Danny Younger wrote:
If I understand Jon correctly the issue is that "ICANN has
never implemented a schedule, terms, or a format of the
escrow arrangement".
While I suppose that I could ask Mike Zupke to detail the
reasons why Staff has not yet acted to implement data escrow
arrangements, frankly I thought that it was the Board's duty
to take responsibility for continued Staff inaction...
I thought that the question was related to have details on the data escrow,
or other registrar issues, related to the case in point, that's why I
redirected your query.
If, on the other hand, we want to keep it on general policy, my personal
opinion is that there is room for improvement in the way ICANN has handled
the data escrow. See additional remarks below.
As a reminder, this inaction has persisted since November
2001 when the registrar data escrow testbed was first
proposed, and even though ICANN has data escrow listed as a
project under its current operational plan, we have yet to
see this particular project take shape.
Again, with the caveat that this is only my personal opinion, having
participated as member of CORE to the initial testbed, I have mixed feelings
about the practicability on a global level of the escrow mechanism, for two
reasons: first,
scalability, second, local legislation (including, but not limited to, data
privacy).
It is probably out of scope to enter in too much detail here, but what makes
me think is that ICANN would never have the resources to manage directly
escrow data, and therefore a mechanism that involves a third party must be
put in place. What was reasonable for 5 testbed registrars, is much less
reasonable for the hundreds we have now. So, on this I am in synch with
Karl.
Roberto, as a Board Director your duty is to act in the best
interests of ICANN. I would argue that ICANN's interests
would be well served by a data escrow arrangement that would
also protect and serve the public interest.
I agree that my duty is to act in the best interest of ICANN (and if you
have reasons to believe that I have not done so until now, please let me
know, so I can improve), I also agree that ICANN has to take into account
also the public interest, but for the reason above I have serious doubts
that data escrow is the best answer. Since the discussion is going on right
now on the Board, maybe we could benefit from some input on this item.
Perhaps we could encourage you to investigate the current
status of the data escrow project... it would certainly add
to our appreciation of ICANN's commitment to transparency if
project details could soon be released.
Thanks for the encouragement ;>)
But that's exactly what, not only myself, but the whole Board is doing right
now. While staff is dealing with the practical issue, trying to reduce the
grief for the registrants, and taking concrete action with the registrar,
the Board is dealing with the general political issue. I do expect some
statement soon. Also, we all know that this will be one of the hot topics at
the Lisbon public forum, which is little more than 4 weeks away.
Best regards,
Roberto