[ncdnhc-discuss] FYI: ITU-T Chair's message on ICANN Reform

[Chun Eung Hwi]

Dear NCDNHC members,


This is the message that Houlin Zhao (chair of ITU-T) just distributed on
ICANN reform.

Regards,

Chun Eung Hwi

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Chun Eung Hwi
General Secretary, PeaceNet | phone:     (+82) 2- 2166-2216
Seoul Yangchun P.O.Box 81   |   pcs:     (+82) 019-259-2667 
Seoul, 158-600, Korea       | eMail:   ehchun at peacenet.or.kr   
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ITU and ICANN Reform

1. Summary

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)  performs
a number of tasks critical for the good functioning of the Internet.

Recently, ICANN's President has stated that ICANN is not able to perform
its mission, primarily because it requires greater government support.  
As a consequence, ICANN's President has called for reform, and ICANN has
invited comments on reform proposals.

The International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
Standardization Sector (ITU-T) has a long and successful history of
performing, as a government-industry partnership, functions which are very
similar to those performed by ICANN.  It has worked closely with ICANN in
recent years. For these reasons, it appears that ITU can contribute to the
ICANN reform process.

It is not suggested that ICANN's functions should be transferred to ITU.
It is suggested that ITU could increase its cooperation with ICANN in
order to help ICANN to overcome some of its current difficulties.


2. ICANN's situation

ICANN is a not-for-profit corporation established under the laws of the
State of California, in the United States of America (USA).  It operates
under the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US
Department of Commerce .  ICANN currently performs a number of critical
tasks related to the management of Internet names and addresses.  In
particular, ICANN makes recommendations to the US Department of Commerce
regarding the creation of top-level domain names (such as ".com", ".ch"),
and the delegation of actual operations for any particular top-level
domain to any particular operating entity (for example, ".com" is
delegated to VeriSign, Inc.) .  The tasks performed by ICANN are widely
acknowledged to be critical for the good functioning of IP-based networks
and IP-based services (often referred to as "the Internet").

ICANN's operating budget for 2001-2002 is approximately US$ 5 million for
a staff of 21 full-time equivalents.


3. ICANN's problems

There has long been discussion of the implications of the increasing
international character of IP-based networks, and the increasing
importance to national economies of IP-based services, particularly with
respect to the fact that ICANN is a California company supervised by the
government of the USA.  Some have argued that the legal character of ICANN
and lack of formal control by other governments could lead to problems.

Some of these concerns have now been echoed by Mr. Stuart Lynn, President
of ICANN.  In February 2002, Mr. Lynn, published an extensive report and
detailed proposal entitled "President's Report: ICANN -- The Case for
Reform"  in which he stated: "the original concept of a purely private
sector body, based on consensus and consent, has been shown to be
impractical" and "experience has shown that the influence, authority, and
close cooperation of governments is essential to accomplish ICANN's
mission ".  Mr. Lynn goes on to state that ICANN's current mechanisms for
consulting governments are not adequate.

According to Mr. Lynn:

1. ICANN as currently constituted is not able to fulfill its mission,
   largely because of inadequate government support and inadequate funding;
2. much greater, and more formal, involvement by governments is required if
   ICANN is to fulfill its mission;
3. ICANN's budget should be in the order of US$ 25 million per year, and
   governments should provide part of that budget.

According to Mr. Lynn, there has been a revenue shortfall of about US$ 0.5
million each year, which has been covered by not hiring up to authorized
levels, leading to understaffing.  Furthermore, according to Mr. Lynn,
ICANN currently has inadequate backup for key individuals.  As a result,
Mr. Lynn states that funding should be increased by a factor of 3 to 5.
Among other specific problems identified by Mr. Lynn, we highlight:

4. ICANN has been too slow to address and resolve issues;
5. ICANN lacks clear, stable, and accepted processes and procedures for
   guiding its work;
6. ICANN has not yet created the industry-government partnership it needs
   to fulfill its mission.


4. ITU's position

Guided by ITU PP-98 Resolution 102 "Management of Internet domain names
and addresses" and Resolution 101 "Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks",
ITU already cooperates with ICANN in several ways.  ITU is a founding
member of ICANN's Protocol Support Organization (PSO) , a technical
advisory body. ITU is a member of ICANN's Government Advisory Council
(GAC) .  An expert proposed by ITU-T sits on the ICANN Board, and the
Director of TSB is a member of an ICANN independent review panel
nominating committee. There is a lingering negative perception of ITU-T's
past.  But the situation today is very different from what it was three
years ago. Working methods have been streamlined, decision-making is
faster, and online tools are used intensively.  Membership has increased,
in particular among Sector Members.

