[Internal-cg] Relevant remarks and diagram

Alissa Cooper alissa at cooperw.in
Tue Jun 23 18:57:26 UTC 2015


While official transcripts are still in process, I wanted to share a portion of Larry Strickling’s remarks from Sunday night. These are relevant to us as we think about the public comment period, the front matter for the combined proposal, and the timeline.

I’ve also included the timeline diagram Fadi presented on Monday morning.

—
From Larry Strickling’s remarks:

THE SECOND MESSAGE I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH IS THE IMPORTANCE OF DELIVERING A PLAN TO US THAT HAS BEEN FULLY VALIDATED AND BY VALIDATION I MEAN THE FOLLOWING:  HAS THE COMMUNITY BUILT A RECORD THAT SUPPORTS THE PLAN AND PROVIDES THE BASIS FOR ULTIMATE ACCEPTANCE OF IT?  FOR EXAMPLE, THE RECORD NEEDS TO CLEARLY AND CONVINCINGLY DEMONSTRATE THAT THE PLAN SATISFIES THE CONDITIONS.  THAT SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING.  BUT THE RECORD ALSO NEEDS TO REFLECT THAT THE COMMUNITY FULLY UNDERSTANDS THE IMPLICATIONS OF ITS PROPOSAL.  EVERY CHANGE IN THE CURRENT STRUCTURE OR PRACTICES LIKELY WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES, SOME OF WHICH WILL BE UNINTENDED AND WE WILL BE LOOKING TO SEE HOW THE COMMUNITY HAS DONE IN IDENTIFYING AND MITIGATING ALL OF THESE CONSEQUENCES IN ITS PLANNING.

THE RECORD SHOULD ALSO REFLECT THAT THE COMMUNITY CONSIDERED AL TTERNTIVES AND THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO DOCUMENT THE JUDGMENTS AND THE EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORT THE ONGS THAT IS BEING PUT FORWARD OVER THE OTHERS THAT WERE CONSIDERED.  THE RECORD AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE NEEDS TO ANTICIPATE AND ANSWER ANY QUESTION ANYONE MIGHT HAVE ABOUT THE PLAN.  HERE ARE THE STRESS TESTING PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE.  BUT THIS IS AN ISSUE NOT JUST LIMITED TO JUSTIFYING THE PLAN, IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT THAT THE COMMUNITY ADDRESS AND ANSWER AS MANY ISSUES AS POSSIBLE NOW AND NOT LEAVE THEM FORFURTHER DISCUSSION AND DECISION.  IT WILL BE HARD FOR US TO CERTIFY A PLAN THAT LEAVES TOO MANY ISSUES OPEN FOR FURTHER WORK.

ALSO IF THE PLAN IS RELYING ON IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTING MECHANISMS, THE RECORD NEEDS TO REFLECT THAT THE COMMUNITY UNDERSTANDS THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE CURRENT PROCESSES AND THAT ITS PROPOSED REMEDY TO IMPROVE THOSE WILL FIX THE PROBLEMS.  AN EXAMPLE OF THIS THAT I POINTED OUT IN MY BLOG IS THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL.  PUTTING FAITH IN THREE OR FIVE OR WHATEVER INDIVIDUALS TO REPLACE THE JUDGMENT OF AN ELECTED BOARD POTENTIALLY PROVIDES LET'S ACCOUNTABILITY FORTHE COMMUNITY AND MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE COMMUNITY'S WILL TO BE THWARTED AND IT MAY ALSO PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AN AGGRIEVED INDIVIDUAL TO OVERTURN A MULTISTAKEHOLDER CONSENSUS BY PURSUING HIS OR HER PAROCHIAL INTEREST.  SO IF THE COMMUNITY SERIOUSLY WANTS TO RELY ON THIS MECHANISM, IT NEEDS TO ANSWER THE CRITICISMS OF THE CURRENT PROCESS THAT EXISTS TODAY.

