Deleted text

[Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some important text has been deleted from the AoI and deferred to the By-Laws, 
viz.

"by (i) coordinating the assignment of Internet technical parameters as needed 
to maintain universal connectivity on the
Internet; (ii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination 
of the Internet Protocol ("IP") address space;
(iii) performing and overseeing functions related to the coordination of the 
Internet domain name system ("DNS"), including the
development of policies for determining the circumstances under which new 
top-level domains are added to the DNS root system;
(iv) overseeing operation of the authoritative Internet DNS root server system; 
and (v) engaging in any other related lawful
activity in furtherance of items (i) through (iv)."

(The phrasing of (i) is slightly off-key, and has been for 20 years, since 
ICANN really 'records', but does not 'coordinate',
the technical parameters.)

I object to this deletion for two linked reasons:

1. There were strong reasons why ICANN's purposes were restricted to (i) 
through (v) in 1998, and those reasons have not
changed. The AoI must reflect this restriction, to preclude mission creep.

2. Although the AoI can occasionally be modified (once in twenty years, for 
example), there is a much higher barrier to this
than to modifying the By-Laws. It is therefore more appropriate to have the 
limited purposes stated in the AoI than in the
By-Laws. (The new By-Laws restate the purposes in detail, which is fine, but 
they cannot expand them.)

Regards
   Brian Carpenter