Please Consider: Guidelines for Proposed ICANN Policies and Activities

["Joseph M. Reagle Jr." <reagle@mit.edu>]

http://cyber.harvard.edu/people/reagle/ICANN-proposal-19990120.html

                                   Proposal:
                                       
Guidelines for Proposed ICANN Policies and Activities

   The ICANN Board will look to the following guidelines in the
   consideration of its own conduct and proposed policies and actions
   arising from supporting organizations. Accordingly, the Board expects
   that the supporting organizations will include consideration of these
   guidelines as part of their policy development and evaluation
   processes. These guidelines are not intended to be rigid. Rather, they
   seek to establish a culture of institutional openness and
   accountability, and promote policies that are intrinsically limited in
   their scope, but rigorous and uniform in their application.

    1 Policies should be adopted on the basis of technical merit;
       policies should not discriminate on the basis of expressive
       content.
    2 With respect to proposed policies, consensus positions and
       recommendations should be accompanied by minority opinions and
       dissenting views, if any. The consensus position or recommendation
       should address and respond to minority concerns.
    3 Activities and policies should be rigorous in defining and
       enforcing the scope of their activity. Where appropriate, sunset
       clauses, expiration dates, and expectations regarding the
       revisiting of a policy or activity should expressly stated.
    4 Criteria of success should be expressly stated and used a basis
       for criticism and improvement.
    5 Proposed policies must be shown to be in the best interests of the
       Internet community and should demonstrate strong evidence that
       such policies can be implemented. Where appropriate, the Board
       encourages the testing of proposed policies on a smaller scale.
       The implementation and operational use of a technical policy
       demonstrates an interest and ability to deploy the policy at
       large.
    6 Policies must be applied in a consistent, well founded, and
       uniform manner. Policies should be designed so as to minimize the
       risk of selective enforcement or abuse.
    7 The Board encourages policy development processes characterized by
       openness, transparency, decentralization, bottom-up coordination
       and constructive competition among small groups and communities.
       
   Joseph Reagle 03/08/99 11:44 AM
   This proposal is my own and does not necessarily express the views of
   W3C, MIT, Harvard, or the Berkman Center

_______________________     
Regards,          http://web.mit.edu/reagle/www/
Joseph Reagle     E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65  BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E
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