[council] Marina del Rey meeting announcement
Title: Marina del Rey meeting announcement Dear Colleagues:
This is to give you a heads-up that later today we will announce
(please see the appended and attached announcement for details) that
the ICANN meeting in Marina del Rey will proceed as scheduled but with
a very different format and content than usual.
The change in format and content is that the Marina del Rey
meeting will focus exclusively on the global stability and security of
the naming and addressing systems of the Internet. In the light of
recent events, this is a paramount question in the minds of most
people across the world Internet community. ICANN will be judged in
large part by how well we respond to this concern. All other
ICANN-related issues -- however important -- take second place. There
has not been time to map out a detailed agenda yet for the meeting,
but the attached announcement suggests the tenor of the approach. More
details will be announced next week.
Responses that I have received to my community enquiry regarding
travel plans indicate that almost everyone plans to come to Marina del
Rey unless international conditions deteriorate to where travel is not
practical. Thus, I am confident we will have a reasonable attendance.
Of course, if the international situation does deteriorate adversely,
we will cancel the meeting.
I do hope that you and your constituencies will join with us to
make this meeting as productive and significant as possible. We will
be seeking your guidance.
Please do not hesitate to write or call if I can answer any
questions.
Stuart
_______________
ICANN Meeting in Marina del Rey November 13 - 15, 2001 Preliminary Announcement Many members of the ICANN community wrote in response to our call for input as to whether the events of September 11 would affect their plans to travel to Los Angeles in November to attend the scheduled ICANN meetings. Almost without exception the respondents emphatically encouraged ICANN to hold its meetings and stated unequivocally that they planned to attend unless the international situation deteriorated to where travel was not practical. Given this response and given the need to address emerging priorities, we are planning to proceed with an ICANN meeting in Marina del Rey in November, 2001, subject to any further serious change in the international situation that would affect travel conditions. However, as discussed below, the format of the meeting will differ significantly from what had previously been announced. This is only a preliminary announcement to enable attendees to firm up their travel plans. Details of the meeting will be announced as soon as possible. The events of September 11 have caused
institutions worldwide to rethink their priorities and plans. As an
international institution, ICANN is not immune. Although those events
raise logistical and other concerns for holding meetings, they also
underscore the need to address Internet stability issues, and security
as a key component of stability. ICANN is not responsible for
the overall security of the Internet. However, given ICANN's global
responsibilities for the stability of the Internet's naming and
addressing systems and under the new circumstances facing the
international community, it would be irresponsible for ICANN not to
conduct an in depth assessment of the robustness and security of these
systems, and to take steps, if necessary, to strengthen the Internet
in these regards. This is of the highest urgency and the greatest
worldwide importance.
The Internet is global in reach, as are the threats of terrorism. The events of September 11 offered a stark and tragic reminder of the incalculable importance of a reliable and secure naming and addressing system to support emergency response, personal and other communications, and information sharing. Email, instant messaging, and the web , for example, all played essential roles. Accordingly - and following consultation with the Executive Committee of the ICANN Board of Directors - I am announcing that the November ICANN meetings will focus on stability and security of the Internet's naming and addressing systems and of their operational implementation globally. This will be the over-riding imperative for the meeting. As such, this will be a very different kind of meeting than previous ICANN meetings and will not follow the usual format. At this meeting, we will be seeking to promote discussion throughout the community on how - in the light of events - to reassess areas of potential threats that could affect services within the scope of ICANN's responsibilities, how to improve our readiness to meet these threats, and what additional policies or other actions should be considered and implemented to facilitate such improvements. Clearly not all these questions will be answered in one meeting, but we must now devote our energies as members of the global Internet community towards obtaining answers. Every constituency will be asked to report on its efforts to ensure the stability of the Internet's naming and addressing systems and what additional steps it proposes to take to improve that stability and security among its member organizations. Agenda items will be assessed for inclusion by what they contribute to the overall focus of the meeting. Although a precise schedule has not yet
been mapped out, we plan for these meetings to last three days from
November 13 through November 15, inclusive. We hope that
constituencies and supporting organizations will meet during this time
to focus on the topic of the meeting. There will be further
announcements next week, following additional consultations with
members of the community.
There will be a Board meeting at the end of the meeting to address essential business. The Board agenda will concentrate on topics where time is of the essence. I recognize that the focus of the meetings will delay progress on some of the worthy and important initiatives that are currently underway. The effects of such delays have to be measured against the importance of ensuring the stability and security of the Internet itself. I therefore ask for patience on the part of those who may experience delays in matters of importance to them so that we can bear down on the issue at hand. Please send any comments or questions to meetings@icann.org. More details will be forthcoming in due course. -- __________________ Stuart Lynn President and CEO ICANN 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Tel: 310-823-9358 Fax: 310-823-8649
Email: lynn@icann.org MdR_Meeting_Announcement_3.doc
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