[bc-gnso] Business Constituency point about Affirmation Reviews in the new draft Bylaws

[Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Today the BC agreed to share these points about the draft new bylaws, regarding 
the SSR and WHOIS Affirmation Reviews.

These 2 reviews are already late per the Affirmation requirements, and would 
also be “late" when we add the review requirement to the Bylaws.   The BC is 
not troubled by a new Bylaw that also requires ICANN to begin the next SSR and 
WHOIS review as soon as possible.

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Draft Bylaws Section 4.6 (c) (v), regarding timing of the Security, Stability, 
and Resiliency (SSR) review required under the Affirmation of Commitments, 
which is now to be brought into ICANN bylaws.

Text from new Bylaws:  "The SSR Review shall be conducted no less frequently 
than every five years, measured from the date the previous SSR Review Team was 
convened."

BC Comment:  The previous SSR review was convened in 2010, so a 5-year interval 
would require the next review by Oct-2015.  Some CCWG members are concerned 
that the above text creates a new problem since the SSR review would be at 
least 1 year late at the time the Bylaws are approved.  Those concerned are 
suggesting revisions to the draft Bylaws to avoid a situation where ICANN is 
immediately failing to honor its new Bylaws.

The SSR review is already later than is required under the Affirmation of 
Commitments, so ICANN is already failing to meet that obligation.  We are not 
troubled by a new Bylaw that also requires ICANN to begin the next SSR review 
as soon as possible.

We prefer that ICANN follow through on the Board-approved 2016 start date for 
SSR-2 review.   We expect SSR-2 to assess ICANN’s implementation of SSR-1, 
including the extent to which ICANN is prepared to meet future challenges and 
threats to the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS, 
consistent with ICANN's limited technical mission.

—

Draft Bylaws Section 4.6 (e) (v), regarding timing of the Whois/Directory 
Service review required under the Affirmation of Commitments, which is now to 
be brought into ICANN bylaws.

Text from new Bylaws: "The Directory Service Review shall be conducted no less 
frequently than every five years, measured from the date the previous Directory 
Service Review Team was convened.”

BC Comment:  The previous Whois review was convened in Oct-2010, so a 5-year 
interval would require the next review by Oct-2015.  Some CCWG members are 
concerned that the above text creates a new problem since the Whois/Directory 
Service review would be at least 1 year late at the time the Bylaws are 
approved.  Those concerned are suggesting revisions to the draft Bylaws to 
avoid a situation where ICANN is immediately failing to honor its new Bylaws.

The Whois review is already later than is required under the Affirmation of 
Commitments, so ICANN is already failing to meet that obligation.  We are not 
troubled by a new Bylaw that also requires ICANN to begin the next 
Whois/Directory Service review as soon as possible.

We prefer that ICANN follow through on the Board-approved 2016 start date for 
Whois-2 review.   We expect Whois-2 to assess ICANN’s implementation of Whois-1 
and current Whois policy. We recognize that there are policy efforts underway 
to develop a next generation registration directory service. As repeatedly 
reinforced by ICANN’s Board, however, the effort to replace Whois complements, 
and runs in parallel with, ICANN’s obligation to fully enforce existing 
consensus policy and contractual conditions relating to Whois.