IN ALL OF THESE FACTORS SHOULD DRIVE THE COMMUNITY TO CONCLUDE ON A PROPOSAL THAT IS AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE BUT STILL MEETS THE COMMUNITY'S NEEDS AND MEETS OUR CRITERIA.  BUT IF A PLAN IS TOO COMPLEX IT INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THERE WILL BE ISSUES THAT EMERGE LATER.  IT INCREASES THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE COMMUNITY WILL BE UNABLE TO IDENTIFY AND MITIGATE ALL OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PLAN.  AND A MORE COMPLEX PLAN ALMOST CERTAINLY WILL TAKE LONGER TO IMPLEMENT.  WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE ISSUE OF TIMING AND THE SCHEDULE FOR THE COMPLETING -- COMPLETION OF THE TRANSITION.  

EVERYONE HERE LIKELY KNOW THAT IS THE CURRENT IANA CONTRACT EXPIRES ON SEPTEMBER 30th.  AND EVERYONE HERE CAN LIKELY SURMISE THAT THE TRANSITION PLANNING, INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION, IS NOT GOING TO BE DONE BY THAT DATE.  SO WE'RE FACED WITH THE ISSUE OF HOW LONG TO EXTENT THE CONTRACT.  TODAY WE CAN EXERCISE AN ONGS TO EXTEND TO CONTRACT TWO YEARS, TO SEPTEMBER 2017.  I OF COURSE AM CONCERNED THAT IF WE SIMPLY EXTEND THE CONTRACT TWO YEARS, IT WILL SEND A SIGNAL TO THE COMMUNITY THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK AS HARD TO GET THE PLAN, OR WORSE, IT MIGHT BE MISINTERPRETED AS A LESSENING OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT SUPPORT TO COMPLETE THE TRANSITION. 

SO SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I ASKED THE COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE ICG AND THE CCWG TO PROVIDE ME WITH AN UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF THE TRANSITION PLANNING AND THEIR VIEWS AS TO HOW LONG IT'S GOING TO TAKE TO FINALIZE THE PLAN AND IMPLEMENT IT, ONCE IT IS APPROVED.  WE HOPE TO GET RESPONSES FROM THE COMMUNITY SHORTLY AFTER THE MEETINGS HERE ARE CONCLUDED THIS WEEK, AND WE ARE ASSUMING THE COMMUNITY WILL ADVISE US THAT THE WORK WILL TAKE LESS THAN TWO YEARS.  AND ASSUMING THAT'S THE CASE, WE WILL SIT DOWN WITH ICANN TO NEGOTIATE AN EXTENSION OF THE CONTRACT IN LINE WITH THE COMMUNITY'S WISHES.

NOW, ONE FACTOR IN THIS TIMING IS HOW LONG WE WILL TAKE IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO REVIEW AND EVALUATE THE PLAN.  AND SOME OF YOU ARE AWARE OF THE ACTION OUR CONGRESS IS CONSIDERING TAKING THAT MAY AFFECT THE LENGTH OF REVIEW BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.  SO LET ME FILL YOU IN ON THE STATUS OF THAT LEGISLATION.
NOW, OUR CONGRESS HAS BEEN INTERESTED IN THE IANA TRANSITION SINCE WE ANNOUNCED IT BACK IN MARCH OF 2014.  THREE DIFFERENT COMMITTEES HAVE ALSO HELD AT LEAST FIVE HEARINGS AND FADI AND I WILL BE TESTIFYING AT A SIXTH HEARING AS SOON AS WE GET BACK FROM BUENOS AIRES IN EARLY CONGRESSIONAL STAFF ATTENDED THE MEETING IN LOS ANGELES AND SEVERAL WILL BE HERE THIS WEEK ATTENDING THE MEETING IN ARGENTINA.

