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Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting 19 November 2015

Last Updated:
Date

Agenda and Documents

Coordinated Universal Time: 15:00 UTC 07:00 Los Angeles; 10:00 Washington; 16:00 Bonn; 17:00 Istanbul, 23:00 Perth

The Meeting started at 15:10 UTC

List of attendees :
NCA – Non Voting – Carlos Raúl Gutierrez
Contracted Parties House
Registrar Stakeholder Group: James Bladel, Volker Greimann, Jennifer Standiford
gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group: Donna Austin, Keith Drazek, Rubens Kühl
Nominating Committee Appointee (NCA): Hsu Phen Valerie Tan – (connectivity issues)

Non-Contracted Parties House
Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG);Philip Corwin, Susan Kawaguchi, Wolf-Ulrich Knoben, Tony Harris, Paul McGrady, Heather Forrest
Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG): Amr Elsadr, Marilia Maciel, Stephanie Perrin, David Cake, Stefania Milan - absent, apologies proxy to Stephanie Perrin, Edward Morris - absent, apologies proxy to Marilia Maciel
Nominating Committee Appointee (NCA): Julf (Johan) Helsingius

GNSO Council Liaisons/Observers:
Olivier Crèpin LeBlond– ALAC Liaison
Patrick Myles - ccNSO Observer –absent - apologies
Mason Cole – GNSO liaison to the GAC –absent - apologies

ICANN Staff
David Olive - VP Policy Development
Marika Konings - Senior Policy Director
Rob Hoggarth - Senior Policy Director
Mary Wong – Senior Policy Director
Julie Hedlund – Policy Director
Steve Chan - Sr. Policy Manager
Berry Cobb – Policy consultant
Lars Hoffmann – Policy Analyst
Glen de Saint Géry - GNSO Secretariat
Nathalie Peregr ine - Specialist, SO/AC Support (GNSO)
Mike Brennan- Meetings Technical Services Specialist

Guests:
Aziz Hilali – Marrakech Host
Nick Tomasso- VP Meetings
Geoff Bickers – Director Security
Chris Clark- Control Risks
Margie Milam - Sr. Director, Strategic Initiatives
Thomas Rickert- Co-chair -CCWG Accountability
Steve Delbianco- GNSO member CCWG Accountability
Robin Gross- GNSO member CCWG Accountability

MP3 Recording
Adobe Chat Transcript
Transcript

Volker Greimann and David Cake chaired the meeting

Item 1: Administrative

1.1 – Roll call
1.2 – Updates to Statements of Interest
1.3 – Review/amend agenda.

Add under OAB

  • 2016 Meeting Agenda
  •  CWG –Stewardship Letter concerning role in implementation
  • DNS Entrepreneurship Center

1.4 – Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures:

Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting of 21 October 2015 will be posted as approved on 25 November 2015

Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List

2.1 – Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List and Action List

Action Item:

Marrakech meeting planning - Susan Kawaguchi and Amr Elsadr

Besides the regular updates that will be done before the next Council call, the following require further action from the Council:

  • Council response to Board letter on exclusive registry access – draft circulated to the Council list on 18 November, feedback requested by 23 November: http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg17670.html
  • Council response to Board letter on replacement of registrar insurance requirements – draft to be circulated to the Council by 19 November, feedback to be provided by 24 November.
  • Dublin meeting survey – Councillors to respond as soon as possible: https://s.zoomerang.com/s/PR55KC2
  • SSAC Liaison – new lead person to take the place of Jonathan Robinson
  • Review of the role – GNSO Liaison to the GAC by the GAC Consultation Group.
    Volker Greimann and David Cake to join the next GAC Consultation Group meeting.
  • IETF follow up - Council to consider next steps, including possibly inviting IETF representatives to a meeting in Marrakech to discuss the most effective ways of ensuring there is regular communication/liaison

Item 3: Consent agenda

There were no items on the Consent agenda.

Item 4: UPDATE – VOTE ON MOTION – Adoption of the Charter for PDP Working Group on Next Generation gTLD Registration Directory Services (RDS) to Replace WHOIS

Susan Kawaguchi presented the motionwhich was deferred from the Dublin meeting and which was subsequently amended by Carlos Gutierrez and Amr Elsadr.

Amr Elsadr and James Bladel expressed concerns that comments raised earlier in the process have not been taken fully into account in the amended motion.

James Bladel suggested language that would consider the concerns without necessitating a change to the charter which was considered undesirable to certain councillors. This new language was accepted by Susan Kawaguchi and Carlos Gutierrez as a friendly amendment and which became resolve clause 3 of the amended motion.

"The Working Group, when convened, is instructed to reach out to all Stakeholder Groups/Constituencies (SG/Cs) for additional feedback on any items that they believe should be considered that may not have been specifically called out in the charter. The WG is also expected to consider input already provided by SG/C during the public comment period on the Preliminary Issue Report. Should the WG be of the view that after the review of this feedback changes need to be made to the charter to address these, the WG is expected to come back to the Council with proposed changes to the charter for the Council to consider."