ITU-T has a proven track record of efficiently and effectively performing,
for non-IP-based network technologies, functions which are similar to
ICANN's key functions , which are "administrative and policy management of
the Internet's naming and address allocation systems", and of performing
those functions in accordance with the desired core values, which are
"openness and broad participation."

Among many tasks, the ITU-T performs world-wide administration, and acts
as the forum for policy management, of a number of naming and address
allocation systems that are essential for the good functioning of critical
infrastructures, including the physical-layer infrastructure of the
Internet itself.  We can cite such well-known examples as the E.164
numbering resource and the E.212 mobile numbering resource. It is widely
acknowledged that the ITU-T performs its tasks to the general satisfaction
of industry, governments, and the public at large, using processes that
are open, transparent, and ensure accountability to all stakeholders.

Governments are well used to the ITU-T processes and procedures and know
how to work within them.  Governments of 189 countries, industrialized as
well as developing, participate in the ITU-T's work.  The presence in
ITU-T of developing country governments broadens participation to people
in those countries who would not otherwise have been represented.

Furthermore, ITU-T is an effective public-private partnership, rooted in
the public sector but with the active backing and participation of
industry players.  Currently ITU-T has over 450 industry members.  In the
ITU-T, industry and governments work together, to achieve common goals for
the public benefit.  ITU is unique in this partnership between governments
and industry for information and communication technologies (ICT).


5. Proposals

ITU-T can assist ICANN to ensure world-wide representation of both the
public and the private sectors directly and indirectly related to Internet
names, numbers, and addresses by:

1. Working with ICANN to take care of issues of concern to governments, in
   particular to ensure that the sovereign rights and national interests of
   all Member States are served, including private sector interests as
   appropriate.
2. Participating as appropriate in policy councils, the Technical Advisory
   Committee, and the Government Advisory Committee, if such bodies are
   created in a reformed ICANN;
3. Working with ICANN to identify areas where certain functions could be
   performed in cooperation, for example:
   3.1. ccTLD management;
   3.2. management of the ".arpa" domain;
   3.3. management of the ".int" domain;
   3.4. governmental input in developing and administering global address
        policies for IP address and AS number allocation;
4. Working with ICANN to define an internationally agreed restatement and
   description of the boundaries for ICANN's policy-making
   activities, if any, while respecting the sovereign rights of governments.
   For example, consideration could be given to developing an ITU-T
   Recommendation with this goal.
5. The Director of TSB would be willing to discuss these matters further
   with ICANN management, and in particular to explore options for new
   measures and arrangements.

The benefits of increased cooperation between ICANN and ITU-T would be
that ICANN could rely on ITU-T for government support, at no additional
cost to ICANN, or to ITU, as well as to governments, for what concerns the
cost of additional government support for ICANN.  Some of the cost
increases proposed by Mr. Lynn are not related to increased government
support and those cost increases, if approved, would have to be funded by
other methods.


6. Conclusions

It would appear that the ITU-T can bring to ICANN, at no additional cost
to governments, the increased government participation that ICANN's
management has called for as necessary.  In addition, ITU-T can increase
private sector participation in ICANN's work, through its Sector Members
who include all major operators and manufactuers of IP-based technologies.
Furthermore, ITU-T's stable, well-known, and proven processes and
procedures can be used to speed up ICANN's work (which, according to Mr.
Lynn, has been unacceptably slow to date, due to ineffective processes and
procedures).

A cooperation between ITU-T and ICANN would allow all the different
communities around the world that use, provide, operate, and design the
Internet to address efficiently and effectively, in a constructive and
productive manner, the various issues which have to date proven difficult
to resolve within ICANN's existing structure.

In short, it would appear appropriate if ITU-T could explore new ways, in
addition to the current arrangements and cooperation with ICANN, for the
benefit of ICANN, to tackle new challenges in cooperation with ICANN. It
is not proposed that ITU-T should take over ICANN's functions.
Furthermore, it is not proposed that the ITU should become involved in all
of ICANN's activities.

To conclude, we propose to enter into discussions with ICANN to explore
the best ways for ITU to help ICANN to overcome its current difficulties.