ICANN’s Board decisions in Nairobi will determine its credibility and respect for years to come.

ay is the morning of the most revered Thursday in the ICANN meetings calendar - The public forum. It is tradition personified. It is the day when the show and the showcasing really begin. It is the stage and the choreography of the open microphone that can help influence ICANN decisions one way or another and make the supposed bottom up model appear at its best. Often, it serves to inform the board of issues they may have overlooked, other times it is a pre-planned, pre-arranged and choreographed in advance by proponents aiming to influence the board like a popularity contest. This special day precedes the Friday when the ICANN board makes its decisions, in public, adopting resolutions on many vital issues.

ICANN Nairobi carries serious expectations by the community of the ICANN Board to stand up and be counted. On the card are the .XXX fiasco, The Expression of Interest, which I and others have called the expression of “Special” Interest as well as on the New gTLDs implementation which is still littered with many unresolved overarching concerns, and not forgetting the Review mechanisms to oversee ICANN performance per the Affirmation of commitments, which may end up being loaded up with ICANN loyalists.

However, this Thursday and this Friday are unlike any of the previous years. They represent crossroads in ICANN’s path that will determine its credibility that will shape its role and influence for years to come under the Beckstrom / Dungate Thrush leaderships. The resolutions ICANN do adopt this Friday or if it chooses to defer decisions on some instead of addressing them squarely will either boost ICANN’s credibility or damage them irreparably.




By Friday 12pm Nairobi time we all should know if the ICANN board and its leadership possess the wisdom and far sightedness of a Solomon or a Joe Blog. Whether they are up to the task, challenge and responsibility bestowed on them by the Affirmation of commitments to rule over the entire global internet will also be known. By noon we will know if they have exhibited the needed leadership, diplomatic, and executive skills and the sincerity to show they can rule over the global internet in a fair, equitable and ubiquitous manner to all its stakeholders from Akron to Afghanistan, from DC to Damascus, from Beijing to Bangalore, delivering on its Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) mandate of ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of all global Internet users as well as promoting competition, consumer trust and consumer choice.

Most important and most compelling of all other issues in Nairobi is .XXX . No matter how the board acts

ICANN’s credibility will be impacted. If the board instructs staff to execute the 2007 registry contract with ICM, ICANN indirectly admits it was wrong and creates a precedent that its board decisions will be questioned endlessly and can be reversed by an Independent Review panels in the future. If the board chooses not to instruct staff to execute the 2007 contract, it raises serious concerns over the seriousness of the AOC and the review mechanisms over ICANN and the New gTLDs. The board may defer some decisions to a later date citing some excuse in order to gauge a better result and prospect.

But this raises new questions I don’t hear much in the ICANN corridors:

A-Does or doesn’t ICANN consider itself as a “Global Public Service Provider” ?

B-Isn’t ICANN a” Global Monopoly Public Service Provider?

C-As per the AOC, what if ICANN is seen to have failed based on the AOC review panelists?

D-What happens next?

In a competitive market if I am a customer of AT& T and they fail me I switch to sprint or Verizon, it is also called consumer choice. But where is the choice in the ICANN role and what happens if ICANN does fails. Does the community issue statements and press releases calling on ICANN once again to improve it like we have the last ten years. This is hardly choice or competition. ICANN needs to remember the difference between the internet world dealing with it because it respects it and sees it providing a great service as a global monopoly Versus being the only game in town ( the world actually). If ICANN was a service provider in a competitive market, I wonder how many would continue using the ICANN service based on its current levels of “Constituents Satisfaction“ if another one can serve them better, faster, and cheaper. Are Google or Microsoft listening, or should ITU the only one aiming at this role?

Other bloggers / friends who are dissatisfied with ICANN wrote and what I add.

Jonathan Zuck: “But when the Chairman backed away from that stance earlier this week in Nairobi, it became clear that we should have held our breath a little bit longer”.

