Disappointed

["Michael D. Palage" <michael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

As the author of the original Reconsideration Request
(http://www.icann.org/en/committees/reconsideration/palage-request-10feb10-e
n.htm) I was disappointed with the Board’s resolution in Nairobi.  Rather
than directly addressing the problem of correcting ICANN’s accountability
and transparency measures, ICANN chose to rewrite its bylaws to expressly
allow what previously was not allowed thereby in my opinion weakening
ICANN’s accountability.  Although ICANN admitted it was wrong, rather than
curing its breaches with the community, it chose instead to change the rules
unilaterally, in order to allow it to continue operating in what I believe
is a manner that is less than optimal.  
 
Before approving this latest proposal, the ICANN Board needs to assess the
following questions which I believe are needed to fix systemic problems in
ICANN’s ability to act in a transparent manner:

1) Why not make non-confidential resolutions available IMMEDIATELY after the
conclusion of the meeting? The Resolutions are not going to change once they
have been approved. In fact when I served on the ICANN Board I use to
regularly update the GNSO council on the non-confidential actions, see
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg01067.html Please
explain why the community should have to wait up to three days for
resolutions that are not going to change.  What I find even more disturbing
is the fact that certain Board members and/or ICANN staff permitted to
attend closed ICANN Board meetings (which raise other issues) unilaterally
release the results of a few select resolutions via twitter or e-mail when
it serves ICANN’s political or PR agenda immediately after the meeting, yet
the community is forced to wait three days before seeing the exact words of
the resolution.  This is not openness and transparency in my mind, but
rather ICANN seeking to exploit the media to further its own corporate image
as opposed to acting as a neutral open and transparent Board serving the
public interest as a whole. There should be uniform rules, which are applied
uniformly. 

2) Building on the previous point of uniform rules, which are applied
uniformly, if ICANN is not going to provide the global Internet community
with access to all of its Board meetings (dealing with non-confidential
information), then ICANN should adjust the ICANN regional meeting format to
eliminate the final day (Board meeting). ICANN has already demonstrated in
connection with the Affirmation of Commitments review how the community can
listen in and monitor important discussions the SAME AS they do during the
in person Friday Board session. However, to address the concerns of those
involving confidential disclosure audio recordings could be redacted to
protect confidential information.

Having served on the ICANN Board when this issue was previously discussed, I
understand that some Board members feel very passionately about preserving
the confidentiality of its deliberations. However, it is important to note
that the community is NOT seeking to have access to its private Board
mailing list, to have access to the private retreats that the ICANN Board
engaged in during the ICANN regional meeting, or access to the private Board
retreats. While the community is respecting the Board’s ability to engage in
“private” discussions, the Board should respect the community’s right to
have access to the Board deliberations when it takes action. 

Finally having access to audio recording is critically important for the
community to determine the performance of Directors. It is rather easy for a
director to show up at an ICANN regional meeting and spend seven days
getting up to speed on the actions it will be taking. It is much more
difficult for  director to review hundreds of pages of background documents
in advance of a Board teleconference. It has been my first hand experience
based upon three years on the ICANN Board that those directors that do the
heavy lifting shine most during the teleconference calls. 

Respectfully submitted,

Michael D. Palage