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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">Dear Rafik,<o:p></o:p></span><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman""><br>
Like Avri, I was surprised by your email of yesterday morning.
Peter Green is a valued member of our SG who has served us well.
He jumped in to run for the Executive Committee, to represent the
interests of a huge continent too little represented in our work
(Asia), and to provide leadership, communication, input and
insight.<o:p></o:p></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">I know
the conflict provisions of the NCUC Bylaws well because,
frankly, I drafted them into the NCUC charter years ago. What
happened then is that individuals and companies, including the
then-giant Network Solutions, Inc., wanted to join every
constituency.
Compounding the problem was the fact that certain large
not-for-profit organizations, with only commercial organizations
as their members, wanted to join us too – and that would have
made no sense at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">We created a rule then that you can only vote in
one constituency. But no one created a rule that you cannot
attend the meetings of another constituency (or SG). That would
be absurd as the whole idea of holding open constituency and
stakeholder group meetings is to provide the transparency and
openness that we all claim and that ICANN is committed to! We
Want People to Attend Other Constituencies and Stakeholder Group
Meetings to share what the constituencies and SGs are interested
in, concerned about, and working on (and we certainly have
plenty of people outside NCUC and NCSG in the back rows of our
Tuesday Constituency and Stakeholder Group meetintgs watching us
and reporting back to their managers, associations,
constituencies and SGs).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"">Plus, the world has changed with New gTLDs:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">What happened recently is that everything became a
little more complicated. With the introduction of the New gTLDs,
with overlapping ownership of registries and registrars, the
following happened: registrars became registries, and registries
became registrars. Further, many leading members of the
Commercial Stakeholder Group went from commercial users to both
commercial users AND registries - such as Amazon and Google.
Now everything is confused and people wear many hats! It is an
issue in which all SGs are thinking about and discussing, but
they have generally done it with all of the members present -
not behind closed doors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">So Peter is in a unique spot. He has been a strong
and active member of our SG - attending the intersessional of
NCSG and CSG in Washington DC a few years ago where I first met
him, running for office to serve his region and us, and leading
the NCUC efforts that year that resulted in Bill Drake being
appointed to the NomCom (among other undertakings). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">His employer is indeed CONAC, which calls itself
the ".ORG of China." Indeed, CONAC handles the registration of
thousands (tens of thousands) of noncommercial groups in China
at the second level in .CN. Further, during the course of
Peter's representation in our NCSG, CONAC received the
delegation of the internationalized domain name which is the
equivalent of ".Public Interest" in two Chinese characters. I
note that there is a hardly a philosophical difference of
viewpoints or political leanings here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"">In this time what have NCSG and NCUC have not
done: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">What we have not done is reevaluate the impact on
the New gTLDs on our membership rules, and the problems related
to the new types of overlaps of issues and groups ...and I
assure you every other constituencies and SG have talked about
this issue extensively.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">Accordingly, it would have been almost impossible
for Peter, who speaks English as second (or maybe as a third or
fourth) language to understand the nuances of the standard you
have held him to. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">But on his behalf, and with no view on the ultimate
outcome, let me ask:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">- Are you invoking NCUC or NCSG rules?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">- If NCSG (as you cite in your email below), have
you consulted with the NCSG Executive Committee or NCSG Chair?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">- Is it valid to use NCSG rules, without NCSG's
Executive Committee input, as the means of removing a
well-respected NCUC member from the Executive Committee, and
from membership in the NCSG as a whole? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">- has Peter even cast a vote in the Registries SG
or is he merely attending meetings to learn more?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">- Was Peter consulted in the NCUC Executive
Committee review and given a chance to respond to your concerns?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><i><b><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">May I suggest that additional procedure and
discussion are in order before any abrupt action is taken? <o:p></o:p></span></b></i></p>
<i><b> </b></i>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">Best regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman"">Kathy Kleiman, Co-Founder of NCUC <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * <br>
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/8/2016 8:27 AM, avri doria wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:d0e31cdd-a346-58af-56af-f0f0d5b1ccfd@apc.org"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi,
Before we judge someone, I am curious about the due process issues.