Marilia Maciel, seconded by Stephanie Perrin proposed an amendment to the charter to be included in the motion which was not accepted as friendly by Susan Kawaguchi and Carlos Gutierrez and thus a vote was taken on the amendment.

Amendment:

Resolved clause 1, where along with approving the charter, a reference to a change in the charter be made to include a bullet under the phase 1 deliberations on page 69 saying:

"Rights Impact analysis: Have registrants rights that may be affected been
analyzed and considered?"

The amendment did not carry.
The threshold for the amendment to carry was a simple majority.

Details of the vote.

Contracted Party House:
6 votes against, One absent vote
Non- Contracted Party House:
5 votes in favour, 6 votes against, 2 abstentions

Reason for Abstentions:

David Cake:
I agree with the goal of the motion, but believe it is procedurally problematic.
Julf Helsingius:
While the intent of the motion was something I agree with, I think it would have caused too many practical complications at this stage

Susan Kawaguchi, seconded by Carlos Gutierrez proposed the motion as amended to approve the charter for the Next-Generation gTLD Registration Directory Service (RDS) to replace WHOIS (Next-Gen RDS) Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG)

Whereas

  1. Following submission of the WHOIS Policy Review Team's Final Report, the ICANN Board passed a resolution on 8 November, 2012, launching an Expert Working Group on gTLD Registration Directory Services (EWG) to (1) help redefine the purpose of gTLD registration data and consider how to safeguard the data, and (2) propose a model for gTLD registration directory services to address accuracy, privacy, and access issues.
  2. Upon publication of the EWG's Final Report in June, 2014, an informal group of Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Councilors and ICANN Board members collaborated to propose a Process Framework for structuring a GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) to successfully address these challenging issues.
  3. On 26 May, 2015, the ICANN Board adopted that Process Framework and reaffirmed its 2012 request for a Board-initiated PDP to define the purpose of collecting, maintaining and providing access to gTLD registration data, and to consider safeguards for protecting data, using the recommendations in the EWG's Final Report as an input to, and, if appropriate, as the foundation for a new gTLD policy.
  4. In accordance with the PDP Rules, a new Preliminary Issue Report was published for public comment on 13 July 2015. Following review of the public comments received, the Staff Manager updated the Issue Report accordingly and included a summary of the comments received (see Annex D), which was submitted as the Final Issue Report to the GNSO Council for its consideration on 7 October 2015
  5. The GNSO Council has reviewed the issues raised in the Final Issue Report as well as the Draft Charter for a PDP Working Group that was included in the Preliminary Issue Report and updated reflecting the input received in the Final Issue Report under Annex C (pp.67-77)

Resolved,

  1. The GNSO Council approves the Draft Charter proposed in the Report and appoints Susan Kawaguchi as the GNSO Council liaison to the Next-Generation gTLD Registration Directory Service (RDS) to replace WHOIS (Next-Gen RDS) PDP WG;
  2. The GNSO Council directs ICANN staff to issue a call for volunteers for the PDP WG after the approval of this motion. The call for volunteers should be circulated as widely as possible in order to ensure broad representation and participation in the Working Group and should be initiated no later than January 4th, 2016 and remain open until the WG convenes for the first time; and
  3. The Working Group (WG), when convened, is instructed to reach out to all Stakeholder Groups/Constituencies (SG/Cs) for additional feedback on any items that they believe should be considered that may not have been specifically called out in the charter. The WG is also expected to consider input already provided by SG/Cs during the public comment period on the Preliminary Issue Report. Should the WG be of the view that after the review of this feedback changes need to be made to the charter to address these, the WG is expected to come back to the Council with proposed changes to the charter for the Council to consider.
  4. Until such time as the WG selects a chair(s) for the WG and that chair(s) is confirmed by the GNSO Council, the GNSO Council liaison to the WG shall serve as the interim chair.

The motion carried by voice vote.
Valerie Tan was absent for the vote due to connectivity issues.

Action items

  • Call for volunteers to form the PDP Working Group to be launched at the latest by 4 January;
  • Councillors to update their respective SG/Cs on how the amendment affects the Working Group's handling of SG/C feedback provided during the public comment period on the Preliminary Issue Report.

Item 5: VOTE ON MOTION – New Referral Request to the Standing Committee for GNSO Improvements Implementation

Wolf-Ulrich Knoben, seconded by Carlos Gutierrez proposed a motion to approve a Referral Request to the Standing Committee on Improvements Implementation (SCI)

Whereas

  1. The GNSO Operating Procedures in Chapter 2.2 describe the process of elections of the GNSO Chair and the GNSO Vice-Chairs
  2. Following the result of the initial election round at ICANN54 in Dublin, the GNSO Council agreed on a time table for the next round for the election of the GNSO Chair 2015-2016
  3. During the ICANN 54 meeting in Dublin questions were raised with regards to the election process for the GNSO Chair and Vice-Chairs, including the candidate nomination process with particular reference to the preparedness of newly-elected Council members to vote, the eligibility of newly elected Councilors to run for the GNSO Chair position, the need for the GNSO Council to specifically determine the term of the Chair and Vice-Chairs in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws, and to the overall timing of the Chair election.

