[Comment-Dnso] Re: FYI: ISP Constituency Formation

["Brian C. Hollingsworth" <Bholling@ix.netcom.com>]

Mr. Schneider and everyone,

  We at the EU share many of your well stated concerns here.  This has been
becoming a more acute concern most recently given some of the communications
from other channels with the EuroISPA and other interested organizations
throughout the EU.

  Amongst many other concerns, that the EU shares with yours here are the
questionable behavior of certain ICANN Interim board members and most lately
their intercepted back channel communications that I have become personally
aware of through the Dnso.org and the ITU, with their recent practices
of selectively blocking certain IP addresses of long time discussion
participants.

Michael Schneider wrote:

> Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> In preparation for the ICANN meetings next week I should like to give
> another update to those interested on the DNSO-ISP constituency. As the
> debate that has been running since the publication of the first proposal
> has led to some confusion, I'm going into a little more detail on the
> current situation.
>
> 1. Meeting on Tuesday
>
> To facilitate the ISP and connectivity providers constituency formation
> process, ICANN has provided a room for the purpose of a constituency group
> meeting on May 25, in Berlin. The room is the Bundeszimmer room in the
> Adlon Hotel. It has been reserved for 8:30-12:00.
>
> Anybody can participate who wants to join in forming the constituency or
> gather information on it. However, according to ICANN there are only 20
> seats, so that we may have to improvise somewhat if interest is greater
> than anticipated.
>
> 2. General information
>
> You can find basic information on the Berlin conference at
>
>         http://www.icann.org/berlin/berlin-details.html
>
> The DNSO constituency group formation process is described at
>
>         http://www.icann.org/dnso/constituency_groups.html
>
> On 3 May the following organisations submitted an application to become
> recognized as the ISP and connectivity providers constituency to ICANN:
>
> CABASE (Cámara Argentina de Bases de Datos y Servicios en Línea)
> CAIP (Canadian Association of Internet Providers)
> CIX (Commercial Internet eXchange)
> EuroISPA (European Internet Service Providers Association)
> ISP/C (Internet Service Providers' Consortium)
>
> The text of the submission has since been published at
>
>         http://www.icann.org/dnso/isp.html
>
> The accompanying letter (which wasn't published) is attached to this posting.
>
> 3. Agenda
>
> In recent weeks I had the opportunity to discuss numerous questions by
> e-mail or phone with companies and associations which are considering
> becoming a member of the constituency.
>
> Following this I believe it is useful to spend a considerable part of the
> time available to reconsider individual aspects of the application. The
> ICANN Board indicated to me in a conference call that changes to the
> application on which consensus can be achieved during the meeting can still
> be taken into account during the Board's meeting on Thursday (although I
> would strongly urge people to submit requests for changes in the form of
> concrete counterproposals, so that we can if necessary integrate them
> directly into the text).
>
> I accordingly propose the following AGENDA:
>
> 8:30 - 10:00 Discussion of the application of 3 May
>
> - Structure of the constituency
> - Requirements for membership
> - Definitions
> - Membership subscriptions
> - Modalities for accepting additional members after
>   recognition of the constituency by the ICANN Board
>
> 10:00 - 10:30 Drafting (if any)
>
> 10:30 - 10:45 Coffee break, opportunity for bilateral discussion
>
> 10:45 - 11:00 Adoption of the final application by the entities present
> (those qualifying according to the definition we're adopting)
>
> 11:00 - 11:45 Composition of the Executive Committee and Names Council
>
> 11:45 - 12:00 Any other business
>
> Best regards,
> Michael Schneider
>
> ================================ CUT HERE ================================
>
> May 3rd, 1999
>
> Board of Directors
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
>
> The following associations representing Internet service providers from
> Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America hereby wish to indicate their
> intention to apply to form the ISP Constituency of the DNSO pursuant to
> DNSO Formation Concepts adopted on 4 March 1999.
>
> The attachment contains identical versions in HTML, plain ASCII and Word.
>
> We regard this application as a logical continuation of the work of the
> groups - and specifically the so-called "BMW group" - which have already
> forwarded suggestions for the articles and bylaws of the DNSO. We are
> further committed to the objectives which have been formulated by the
> International Forum on the White Paper (IFWP).
>
> It was accordingly not our main priority to establish final arrangements at
> this time which cover every eventuality without leaving any scope for
> further discussion. Instead, we regarded it as important to consider the
> suggestions by many regarding the articles and to give ear to all the
> requests and concerns submitted to us. As this is a time-consuming
> procedure, and as some care is needed in establishing the definition of
> "ISP", we have finally decided on a restricted approach. This is based on
> establishing a process for bootstrapping the constituency which contains
> the essential basic rules for the further process of formation, while
> remaining open and generally inclusive in other respects.
>
> The undersigned have already had numerous discussions, both internally and
> with those ISPs and their associations which have indicated an interest in
> being involved in the procedure. We hope to submit further supplementary
> proposals before the Berlin meeting and to be able to hold the constituent
> meeting of the constituency in the course of this meeting.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> CABASE (Cámara Argentina de Bases de Datos y Servicios en Línea)
> CAIP (Canadian Association of Internet Providers)
> CIX (Commercial Internet eXchange)
> EuroISPA (European Internet Service Providers Association)
> ISP/C (Internet Service Providers' Consortium)
> --
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>  | Michael Schneider Chairman,  eco - Electronic Commerce Forum e.V.  |
>  |                   President, European Internet Service Providers   |
>  |                              Association                           |
>  |                   Chairman,  Complaint Commission of the German    |
>  |                              Multimedia-Service-Providers Hotline  |
>  | c/o  Schneider & Schollmeyer Law Firm,   Phone: +49 2242 9270-0    |
>  | Dickstrasse 35, D-53773 Hennef      Michael.Schneider@Anwalt.DE    |

Respectfully,
--
Brian C. Hollingsworth
Sr. Legal Advisor, International House of Justice Internet
Communications  Affairs and Policy
Advisory council for Public Affairs and Internet Policy, European
Union