Was the accused afforded an opportunity to make his case?
Did he know there was going to be a meeting to discuss removing him from
office?
And I am urious, under what provision of the NCUC 'charter' was this
secret meeting held and this action taken?
thanks
avri
On 08-Aug-16 08:16, Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez G. wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Thank you very much Rafik!
incredible (un)ethical (double)standards indeed for a member of the EC.
Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez
+506 8837 7176
Skype: carlos.raulg
Current UTC offset: -6.00 (Costa Rica)
On 7 Aug 2016, at 21:45, Rafik Dammak wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear members:
I am sharing with you an important and extraordinary announcement. Last
week the NCUC EC agreed to ask one of its members, Peter Green, to resign.
It was not an easy act or one that we took lightly, and we had to think
about it for some time. Our action was necessary because of an undeclared
conflict of interest and a clash with our membership eligibility rules.
Peter is an employee of CONAC, a TLD registry associated with the
government of China. As a CONAC employee, he is an active member of and
participant in the Registry Stakeholder Group. It has been a longstanding
principle of NCUC membership eligibility rules that people or organizations
that are members of another SG or constituency in the GNSO cannot also be
members of NCUC (bylaws III.3). This is done to prevent other interest
groups from attempting to control or unduly shape our Constituency, which
is devoted to noncommercial user interests.
Peter has been actively working on behalf of the Registry SG for some time,
even as he has been serving on our Executive Committee. This is evident
from articles such as this
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.chinagov.cn/english/News/CONACNews/201509/t20150924_281168.html">http://www.chinagov.cn/english/News/CONACNews/201509/t20150924_281168.html</a>
and from records of the registry constituency working group such as this
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://community.icann.org/display/S1SF/Drafting+Team">https://community.icann.org/display/S1SF/Drafting+Team</a>
We note with concern that Peter's Conflict of Interest statement when
running for election to the NCUC EC failed to mention his employment at
CONAC.
I wanted you to be aware of this issue and to understand the basis for our
actions.
Best Regards,
Rafik Dammak
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dear Peter (Zuan Zhang):
For some time we (the undersigned representatives of the Executive
Committee) have received complaints or expressions of concern about your
eligibility for membership in the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group. The EC
has investigated this matter and has come to the conclusion that you are
ineligible for NCSG membership and thus must resign from the NCUC Executive
Committee immediately.
We want to make it clear that this is not caused by any misconduct on your
part; it is purely a matter of applying our eligibility rules. Your
contribution to our EC has been exemplary, but we cannot continue to
contradict our membership rules. This would open the door to many other
ineligible members and possible abuses. We hope you can accept this
decision in a good spirit.
Section 2.2.2 of the NCSG charter specifically excludes from membership
"Organizations that are represented in ICANN through another Supporting
Organization."
Section 2.2.5 of the NCSG charter makes it clear that individuals are
eligible only if they are "not represented in ICANN through membership in
another Supporting Organization or GNSO Stakeholder Group."
As an employee of CONAC, you are a member of the Registry stakeholder group
and have played an active role representing CONAC in the Registry
Stakeholder Group (RSG). CONAC is a domain name registry, which has its own
Stakeholder Group, where your affiliation with CONAC as an employee is
persistent and strong. We understand that before CONAC was a TLD registry,
its employees were admitted into NCSG because there was no other place for
them to be represented and there was less of a conflict of interest. But
that time has passed; CONAC is now a full-fledged TLD registry operator and
its policy interests are represented in the RSG.
We thank you for your prior participation in our group and encourage you to
stay involved in the GNSO via the Registry Stakeholder Group.
Farzaneh Badii
Caribe Joao Carlos
Rafik Dammak
Grace Githaiga
Milton Mueller
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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