction from the Board; (ii) a properly supported motion from a Council member; or (iii) a properly supported motion from an Advisory Committee, the Staff Manager will create a report (an "Issue Report"). Each Issue Report shall contain at least the following:
Section 2. Creation of the Issue Report had been completed

Section 2 e. A recommendation from the Staff Manager as to whether the Council should initiate the PDP for this issue (the "Staff Recommendation"). Each Staff Recommendation shall include the opinion of the ICANN General Counsel regarding whether the issue proposed to initiate the PDP is properly within the scope of the ICANN policy process and within the scope of the GNSO. In determining whether the issue is properly within the scope of the ICANN policy process, the General Counsel shall examine whether such issue:

The staff manager, Olof Nordling had recommended that a PDP be initiated.

Bruce Tonkin proposed that at the current meeting the Council vote to commence a PDP.

Marilyn Cade, seconded by Tom Keller proposed:
Whereas, the GNSO Council recognises that the review of the GNSO Council held in 2004 recommended that the PDP timelines be reviewed.
The GNSO votes to initiate the PDP on new gTLDs. The GNSO will develop a work program in consultation with the ICANN staff and ICANN board that sets out a timeframe for work

The vote was by show of hands.
The motion carried unanimously. No abstentions

Decision 4:
Whereas, the GNSO Council recognises that the review of the GNSO Council held in 2004 recommended that the PDP timelines be reviewed.
The GNSO votes to initiate the PDP on new gTLDs. The GNSO will develop a work program in consultation with the ICANN staff and ICANN board that sets out a timeframe for work

Item 7: WHOIS: Final task force report on a policy recommendation and advice on a procedure for handling conflicts between a registrar/registry's legal obligations under privacy laws and their contractual obligations to ICANN

- vote on final recommendation as completed by the WHOIS task force on
19 Oct
Bruce Tonkin noted that the "advice" as set forth was not consensus policy.
Niklas Lagergren stated that the task force Final Report was supported unanimously by the WHOIS task force.
Ross Rader, a member of the task force raised a procedural question that after the task force had already voted on the final report, it should be made precise that reference was to the gTLD WHOIS service and did not refer to the protocol, the RIR WHOIS service or the country code WHOIS service.

Tom Keller seconded by Niklas Lagergren proposed that:

The GNSO votes in favour of the following consensus policy recommendation from the WHOIS task force
CONSENSUS POLICY RECOMMENDATION

In order to facilitate reconciliation of any conflicts between local/national mandatory privacy laws or regulations and applicable provisions of the ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD Whois service, ICANN should:

1. Develop and publicly document a procedure for dealing with the situation in which a registrar or registry can credibly demonstrate that it is legally prevented by local/national privacy laws or regulations from fully complying with applicable provisions of its ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD WHOIS service.

2. Create goals for the procedure which include:

   1. Ensuring that ICANN staff is informed of a conflict at the earliest appropriate juncture;
   2. Resolving the conflict, if possible, in a manner conducive to ICANN's Mission, applicable Core Values and the stability and uniformity of the Whois system;
   3. Providing a mechanism for the recognition, if appropriate, in circumstances where the conflict cannot be otherwise resolved, of an exception to contractual obligations to those registries/registrars to which the specific conflict applies with regard to collection, display and distribution of personally identifiable data via the gTLD WHOIS service; and
   4. Preserving sufficient flexibility for ICANN staff to respond to particular factual situations as they arise.

The GNSO recommends the ICANN staff consider the advice given in the task force report as to a recommended procedure.

Bruce Tonkin called for formal roll call vote.

The motion carried.
26 Votes in support

Abstention from Avri Doria:
Reason: Does not believe goes far enough in protecting privacy

Decision 5
The GNSO votes in favour of the following consensus policy recommendation from the WHOIS task force
CONSENSUS POLICY RECOMMENDATION

In order to facilitate reconciliation of any conflicts between local/national mandatory privacy laws or regulations and applicable provisions of the ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD WHOIS service, ICANN should:

1. Develop and publicly document a procedure for dealing with the situation in which a registrar or registry can credibly demonstrate that it is legally prevented by local/national privacy laws or regulations from fully complying with applicable provisions of its ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD WHOIS service.

