[discuss] Two accountability questions - help pls- Workshop 23 - ICANN accountability

Sun Aug 31 20:24:45 UTC 2014

Jordan,

(Cross-posting reduced)

On 01/09/2014 03:00, Jordan Carter wrote:
...

> 1. Is ICANN's accountability a subject for the whole Internet
> community to resolve, or (as suggested by ICANN, in distinction from
> the iana stewardship transition) an internal ICANN community matter?

ICANN's plausibility depends entirely on its acceptance by the
major stakeholders, so ICANN would be extremely foolish not to
continue to involve those stakeholders in its accountability
mechanisms.

However, I am not sure that "internal ICANN community" is
a meaningful phrase, given how ICANN's Board is constituted
by various processes in the stakeholder community. I don't see
an impermeable membrane between the internal and external
communities.

> 2. Can *internal* accountability arrangements, of whatever sort, ever
> be adequate for an entity like ICANN that is intended (at least it
> looks like that is ICANN's intention) to be responsible for the
> stewardship of the iana functions?

Again, even if the accountablity mechanisms were defined entirely
under the authority of the ICANN Board and the CEO that the Board
employs, they would implicitly link to the external stakeholders
that populate the Board. But more direct links would be more effective
at correcting any hypothetical misbehaviour by ICANN, so personally
I would prefer to see accountability mechanisms signed off with all
the major stakeholders (as is already the case on the IETF side of
the community).

   Brian