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

Sun Aug 31 15:00:04 UTC 2014

Dear all

Apologies for cross-posting...

I am seeking some community feedback as part of prepping for the
workshop on ICANN accountability scheduled for Wednesday 9am here at
#igf2014.

The particular questions I have, two, are:

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?

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?

My view is that for the first, the clear answer is the broader
community; for the second, most of the discussions in the ICANN
community to date have been focused on internal arrangements except
for the weird ban on discussion internal structural accountability
measures.

I'd value any discussion on these to help inform the panel's work on Wednesday.

Thanks,
Jordan

Ps - InternetNZ is the designated manager of the .nz ccTLD; it has a
wider cause (a better world through a better Internet (which is an
open and uncaptured Internet)) and so is in an interesting situation
straddling parts of the Internet's technical and civil society
communities.

PPS - The session description is as follows:

Discussion of how accountability goals are achieved at ICANN under its
multi-stakeholder governance processes. To whom is ICANN accountable
and what are the mechanisms for ensuring that accountability is
adequate? In what way do these mechanisms need strengthening or
further improvements, particularly in light of NTIA's announcement to
transition out its current role? How do checks and balances on power,
such as structural separation of key DNS operations encourage
accountability? How have ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments and the
Accountability and Transparency Review Team fostered (or undermined)
accountability goals at ICANN? What lessens were learned from the AoC
and ATRT processes on achieving accountability under a
multi-stakeholder governance regime? What is the role of ICANN's
Ombudsman Office in achieving accountability for the institution?

-- 
Jordan Carter
Chief Executive, InternetNZ

+64 21 442 649

twitter.com/jordantcarter

'Hope is the dream of a person awake' -- French proverb