NOW BOTH HOUSES OF OUR CONGRESS ARE CURRENTLY CONSIDERING LEGISLATION WILL IMPACT THE P TRANSITION AND IN PARTICULAR THE TIMING OF IT.  THIS LEGISLATION WOULD REQUIRE NTIA  AFTER WE RECEIVE THE PLAN TO CERTIFY TO CONGRESS THAT THE PLAN SATISFIES OUR CONDITIONS AND THAT THE COMMUNITY THAT THE BOARD HAS ADOPTED ALL NECESSARY BYLAW CHANGES TO SUPPORT THAT PLAN.  AND ONCE WE DO THAT, CONGRESS WILL THEN HAVE 30 LEGISLATIVE DAYS.  AND WE NEED TO BE CLEAR ON THIS.  THESE AREN'T CALENDAR DAYS, THEY AREN'T BUSINESS DAYS.  THEY ARE THE DAYS CONGRESS IS IN SESSION TO REVIEW OUR REPORT AND DETERMINE WHETHER IT WANTS TO TAKE ANY ACTION.

IT DOES NOT HAVE TO ACT.  SO THAT ONCE THE 30 DAYS ARE UP, ICANN AND THE COMMUNITY WILL BE FREE TO COMPLETE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN UNLESS CONGRESS DOES ACT IN THAT PERIOD.  AND THEN ONCE THE IMPLEMENTATION IS COMPLETE, NTIA AND ICANN COULD THEN END THE IANA FUNCTIONS CONTRACT.

NOW, THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THIS IS THE DEBATE IN WASHINGTON IS SHIFTING AWAY FROM THE QUESTION WHETHER THE TRANSITION SHOULD HAPPEN AT ALL TO MAKING SURE THAT IT HAPPENS IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER.  BUT OBVIOUSLY THIS BILL, IF IT IS ENACTED INTO LAW, WILL ADD ABOUT TWO MONTHS TO THE TOTAL TIME OF U.S. GOVERNMENT REVIEW, WHICH ADDED TO OU REVIEW, WE NOW ESTIMATE TO BE ROUGHLY FOUR TO FIVE MONTHS DEPENDING ON WHEN WE RECEIVE THE PROPOSAL.

SO ANOTHER CRITICAL-PATH ELEMENT THAT EMERGES FROM THIS LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE IS THE NEED TO WORK OUT THE SPECIFIC LANGUAGE MUCH BYLAW CHANGES AS PUBLICLY -- AS QUICKLY AND AS PUBLICLY AS POSSIBLE.  WE WANT TO AVOID A LENGTHY DELAY AFTER WE GET THE PLAN WHILE LANGUAGE IS BEING WRITTEN AND REVIEWED BY THE COMMUNITY AS THAT WILL DELAY WHEN WE CAN CERTIFY TO CONGRESS THAT THE PLAN AND THE PROPOSAL SATISFIES OUR CONDITIONS.

SO I WAS VERY GLAD TO HEAR THIS ISSUE BEING DISCUSSED THIS AFTERNOON BETWEEN THE CCWG AND THE BOARD, AND IT DOES SOUND LIKE THE BOARD WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO RESOLVE BYLAW TEXT AS PROMPTLY AS THE OVERALL PLANNING WILL ALLOW.

SO TO WRAP UP THIS CONTRACT DISCUSSION, THE EXTENSION DISCUSSION, THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO DETERMINE AND TELL US WHEN IT IS LIKELY TO COMPLETE THE PLAN, ADD FOUR TO FIVE MONTHS FOR OUR REVIEW, AND THEN FACTOR IN TIME TO COMPLETE IMPLEMENTATION ONCE WE ARE PAST THE CONGRESSIONAL WAITING PERIOD.

HERE AGAIN, IT SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING THAT THE SIMPLER THE PLAN, THE SIMPLER THE IMPLEMENTATION, THE QUICKER THE IMPLEMENTATION CAN BE WHICH WILL THEN ALLOW US TO PROCEED TO A PROMPT CONCLUSION TO THE IANA FUNCTIONS CONTRACT.

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