Resolved

The GNSO Council requests the Standing Committee on Improvements Implementation (SCI)

  1. To review Sections 2.2(b), (f) and (g) of the GNSO Operating Procedures with respect to clarifying: (i) the eligibility of incoming Council members to run for the position of GNSO Chair; (ii) the start and end dates and the duration of the Chair and Vice-Chair terms in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws; and (iii) the timing of publication of the election results; and
  2. To recommend a general time table for election of the GNSO Council Chair to be approved by the GNSO Council and added to the GNSO Operating Procedures.

Item 6: VOTE ON MOTION - Adoption of GNSO Review of the GAC Dublin Communique

Deferred to the next meeting;

Action Item

Council to further discuss and finalize the draft most recently circulated on the mailing list: http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg17693.html

Item 7: DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL ACTION – Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability

Thomas Rickert provided Council with an update on the following briefing materials;

CCWG Timeline
Excerpt from Charter
Formal update on progress made IN and After ICANN 54 in Dublin
CCWG Timeline and next steps

but stated that the documents do not provide a rationale for choosing the options nor legal memos.

Approval from five out of six chartering organizations is key and decisive for the Final Report recommendations to be transmitted to the Board and then for the Board to pass them onto the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Concern was expressed about the aggressive timeline and the possible impact on the quality and the acceptability of the work within the broader Internet community.

Action Items:

Councilors to begin consultations with their respective SG/Cs based on the 15 November Formal Update provided by the CCWG co-chairs: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/cwg-draft-2-proposal-work-stream-1-recs-15nov15-en.pdf (pending the release of the full Third Draft Proposal on 30 November).

Councilors to consider next steps in relation to input to be provided to the CCWG by the end of the public comment period as well as consideration of the Final Report.

Item 8: COUNCIL ACTION – GNSO Candidates for ICANN's Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team

Deferred to the next Council meeting.

Margie Milam noted that no formal numbers had been decided.

Action Items:

Item 9: UPDATE – Issue Report for a Potential PDP on New gTLDs Subsequent Procedures

Deferred to the next Council meeting.

Action Item:

ICANN staff to send a written update to the Council mailing list.

Item 10: BRIEFING – Ensuring Attendee Security at ICANN Meetings

Nick Tomasso, Vice President of meetings, Geoff Bickers of ICANN Security, Chris Clark a Security Consultant and Aziz Hilali, the Moroccan meeting host joined the Council for an update on the security arrangements for the meeting in Morocco.  A security briefing will be a standing feature for every ICANN meeting moving forward. 

Aziz Hilali provided Council with the following security update.

Chris Clark's details were provided to Council as requested by a councillor.

ICANN staff to forward the following questions to Nick Tomasso and his team:

  • With the posting publicly of the location of where the security details will be at the venue, should we be concerned that others may gain access to this plan?
  • Can we get an update from the Moroccan authorities about security enhancements outside the venue, e.g. the airport?
  • Can ICANN staff provide updates about concerns that the rooms in Marrakech are: (1) non-refundable/changeable; (2) to be prepaid; and (3) not available on Thursday night? Apparently the hotel is also asking people to email a scanned copy of the front and back of their credit cards – all these are very discouraging and difficult for attendees, especially business travelers.

Action Item:

Organise a call between now and the end of January to finalize the meeting strategy for the Marrakech meeting.

Item 11: QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION – GNSO Chair Elections

Action Items:

Councilors to follow up on James Bladel's latest email invitation if so desired: http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg17694.html;

 

ICANN staff to distribute electronic ballots on 20 November – voting closes on Monday 23 November at 23:59 UTC.

Item 12:Any Other Business

  • Proposed meetings for 2016:

    Councilors to provide input on the proposed schedule of meetings as well as potential changes to the rotation of time zones.

  • CWG-Stewardship Letter concerning role in implementation:

    Councilors to provide feedback on whether there are any concerns in relation to the approach proposed by the CWG-Stewardship for dealing with implementation oversight.

  • DNS Entrepreneurship Center:

    Julf Helsigius to circulate message concerning DNS Entrepreneurship Center to Council mailing list.

Volker Greimann and David Cake, the interim vice-chairs, adjourned the GNSO Council meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.

The meeting was adjourned at 18:03 UTC.

The next GNSO Council Teleconference will take place on Thursday, 17 December 2015 at 18:00 UTC.

For other places see:
http://tinyurl.com/ob2khrk