2. Create goals for the procedure which include:

   1. Ensuring that ICANN staff is informed of a conflict at the earliest appropriate juncture;
   2. Resolving the conflict, if possible, in a manner conducive to ICANN's Mission, applicable Core Values and the stability and uniformity of the Whois system;
   3. Providing a mechanism for the recognition, if appropriate, in circumstances where the conflict cannot be otherwise resolved, of an exception to contractual obligations to those registries/registrars to which the specific conflict applies with regard to collection, display and distribution of personally identifiable data via the gTLD WHOIS service; and
   4. Preserving sufficient flexibility for ICANN staff to respond to particular factual situations as they arise.

The GNSO recommends the ICANN staff consider the advice given in the task force report as to a recommended procedure.

Item 8: Policy development for IDNs
- discuss background document
- decide whether to formally request an issues report
section 1 - Raising an Issue
section 2 - Creation of the Issue Report

Bruce Tonkin referred to the background document which listed the existing resolutions, workshops, and information on the President’s Advisory Committee, of which Cary Karp was a member, and suggested that the GNSO request the staff to produce an issues report on the policy issues using the document as a basis.
Bruce added that there should be clarity for the community what the policy aspects for the GNSO were.

Cary Karp commented that attention should not only be to constrain 2nd level of the DNS, the top level and the 3rd and 4th level of the DNS should also be considered. If control was invoked as a term of delegation the domain space could not be policed, which means that anything not permitted should be folded into the underlying possible standards. The first generation would be a normative framework that expected anything to be done but allowed policy constraint to guide.
Cary further clarified that internationalization meant changing the system to make it useable in the polyglot world we live in while making it work with Cambodia, for example, is localization. An Arabic version of.com is a localization. The concern is the translated versions of the gtld labels.

Discussion followed on the motion to be drafted. Due to the complexity of the topic and in order for constituency discussion, Bruce Tonkin proposed tabling the following motion to be voted on at the GNSO Council meeting on Friday 2 December 2005:

Tabled motion:

WHEREAS, the GNSO Council recognises that one of the goals of ICANN to increase the internationalisation of the domain name space.
WHEREAS, the GNSO Council wishes to liaise closely with the ccNSO with respect to the issue of localised IDN equivalents of existing gTLDs and ccTLDs, and for the purpose of jointly requesting an issues report.

The GNSO Council requests that the staff produce an issues report on the policy issues associated with creating internationalised equivalents of existing gTLDs, and second level domains within existing gTLDs.

The GNSO also requests that the staff liaise with the ccNSO to ensure that the policy issues associated with internationalised versions of the existing ccTLDs can also be considered.

Bruce Tonkin proposed revisiting the process of the PDP on new gTLDs. and outlined the proposed work:
January to June
- PDP on New gTLDs
- PDP on IDNs
- WHOIS task force - considered to drain a lot of resources

Bruce Tonkin noted that with respect to issues such as WHOIS that will likely need to evolve over several years, it may be more efficient to spend a limited time on the issue each year, rather than tie up GNSO community and staff resources for the whole year, e.g. each year concentrate 3 months on an issue and spend 2 days face to face, then leave it alone and pick it up again.

There was general agreement on:
- scheduling new gTLDs work program with significant face to face interaction time.
- using new technologies, such as wikis and blogs to encourage community participation
- setting up a group outside Council with expertise to support running a wiki on the new gTLD issues for the community beyond the council.
- creating a structured mechanism to gather data

Bruce Tonkin recommended that the Council as a whole deal with the new gTLD PDP using mailing lists, wiki, and a 2 day face to face meeting. Each new effort should take into account the GNSO Council review recommendations looking at what has gone before and what can be improved.
The proposed IDN PDP would be managed by a task force of experts and the constituencies should work on identifying new people with particular skills.

Agenda Item deferred:
Item 8: WHOIS task force
- progress on purpose and definitions of contacts

Bruce Tonkin declared the GNSO meeting closed and thanked everybody for participating.

The meeting ended: 11: 45 PST.

• Next GNSO Council meeting in Vancouver, Friday 2 December 2005 at 10:30 PST
  see: Calendar