I say to Jonathan: Stop holding your breath, no human can keep their breath that long, how long have the IDN communities been waiting for IDN gTLDs. ICANN’s rational show a clear monopolistic style of management that knows there is nowhere for you to go and get the service you seek of ICANN anywhere else. Welcome to ICANN style of competition and choice.

Andrew Mack : “A Little Flexibility from ICANN and We Might Just Get IDNs… for Everyone”

I say to Andrew: The little flexibility you hope for in ICANN is like the short distance that appears between stars when you look up to the night sky. In reality these stars are light years apart. And so is ICANN on IDNs for everyone, I can speak on this matter as an expert on IDNs who has served on the ICANN President Advisory Committee on IDNs since its inception in 2005.

I will post my verdict after Friday 12pm Nairobi Time have passed.

Should ICANN New gTLD's' Expression of Interest Be Called Expression of Special Interest?

ICANN has been seeking Comments on the Expression of Interest for the New gTLDs which can be found at http://icann.org/en/public-comment/#draft-eoi

As always, the biggest challenge at ICANN is in the Process itself. And for the record, no one wants New IDN gTLDs rolled out sooner than I do.

However, no matter how ICANN decides to slice up the EOI process with the feedback it receives to make it acceptable or palatable to all current warring parties I cannot see how it can ensure making an EOI process equitable, fair, and ubiquitous to all its stakeholders from Akron to Afghanistan, from DC to Damascus, from Beijing to Bangalore, and delivering on its Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) mandate http://www.icann.org/en/documents/affirmation-of-commitments-30sep09-en.htm of ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of all global Internet users as well as promoting competition, consumer trust and consumer choice.

ICANN must ensure all have an equal opportunity. They may not all have equal ability, but equal opportunity they all must have, and no less to those in the USA or the western hemisphere with money to ensure their voices can be heard and unlike most in the IDN communities or developing world that have neither money nor a voice for ICANN to hear. That should not mean they don’t exist or they can be ignored.

This is paramount now that ICANN is operating under the new Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) it has sought from the US Government. The AOC calls for a periodic review mechanism of ICANN for these priorities:

1. Ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global Internet users;
2. Preserving security, stability and resiliency of the DNS;
3. Promoting competition, consumer trust and consumer choice;
4. Whois policy.

ICANN’s role is that of a "Global Public Service Provider", and is an accepted global monopoly, but as per the AOC, ICANN must ensure accountability, transparency and the interests of all global Internet users as well as competition and fair play to all its constituents. If it can deliver such a process to those without voice or money (IDN Netizens) as equally as to those with voice and money than it has my full support on the EOI. Until this is demonstrated, I do not support the EOI.

Currently both sides of the EOI arguments are entrenched in very typical US centric debates caused by the current ICANN structures, formats and processes. This needs to change, it needs to evolve.

Currently this process is stuck in the old way of doing things at ICANN. ICANN needs to demonstrate it is genuinely trying to alleviate this continued dissatisfaction or distrust in the way it is handling special interests VS global interests where IDNs and IDN gTLDs are given their due merit. As much of the serious concerns from the IDN communities and developing world continue being overlooked and are hardly being touched and if the EOI is adopted, it will apply to IDNs and IDN gTLDs.

The ICANN Board and staff would be well advised to pay special attention to this as these are the true measurements than would determine if ICANN fails or succeeds on its AOC mandates and in bringing the next Multi-Billion Non English speaking / Multilingual Netizens to the Internet. And failure is not an option, as it will always come at the expense of those who CAN’T not those who CAN. I hope ICANN CAN step up to the plate and serve those who CAN’T as mandated.

Finally, failure by ICANN to ensure this fairness, equality, accountability, transparency and the interests of all global Internet users will render the Expression of Interest becoming the Expression of SPECIAL Interest, and would damage ICANN’s own credibility, and that of the US Government who granted it the AOC, not to mention, damage the good faith of some of the sincere EOI supporters.

I hope and look forward to the ICANN board and staff exhibiting the necessary wisdom on this.