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Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Lord Vader.
>>VINT CERF: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the final day of -- half day of our meetings here in Marrakech.
I hope you notice that we have new procedures for the entrance of the chairman to the meeting, thanks to Veni and his musical talents.
Let me first of all thank everyone who actually decided to stay here this late and get up this early.
I'm guessing that the absence of a large crowd suggests either that nobody cares what we finally decided or ever is very confident that we'll do the right thing, or perhaps they figure they can get all the information online while they're still sitting comfortably in bed.
Let me begin by reading a brief note from Alex Pisanty, who is not here today.
He's still in Mexico.
In his role as chief information officer of the National University of Mexico, he is responsible for overseeing the electronic voting system that's in use in Mexico.
So that -- because the elections are coming soon, he's very much occupied with that.
So he asked for forgiveness not to be here for the board meeting, since it would start at 3:00 his time in the morning.
So we thank Alex for his remote participation during the course of the week.
Let me begin, first of all, for the record, to offer once again our condolences to Peter Dengate Thrush.
I want to -- for those of you who have not had a chance to sign a note that we would like to send to Wellington, I've left signup sheets on the stage here for people who would like to add their names to the note.
And I'd like to enter into the record the following letter to Peter.
Dear Peter, your ICANN family is working hard in Marrakech, following your direction that the work must continue.
But you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers moment by moment.
We cannot find a vocabulary that's adequate to express our feelings in this time of such anguish and sorrow.
We know you must find the strength to take each day one step at a time.
And we're confident that surrounded by friends and family, you'll find a reservoir of resilience.
We know there are many challenges before you, and we stand ready in thought and deed to do all in our power to help.
We're grateful to Susan Crawford, who will bring this message with her and act on behalf of all of us here in Marrakech and around the world who are part of your ICANN family.
By the time you receive this message, you will have already said a last goodbye to your brother, Gavin, and your father, Ron.
Please know that all of us were with you in spirit as these memorials took place and that we shall be with you again as Liz is LAIN to her final rest.
Many of us met your mother at your 50th birthday celebration, and we would be grateful to you for sharing this message with her.
We embrace her with our hearts and prayer that she, too, will be BUOYed by the love of many friends and family members at this time of need.
Our thoughts turn also to your wonderful children.
We hope profoundly that the shock and sorrow of this sudden loss and the void it has created will fill in time with many reminders of shared moments and love expressed.
Nothing can take those memories away, and we know this will be treasured.
We accept once again our deepest and most profound sympathy and love, on behalf of all of us here in your ICANN family, Vint Cerf.
And I'd like to also read briefly into the record a note from Alex saying, I publicly join the board and community in sending a message of comfort to Peter Dengate Thrush and his family in the face of the unbearable losses they suffered.
He was gracious enough to allow me to meet his wonderful family in Wellington, and thus the sympathy to them is deeper in my heart.
So I ask that we read those into the minutes of this meeting.
I also would like to read into the minutes of the meeting a message to Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, whom many of you will know had a very severe fall while he was here in Marrakech, and broke his leg, which required surgery.
And I also have signup sheets on stage for those of you who want to be associated with this note to Wolfgang.
Dear Wolfgang, I hope this letter finds you at home and recovering from your terrible accident here in Marrakech.
Everyone here, board, staff, and participants, has been thinking of you daily and hoping for a rapid and full recovery.
We imagine that you may be spending a good deal of time regaining the use of your injured leg and hope that progress is swift and that you will be sufficiently recovered to join us in Sao Paulo at the end of the year.
We hope that your natural enthusiasm and ambition will not mislead you into coming to the next ICANN meeting before you have achieved adequate recuperation.
We value your health as much as we value your presence and creative spirit.
Please keep us informed of your progress, as we shall keep you in our thoughts, sincerely, Vint Cerf, for the ICANN family.
So if you want to add yourself to the list of well-wishers, please sign up here on stage.
Those of you who may have already signed sheets, we will incorporate those into a package that Susan will take with her to Wellington.
Next, I'd like to formally welcome Dave Wodelet to the board.
Dave is the director of I.P. network engineering for Shaw communications.
He's been a pioneer in his field.
He was the first in Alberta to build a wide area educational network and the first to extend Internet to the educational school system.
