[soac-mapo] Suggested draft wording: Independent Objector / Procedures / Quick Look

[Evan Leibovitch <evan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all.

Sorry for the tardiness. It's been a long day. But better late than never.

I was not in on the Wednesday call, but I did get a good eyefull of the IO
issue. We discussed it at length within ALAC, and it has been the target of
significant concern during these discussions. I would like to propose a
slightly modified role for the IO, which may make it more acceptable to
detractors while filling in some gaps that exist in our current
recommendations. Or maybe not; it is late and the meeting starts in less
than six hours from now. At least one of the suggestions below is 'out of
the blue', but seemed to flow well with the rest of the recommendations as
the proposal fell into place.

----

This Worrking Group proposes modifications to the mandate and function of
the Independent Objector as described in section 3.1.5, without changing its
scope. Unlike the current intention as expressed in the DAG, we propose that
the IO may not initiate an objection against a string if no community or
government entity has expressed an interest in doing so. The IO must not
encourage communities or governments to file objections, however the IO
should be mandated to:

1) Help identify and notify communities which may be negatively impacted by
proposed strings

2) Provide procedural assistance to groups unfamiliar with ICANN or its
processes that wish to register an objection

3) Receive, register and publish all objections submitted to it by bonafide
communities and governments of all levels (which can demonstrate direct
impact by the proposed application)

4) Perform a "Quick look" evaluation on objections against a specific set of
criteria of what is globally objectionable, to determine which ones are to
be forwarded to the Board for consideration as legitimate challenges to
applications.

5) Be given standing for objections which survive "Quick Look" evaluation,
but whose backers who lack all the financial resources and/or administrative
skills necessary to process their objections

The scope of the IO -- limited to filing objections based only on Community
and Public Policy grounds -- is unchanged from the current DAG. Applications
processed by/through ALAC or the GAC are not required to use this process.
Organizations using this process will be expected to pay a fee to register
objections, though this may be waived for small groups without sufficient
financial means.

As the potential exists for the position of IO to be misused to harass or
impede a legitimate applicant, special attention must be given to the
transparency of the IO's actions. All correspondence is by default open and
public unless required otherwise to protect privacy or other rights.

The "independence" of the IO relates to the role's unaffiliation with any
applicant or contracted party. The IO role remains accountable to ICANN with
regards to its integrity and fairness.



- Evan