The ICANN public meetings attract their own share of cranks, but this time
there's at least a fighting chance of walking in with a score card.
ICANN itself is having its board meetings & WG meetings (note: W3C's JFA
made it on the PSO board) Mon-Thurs, but on the Halloween before, Nesson & co.
will be hosting a daylong orientation/workshop. Details follow. Anyone
for a carpool?
Best,
Rohit
http://www.icann.org/losangeles99/losangeles-details.htm
The ICANN Annual Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel
near the Los Angeles Airport in Los Angeles, California. Information
on this hotel can be found below.
Sheraton Gateway Hotel Contact Information:
Tel.: 1-800-325-3535 - General Reservation
Tel.: 1-310-642-1111 - Direct Number for Hotel
Address: 6101 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/workshops/la/
ICANN & THE PUBLIC INTEREST: PRESSING ISSUES
A One-Day Workshop Presented by
The Berkman Center for Internet and Society and
The Markle Foundation
Co-sponsors: Center for Democracy and Technology, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
(See also Berkman/ICANN FAQ)
The recent explosion of ICANN agreements and policies has left many
DNS watchers dazed and battle-weary as they struggle to digest a
torrent of detailed specifications.
This workshop will be held prior to ICANN's annual meeting to help
clarify the issues and bring fresh perspectives and new insights to
the discussions. With the generous support of the Markle Foundation,
the workshop will utilize the Berkman Center's remote participation
technology to include invited experts and other interested
stakeholders.
Note that this workshop is not sponsored by or officially related to
ICANN. While the workshop does take place in the same venue as ICANN
meetings later in the week, it's not an ICANN-sponsored event
therefore questions or concerns about the workshop should be directed
to the Berkman Center rather than to ICANN.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGENDA
9:00 AM Journey to Consensus: Is ICANN on the Right Road?
ICANN must reflect the demands of a diverse global community of
Internet stakeholders. Cultural, political and economic factors bring
forth a multitude of stakeholder experiences and needs which often
clash, sometimes intractably, despite the fact that all parties are
interested in the stability and effectiveness of the Internet. In
this plenary session, the speakers and audience will engage in a
moderated discussion which will examine the function, rationale and
appropriateness of "consensus" as a goal; underline the serious risks
of unverified consensus determinations; compare ICANN's current
consensus process with the definition of "Consensus Policy" in the
recent, tentative, agreement between ICANN and NSI; describe the
cultural, political, and economic challenges to attaining consensus;
and propose ways to meet those challenges and develop an effective,
consensus driven body. Moderator: Charles Nesson, William F. Weld
Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Director of the Berkman Center
Bill Drake, Executive Director, Western Justice Center Foundation
David R. Johnson, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, counsel to Network
Solutions, Inc. Joe Sims, Jones Day, counsel to ICANN
10:15 AM Tutorials
A close reading and impact analysis of the following new documents:
Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
A. Michael Froomkin, Prof. of Law, University of Miami Law School (participating via videoconference)
Rita A. Rodin, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP
New Registry/Registrar Agreements and Licenses
Louis Touton, General Counsel, ICANN
Emerging Privacy Issues
Alan Davidson, Center for Democracy & Technology
Ted Shapiro, Deputy Legal Counsel, Motion Picture Association (Brussels); IPC Representative-DNSO Names Council
LUNCH
1:30 PM TLD Competition
Despite continued debate over the scope of ICANN's power and
responsibilities, there seems to be consensus in one key area: ICANN
must determine whether and how to introduce new top-level domains.
Thus far, neither ICANN nor the DNSO has reached consensus on the
proper way to address the issues. Working from concrete proposals,
this panel will bring together trademark and fair-use interests,
market economists and others to frame the issues and discuss possible
solutions. Focus points will include whether ICANN should determine
the method for selecting new gTLDs, choose new gTLDs itself, or simply
open the field to market competition; how to establish a robust
competitive market of registrars, registries and gTLDs while avoiding
a land rush; whether new gTLDs should be operated by proprietary or by
shared registries, by single or multiple registrars; what to do about
ccTLD competition; and whether other technologies will make TLDs less
relevant to users in the near term.
Moderator: Jonathan Zittrain, Executive Director of the Berkman Center
Barbara Dooley, Commercial Internet eXchange Association
Howard Hill, Netnames
Paul Mockapetris, VP Engineering/CTO at UrbanMedia; inventor of the DNS and author of RFCs 1034, 1101, 1035
Milton Mueller, Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University
Elisabeth Porteneuve, Adviser to AFNIC, France, and Network Manager at CNRS (CETP laboratory)
Steven Postrel, Lecturer, Graduate School of Management, University of California at Irvine
Philip Sheppard, Manager Branding & Marketing Affairs for the European Brands Association, AIM; member DNSO Names Council
2:30 PM Openness and Transparency
The US government's White Paper set fort h as a touchstone by which an Internet standarsd and the new registration agreements contain even more specific obligations. Many have criticized ICANN for failing to meet these standards while others support a reasonable amount of working privacy. This panel will look at the US experience in legislating openness (the "sunshine laws," Freedom of Information Act, etc.) and at the current legal obligations of a private non-profit corporation concerning transparency. It will evaluate ICANN's procedures in light of US and other corporate and regulatory practices; examine the difficulties that transparency allegedly places on working efficiency and flexibility; assess the technical capabilities for holding open global meetings; and propose specific bylaw language to ensure that decision-making processes are open, transparent and accountable to the community.
Moderator: Charles Nesson
Tamar Frankel, Prof. of Law, Boston University School of Law and Berkman Fellow (participating via videoconference)
Simon M. Lorne, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, former General Counsel of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Ann Schwing, McDonough, Holland & Allen, author of Open Meeting Laws (2d ed. to be published Fall 1999)
3:30 PM Membership At-Large
The At-large Membership is the primary place for individual users to
voice their opinion on the technical and policy issues under ICANN's
jurisdiction. A new bylaw concerning the structure and function of
the At-large Membership has been submitted to the Board. This
proposal eliminates direct user voting for the 9 At-large Directors
and substitutes a Membership Council. This panel will consider direct
versus indirect voting, analyze the Council proposal and focus on the
steps still needed to ensure a fair and representative election.
Moderator: Diane Cabell, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Izumi Aizu, Principal, Asia Network Research; Sec. General, Asia & Pacific Internet Association; ICANN Membership Advisory Committee
Theresa Amato, Founder and Executive Director of the Citizen Advocacy Center
Greg Crew, Chairman of the Australian Communications Industry Forum Ltd.; Director, ICANN
Steven Hill, West Coast Director, Center for Voting and Democracy
Virginia Postrel, Editor, Reason Magazine; Author, The Future and Its Enemies; Columnist, Forbes and Forbes ASAP
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