Fwd: NCSG Proposal and Executive Summary

Robin Gross robin at IPJUSTICE.ORG
Sat Feb 28 22:23:51 CET 2009


Attached is the proposal (and executive summary, chart) for the  
petition for a noncommercial stakeholders group (NCSG).

Thanks to everyone who participating in the drafting and thinking  
that went into this document.  I look forward to discussing this  
proposal further with you all in Mexico.  I'm sure we can make  
further improvements to and look forward to the feedback on this draft.

Thanks again,
Robin


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org>
> Date: February 28, 2009 12:31:48 PM PST
> To: Peter Dengate Thrush <barrister at chambers.gen.nz>
> Cc: Robert Hoggarth <robert.hoggarth at icann.org>, Denise Michel  
> <denise.michel at icann.org>, Mary Wong <mwong at piercelaw.edu>, Carlos  
> Pereira de Souza <caffsouza at gmail.com>, Milton Mueller  
> <Mueller at syr.edu>, William Drake  
> <william.drake at GRADUATEINSTITUTE.CH>, Norbert Klein <nhklein at gmx.net>
> Subject: NCSG Proposal and Executive Summary
>
> 28 February 2009
>
> To: ICANN Board, Peter Dengate Thrush, Chair
>
> From: Robin Gross, Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency
>
> Dear Peter:
>
> The NCUC is pleased to submit a proposed charter for the new  
> Noncommercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG).
>
> We have been working on this charter since June of 2008, and have  
> entered into extensive consultations with ICANN staff members,  
> ALAC, At Large representatives, Board members and our own  
> constituency members on its development. We have been asked by  
> staff to prepare a cover letter to accompany the proposal which  
> provides an executive summary and explains why we have adopted  
> innovative approaches to certain problems posed by the formation of  
> stakeholder groups.
>
> The essential elements of this proposal are:
>
> Noncommercial stakeholders join the NCSG directly, and the NCSG  
> keeps track of membership and administers voting for Council seats  
> by the membership as a whole.
> The NCSG is administered by an annually elected Chair and a Policy  
> Committee. The Policy Committee is composed of the 6 elected GNSO  
> Councilors and one representative from each Constituency.
> There are three classes of membership: 1) large organizations  
> (which receive 4 votes), small organizations (which receive 2  
> votes) and individuals (who receive 1 vote).
> Constituencies are formed as sub-units within the NCSG.  We have  
> deliberately made it relatively easy to form and join  
> constituencies; at the same time we have de-linked Constituency  
> formation from Council seats so that NCSG participants do not have  
> artificial incentives to fragment into competing groups.  If the  
> Board wishes to approve constituency formation under these terms we  
> will embody this requirement in the charter.
> Constituencies are given special rights to propose Working Groups  
> and assured that their positions are incorporated into any and all  
> public comments submitted by the NCSG into the policy development  
> process.
> To protect the voice of minorities in the policy process, we  
> require all NCSG representatives on the GNSO Council to vote in  
> favor of the formation of a Working Group if it has the support of  
> 1/3 of the constituencies or 1/5 of the whole membership.
>
> Now we would like to explain how this plan advances the principles  
> and goals of the GNSO Improvements process.  As you know, the Board  
> has articulated four “vital principles” that are critical to the  
> GNSO revitalization process.  They are:
>
> §       GNSO policy development activities should become more  
> visible and transparent to a wider range of stakeholders;
> §       Reforms should enhance the representativeness of the GNSO  
> Council and its constituencies;
> §       Operational changes should help enhance the GNSO’s  
> ability to reach consensus on policy positions that enjoy wide  
> support in the ICANN community; and
> §       GNSO stakeholder representation structures need to be  
> flexible and adaptable.
>
>
> Our proposal meets these goals better than any of the proposed  
> alternatives.
>
> Principle 1: Visibility and Transparency.
> When noncommercial stakeholders are fragmented into independent  
> constituencies, each with their own mailing list, administrative  
> structure and representatives, it is literally impossible for an  
> ordinary noncommercial organization to keep track of them all.  
> Noncommercial stakeholders in one constituency would have no idea  
> what is happening in other constituencies.  Our proposal integrates  
> all policy deliberation and voting into a unified structure.  This  
> enhances the visibility and transparency of the SG.
>
> Principle 2: Representativeness.
> Our proposal enhances representation in several ways.  First, by  
> adopting a model of flexible and easy-to-form constituencies as sub- 
> units within the NCSG, we allow a far more diverse set of interests  
> and coalitions to form.  Most important, through unified voting for  
> GNSO Council seats, our proposal ensures that whoever represents  
> noncommercial stakeholders on the Council has support across all  
> constituencies, not just a bare majority of a small subgroup of the  
> SG.
>
> Principle 3: Consensus.
> We believe that the old GNSO constituency structure, which assigns  
> a specific number of Council seats to specific constituencies, is  
> inimical to the formation of consensus.  That approach encourages  
> small subgroups to break away and form their “own”  
> constituencies in order to gain a guaranteed Council seat.  Once a  
> constituency controls specific Council seats/votes, they have  
> little incentive to seek support from other Council members for  
> their views or their representatives.  We already have evidence  
> from this; we note that none of the “new constituencies”  
> currently being proposed for the Noncommercial Stakeholders  
> actually represent newcomers to the ICANN space as envisioned.  All  
> of them are existing members of NCUC or RALOs who wish to gain  
> guaranteed seats on the GNSO Council without having to win an  
> election among a large number of other noncommercial entities and  
> individuals.
>
> Our proposal is understands that policy development in the new GNSO  
> will not come from a Council acting as a legislator, but from  
> consensus-based Working Groups.  Therefore, we allow relatively  
> small minorities of the NCSG to bind our Council representatives to  
> support the formation of a Working Group.  Once a Working Group is  
> formed, its proponents will have to convince many other  
> stakeholders to agree on a common policy.  We think there should be  
> a low threshold for the formation of a WG, so that anyone can have  
> a chance to convince the rest of the GNSO of the need for a policy.
>
> Principle 4: Flexibility and Adaptability.
> The old constituency model is broken.  It rigidly assigns Council  
> seats and representation to categories of users that are constantly  
> changing, categories that may overlap in numerous ways.  Dividing  
> the world up into mutually exclusive categories known as  
> “constituencies” is always bound to exclude some people who  
> don’t fit the categories, and at the same time over-represent  
> entities who qualify for two or three of the categories.  By  
> detaching Constituencies from Council seats, our proposal can make  
> constituencies much more flexible and lightweight.  We make  
> constituencies more like intra-Stakeholder Group working groups –  
> easier to form and not mutually exclusive.  NCSG members can join  
> multiple constituencies, and constituencies can form and disband  
> more easily without disrupting the entire representational  
> structure of the NCSG.
> Under the old model, once a constituency is formed, there is a  
> strong danger that it can be captured or controlled by a small  
> group, especially as membership and participation declines.  The  
> NCSG charter proposed here solves this problem by situating  
> constituencies in a large NCSG membership that cannot be easily  
> captured.
>
> We hope the Board appreciates the careful thought and collective  
> effort that went into this proposal.  We are of course willing to  
> modify it based on reasoned comments and criticisms that may come  
> from the Board and any other noncommercial groups that have not  
> been involved.  We look forward to consulting with you in Mexico  
> and at future meetings as we hone the details of the proposal.   
> Thank you.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Robin D. Gross,
> Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency
>
>



>
>
> IP JUSTICE
> Robin Gross, Executive Director
> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
>
>
>




IP JUSTICE
Robin Gross, Executive Director
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org



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