He was the first in Canada to do broadband data over cable trials with Shaw and went on to create their first broadband Internet service offering.
He was the first in Canada to deploy a national high-speed ten-gigabit Internet backbone and the first of the North American MSOs to extend peering into Europe.
Somehow that sounds funny, doesn't it, Dave, peering into Europe, as if we were staring at them from a -- the other end of a telescope.
Dave was a founding member of ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, and has played a central role in the development of many of the early ARIN policies pertaining to MSOs and broadband allocations.
He served as the cable MSO representative for many years.
Dave, as an active ARIN member and supporter, was responsible for sponsorship of a number of ARIN meetings and hosted ARIN's first international meeting outside of the United States of America.
So, Dave, we welcome you to the board.
We thank you for your service and commitment to ICANN, and look forward very much to working with you in the next several years.
I'd also like to welcome Rita Rodin, who is the most recently elected member of the board.
She's a partner in the intellectual property and technology group Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP's New York City office.
She represents clients in a variety of areas, including outsourcing, information technology, Internet, and e-commerce.
Software applications and services, consulting, banking, and insurance, and I daresay, the kitchen sink.
She has handled matters for companies ranging from startups to global institutions, and works with both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Ms. Rodin has worked extensively on matters relating to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers since its formation in 1998.
She speaks frequently on Internet and technology-related issues, including cybersquatting and open source software.
So, Rita, we welcome you to the board as well, and we look forward to your work in the next three years, and your personal commitment to ICANN.
I'd like now to call on Raimundo Beca to authorize the approval of minutes of the meetings of the 9th of June and the 14th of June.
Raimundo.
>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Thank you, Vint.
The resolution reads like this, resolved, 06, the minutes of the board meeting of 9 June 2006 are hereby approved and should be posted.
And resolved, 06, the minutes of the board meeting of 14 June 2006 are hereby approved and should be posted.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Raimundo.
We'll take these in -- first of all, I take that as a motion.
Is there a second?
Vanda seconds.
I'll take these two separately.
First of all, let me ask if there are any corrections to the minutes of 9 June.
Seeing none, I'll call for a vote.
All those in favor of the minutes of 9 June as recorded, please say aye.
>> Aye.
>>VINT CERF: Do I hear any opposed?
Do I hear any abstentions?
Thank you.
Are there any modifications to the minutes of June 14th?
Seeing none, I'll call for the vote.
All those in favor, please say aye.
>> Aye.
>>VINT CERF: Are there any opposed?
Are there any abstentions?
Mr. Secretary, the minutes of 9 June and 14 June are recorded unanimously -- accepted unanimously.
Let me call now on Demi Getschko to introduce -- I'm sorry, Raimundo.
>>RAIMUNDO BECA: I would like to make a comment, which is the following.
At Wellington, we stated publicly that at this meeting, we are going to achieve the target of having all our minutes approved.
And that is made.
>>VINT CERF: That's true, we would like to thank our secretary and his staff for completing that task.
Thank you for that reminder, Raimundo.
I'd like to call upon Demi Getschko now to introduce a resolution regarding a change to the ccNSO bylaws.
Just a small bit of background.
The ccNSO Council had proposed several changes to bylaws.
We accepted all except one, which elicited some concern from the general counsel about the autonomy of the board of ICANN to alter bylaws of its components.
In negotiation and discussion with -- and consultation with the ccNSO Council, an alternative formulation was proposed.
And this is -- the result of that is the proposal which Demi will introduce.
Demi, please.
>>DEMI GETSCHKO: Thank you, Vint.
Allow me before I read the resolution to refer to some people that, among many, many others, were crucial to the success of ccNSO.
And seeing that Peter Dengate Thrush, Chris Disspain, Bart Boswinkel and Theresa Swinehart, just to nominate a few of them.
I wish to thank you very much for the efforts to go forward in this process.
The resolution reads, whereas, the ccNSO Council resolved on 28th May 2005 to initiate a ccNSO policy development process to consider changes to ICANN bylaws article IX, country code names supporting organization, annex B, ccNSO policy development process, and annex C, the scope of ccNSO, the ccNSO has conducted the ccPDP in accordance with annex B of the ICANN bylaws.
