[ga] ICANN Mission Creep

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

On Mon, 10 Dec 2001 00:20:09 -0800, Jeff Williams wrote:
Re: [ga] Policy Post 7.14: Domain Names Body Reaffirms Public Role, Without
Details

>   Indeed, the key here in this "Official" response from the ICANN BoD
> and staff is "Without Details".  As most wise stakeholders or interested
> parties know all to well, the devil is in the details....

Absolutely !!

I also like the second topic, "mission creep":

(2) ICANN BOARD ACKNOWLEDGES NEED FOR CONSTRAINED
SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES

In Marina del Rey, the ICANN Board took a first step towards
acknowledging a need to place limits on the scope of its own
activities. As part of a resolution establishing a Committee on
Restructuring (see below), the ICANN Board noted that "it would
be useful... to reaffirm and clarify ICANN's limited mission for
technical management and administration."

Throughout its short history, ICANN has run the risk that it would
make policy affecting the Internet without adequate processes to
guide those policies. CDT and others have warned against the
possibility of "mission creep," the likelihood that ICANN's authority
over key resources could tempt it to enter policy areas it was
neverdesigned to handle. Already there has been some evidence
that ICANN's activities are not sufficiently limited; many observers
believe that the contracting process undertaken after last year's
selection of new global Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) was fraught
with questions about ICANN's appropriate policy role.

CDT believes that, in order to retain its legitimacy and protect the
best interests of the Internet, ICANN should take every possible
step to limit its likelihood of becoming entangled in inappropriate
policy decisions. A clear restatement of ICANN's mission -- and,
conversely, of areas not in ICANN's mission -- is necessary.
<end quote>


Best regards
Patrick Corliss


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