[discuss] Problem statement P1

[John Curran]

On Jan 19, 2014, at 11:06 AM, David Conrad <drc at virtualized.org> wrote:
> ...
> The USG authorizes changes made to the root zone as well as changes to the root zone's registration (aka "Whois") database by verifying ICANN abides by publicly documented policies prior to the changes being submitted to the Root Zone Maintainer for implementation.

This is a very important distinction which requires consideration with respect
to the the problem statement.  In particular, there are two distinct issues of 
direct and unique USG involvement with the DNS root zone: one via the IANA 
function contract with ICANN and a completely different path via the Root Zone 
Maintainer process.

I would argue that both issues would need to be addressed to satisfy many in the 
international community, but that does not mean that they are the same problem, 
only that they are interrelated.  Reinforcing this belief, I can readily envision 
potential solutions which are only applicable to "US Government involvement in 
IANA root zone functions" and others which are only applicable to "US Government 
involvement in DNS root zone maintenance", and hence would recommend bifurcating
the problem statement into two and focusing on the IANA root zone aspects first.

/John

Disclaimer: My views alone.