Whereas the ccNSO submitted to the board eight recommendations to improve and clarify the ICANN bylaws on the ccNSO and the ccPDP in the interest of the ccNSO membership, the ccNSO Council, and other stakeholders.
Whereas, at its meeting on 28 February, 2006, the ICANN board of directors adopted ccNSO recommendations 1-2 and 4-8, which have been implemented and published on the ICANN Web site.
Whereas, recommendation 3 suggested the addition of a new subsection 3 to ICANN bylaws, article IX, section 6, on which the general counsel has advised the board that adopting the ccNSO recommendation 3 may raise issues regarding corporate governance and might adversely impact ICANN's organizational structure.
Whereas, the board at its meeting on 31 March 2006 unanimously rejected ccNSO recommendation 3, but resolved at the same time that it was amenable to receiving further input from the ccNSO through its processes for a supplemental recommendation regarding good faith notice and consultation before the amendment of any provision of article IX of ICANN bylaws.
Whereas, the ccNSO Council resolved to modify ccNSO recommendation 3 as proposed in the supplemental recommendation, and the members of ccNSO adopted the supplemental recommendation which was conveyed to the board op 19 June 2006.
Whereas, the proposed ccNSO bylaw changes have been posted for public comment from 26 May, 2006, until 16 June 2006 on the ICANN home page, http://www.icann.org/ announcement/announcement- 26May06.htm, and no comments were received.
Resolved, the bylaws change as proposed by the ccNSO supplemental recommendation is approved.
Thank you.
>>VINT CERF: Is there a second?
Hagen Hultzsch seconds.
I'd like to briefly have a discussion about this proposed bylaw change.
First of all, this is -- was a kind of last barrier to concerns expressed by some of our ccTLD colleagues about the joining of ccNSO.
And so I'm really very pleased that we were able to resolve the last elements of uncertainty.
So I hope that as a consequence of adopting this modification, that we will see more of our ccTLD colleagues joining us formally in the ccNSO.
But just as a reminder for everyone, ccNSO activities, in general, are open to all ccTLDs, whether they are members or not.
Is there any other discussion about this amendment before we -- resolution before we vote?
Yes, Susan.
>>SUSAN CRAWFORD: Just very briefly, I want to share your thankfulness that we've resolved these issues and that we'll be able to add more members to the relationships with ICANN that some ccTLDs have already made.
And I know that if Peter Dengate Thrush were here, he would make a glorious speech on this occasion.
So I'll just note that and hope that we will support the resolution.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Susan.
One thing that you could do on your journey to Wellington is to make sure Peter knows that we've managed to finally get past this last little bit.
A bit of good news.
Any other comments?
I'll call for the vote, then.
This time it'll be a hand vote.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you very much.
That's all voting members who are seated today.
So, Mr. Secretary, the vote is unanimous for this resolution.
I'd like to call now on Dave Wodelet to introduce a resolution concerning .Aero.
Dave.
>>DAVE WODELET: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Before I get started, I believe, though, John Jeffrey has a couple of comments to make about this.
>>VINT CERF: John.
>>JOHN JEFFREY: Yes, I just wanted to take a moment to outline the reasons for this particular resolution.
The .Aero top-level domain was part of the proof of concept phase of new TLDs in 2000 and 2001.
ICANN's agreement with SITA, the current .Aero sponsor, are expire on 17 December 2006.
As provided in the sponsorship agreement, SITA has submitted to ICANN a renewal proposal, which includes the following, a description of the effectiveness of the sponsor in meeting the needs of the sponsored top-level domain community, proposed changes to the charter and the delegation of policy development responsibility from ICANN to the sponsor, and a certification that the sponsor has complied with all material terms of the current agreement, or where that is not the case, a description of any failure to comply.
ICANN was required by the terms of the sponsorship agreement in section 5.2.1 to post the renewal proposal for public comment for a period of at least 45 days.
ICANN, accordingly, posted the renewal proposal for the period between 21 December 2005, and 4 February 2006.
The agreement provides in section 5.2.2 that, unless ICANN receives any comments that raise a substantial question about whether renewal of the sponsor's agreement would be in the best interests of the sponsored TLD community and the global Internet community, ICANN agrees to enter into a new agreement on the same terms as those for current sponsored TLDs.
