ICANN Board Urges Further Review of Accountability Proposal; Other Stakeholders Largely Endorse Most Measures

“When you change too much at once, and there is later an issue, it’s very hard to figure out what part of the change caused the issue,” the ICANN board said in its comments. The board said it believes the changes outlined in the CCWG-Accountability draft proposal will require a regulatory impact analysis to measure “whether the mechanisms that are proposed as solutions are themselves capable of withstanding contingencies and stressors” that ICANN may face in the future. The ICANN board said the proposal’s reliance on increased ICANN community input into board decisions is one of the “main areas for which impact testing seems to be needed” because of lingering questions about enforceability of community input and what constitutes “membership” in the ICANN community. The ICANN board also urged CCWG-Accountability to ensure that its finalized accountability proposals “include considerations of how the different parts of the ICANN community remain accountable to each other” and include ways for members of the community who aren’t directly affiliated to part of the current ICANN structure to provide input.

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., sent CCWG-Accountability a copy of his recently reintroduced Defending Internet Freedom Act (HR-2251), saying in a letter to the group that the bill “complements and supports your efforts.” HR-2251 would require ICANN to adopt CCWG-Accountability’s final proposal and community-driven proposals for the IANA transition plan before NTIA would be allowed to proceed with the transition. Kelly told CCWG-Accountability he’s been observing the group’s proposal process and “I support your efforts to enhance accountability within ICANN in the absence of U.S. oversight.” Congress has been considering multiple bills to increase its oversight of IANA transition process or delay the transition process, including the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters Act (HR-805) and the Global Internet Freedom Act (HR-355).

The House Wednesday passed its version of the FY 2016 budget for the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies (HR-2578), which kept intact a provision that would prohibit NTIA from using funds appropriated through the budget for the IANA transition process during that fiscal year. The House cleared HR-2578 on a 242-183 largely party-line vote. The White House cited the IANA transition provision among many provisions in the budget that it opposed, and the provision was the subject of some of the floor debate (see 1506020043). House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte praised the House for retaining the IANA transition provision in the final version of HR-2578, saying in a statement Wednesday that the proposed transition “has kicked off high-profile debates involving many far-reaching questions that relate to the future security, stability, resiliency and integrity of the global Internet’s continued operation.” Congress’ ongoing concerns about the IANA transition made the provision in the Commerce budget “necessary to halt this flawed policy from the Obama Administration,” Goodlatte said.

ICANN’s Business Constituency generic names supporting organization (GNSO) said it supports the powers that the CCWG-Accountability proposal would give to the ICANN community, saying the proposed powers “should be adequate to overcome any resistance from the ICANN Board and management to additional measures the community attempts to implement after the IANA transition is complete.” Those proposed community powers largely reflect the powers the Business Constituency proposed last year, the GNSO said. But those powers might not be enforceable if CCWG-Accountability doesn’t adopt a model for ICANN community membership that makes access to members easy to accomplish, the GNSO said. ICANN should adopt the finalized accountability proposal before it completes the IANA transition, the GNSO said.

The Cross Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG-Stewardship), one of several entities proposing plans for the IANA transition, believes the CCWG-Accountability proposal’s provisions “meet the [CWG-Stewardship] expectations” for ICANN accountability, said CWG-Stewardship Co-Chairs Lise Fuhr and Jonathan Robinson in their comments. CWG-Stewardship has been developing its draft IANA transition proposal (see 1504270053, 1504280060) in tandem with the CCWG-Accountability proposal and is reliant on that proposal to make its transition proposal work. “Confidence in the effectiveness of this linking is vital as we prepare to put our final CWG-Stewardship proposal forward to the various chartering organisations in advance of the revised and final proposal from your group,” the co-chairs said.

Google said it agrees with “much of” the CCWG-Accountability proposal, which “will be important enablers of a successful and durable IANA transition.” The proposal is “evidence of the multistakeholder community’s ability to reform itself from within, based on a clear-eyed understanding of areas that need improvement,” Google said. Most of the changes included in the proposal “strike the right balance” in providing a meaningful check on the ICANN board, but “some of the proposed measures may unnecessarily create operational inefficiencies and undermine confidence in the finality and predictability of ICANN’s decision-making process -- without necessarily improving accountability along the way,” Google said.

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) said it supports most of the CCWG-Accountability proposal’s provisions, though it believes a mechanism is needed for enforcing the community’s powers. The lack of an enforcement capability would “inhibit” the ICANN community’s empowerment and “could imperil” the IANA transition plan proposed by CWG-Stewardship since that proposal is reliant on CCWG-Accountability’s accountability checks and balances, CDT said. Changing ICANN’s accountability mechanisms has “become central, indeed essential, to the neutrality, transparency and effectiveness of the IANA functions -- and therefore the stability, security and resilience” of the Domain Name System, CDT said.

Nominet, the registry for UK-based top-level domains .uk, .cymru and .wales, said it’s concerned that the CCWG-Accountability proposal contains many mechanisms that “will be massively disruptive -- nuclear options.” Nominet identified the board recall option as a particularly problematic proposal, since “there is a small pool of community candidates will to take on” ICANN board roles. “It is hard to see who could step forward to populate a new Board at short notice and who will be able to command the trust needed to rebuild the organisation’s confidence,” Nominet said.