ICANN ICANN Email List Archives

[4gtld-contention]


<<< Chronological Index >>>    <<< Thread Index >>>

2/5: The forgotten criterion: credibility of community accountability

  • To: 4gtld-contention@xxxxxxxxx
  • Subject: 2/5: The forgotten criterion: credibility of community accountability
  • From: Werner Staub <werner@xxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:31:22 +0200

[This is the second of a series of five comments on Community Priority Evaluation]
Accountability and transparency are of the pillars ICANN is expected to 
rest upon. It is all the more astonishing that somehow this criterion 
was forgotten when it comes to community-based TLDs.
Whether or not a given application deserves de “community-based” 
designation is not so much a question of formal “delineation” of the 
community or measures to ensure that community “members” alone can 
register domains.
Most communities do not really have “members”, but rather, stakeholders 
with various kinds of bona fide interests in the community. An 
established representative community institution is one that offers 
community stakeholders and transparent governance model with adequate 
guarantees of accountability.
In a scoring system is used as currently proposed, then the largest 
number of points awarded should be based on the credibility of the TLD 
governance model with respect accountability and transparency to 
community stakeholders
This element is connected to another key concern. The word 
“subsidiarity” is little used in ICANN, but the overload of ICANN’s 
policy-making clearly shows that it should be used much more. ICANN 
should not deal with policy-making that can be handled in a more 
decentralized fashion. In the case of sponsored TLDs, the Appendix S of 
each contract defined the delegation of policy-making authority to the 
TLD Sponsoring Organization. This is necessary not just for the TLDs, it 
is necessary for ICANN. ICANN cannot possibly handle all the 
policy-making. Community-based TLDs are precisely the kind where 
policy-making, policy oversight and policy enforcement must be delegated 
to the TLD’s own governance model.
ICANN must therefore evaluate the viability of delegating authority as 
the key criterion for recognizing a community-based TLD.
Werner Staub
CORE Internet Council of Registrars



<<< Chronological Index >>>    <<< Thread Index >>>

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Cookies Policy