One comment questioned whether sponsorship of .Aero by SITA would be in the best interest of the aviation community or the Internet community in general and alleged a material breach of contract by the sponsor.
The comment stated that the sponsor is not representative of the sponsored community it claims to represent, as the majority of seats on the .Aero council are held by individuals connected to SITA and members of other segments of the community are not represented.
Specifically, this comment noted that nothing on the AERO Web site indicates that the community members can participate in formulating policy decisions or how to do so, and that information on the activities of the council, such as notice of meetings or copies of documents under consideration, are not available to the public.
The comment contends that the decision to enter into amendment 1 of the sponsorship agreement, which contains new provisions on the sponsor's activation of names, and the decision to change to a new registry operator, were unknown to the community beforehand, and that community members therefore had no opportunity to participate in these decisions.
SITA, in response, submitted a letter from the .Aero Council chair to Vint Cerf on 5 April 2006, which is posted on the ICANN Web site.
This letter reconfirms SITA's intention to continue its sponsorship of the .Aero TLD in the belief that no substantial questions have been raised about whether this continued sponsorship would be in the continued best interests of the community.
SITA denied the allegation of material breach of contract with the explanation that two decisions mentioned in the comment, the selection of the new registry operator and the activation of the airline airport codes, should not be considered secret, as the first was a contractual obligation and the second was the subject of discussion in various public forums.
To the allegation of nonrepresentativeness, SITA responds that each body that appoints a member of the .Aero Council is considered representative of that particular sector in the industry.
The representative nature of the council is based on groups accountable to a specific industry segment, rather than individuals who may have particular views to push.
SITA also notes that the .Aero council welcomes approaches from representative bodies of particular aviation sectors and that no such body that has approached the .Aero council for membership has been refused.
Staff's assessment that no material observations have been made, which would suggest that SITA's continued sponsorship of .Aero is not in the best interests of the aviation community and the Internet community in general.
Staff recommends a decision by the board authorizing ICANN staff to enter into negotiations for a new agreement with SITA.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much for that background information, John.
Dave, would you like to proceed with introducing the resolution?
>>DAVE WODELET: Yes, I would.
Whereas, SITA currently serves as a sponsor of the .Aero top-level domain under its 2001 contract with ICANN; whereas, SITA has submitted a renewal proposal to ICANN and ICANN has posted the proposal for public comment as required by the .Aero sponsorship agreement;
Whereas, ICANN has carefully reviewed the public comments submitted and determined that none raise a substantial question about whether renewal of SITA's agreement would be in the best interest of the sponsored TLD community and the global Internet community;
Resolved, ICANN staff is authorized to enter into negotiations with SITA for a renewal of the .Aero sponsorship agreement.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Dave.
Is there a second to the resolution? Veni seconds. I'm sorry, Susan. It's a race condition. You guys can try the next time, if you like.
With the resolution on the table, let me ask if there's any further discussion of this proposal.
In that case, I will call for a vote. Again, it will be a show of hands.
All those in favor, please raise your hand. One, two, three, four being five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, the resolution passes unanimously, and the staff is now authorized to complete the negotiations for a renewal of the sponsorship agreement for .Aero.
I would like now to call on Veni Markovski to introduce a resolution to approve the engagement of auditors for the fiscal year 2005-2006.
Veni.
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Thank you, Vint.
Whereas -- ICANN bylaws Article XVI provides that ICANN shall annually publish an audited financial statement and that the appointment of the fiscal auditors shall be the responsibility of the board.
Whereas the audit committee of the ICANN Board of Directors directed the president to enter into negotiations with Moss Adams LLP to conduct the independent audit of the fiscal year 2005-2006.
Whereas, Moss Adams LLP has submitted a proposal to conduct the independent audit of the fiscal year 2005-2006.
Resolved, the president is authorized and directed to engage Moss Adams LLP to conduct the independent audit of fiscal year 2005-2006.
Susan?
>>VINT CERF: Is there a second for this resolution? Susan seconds.
Thank you very much.
I have a question before we vote on this.
I don't know, Veni, you might be the local representative of the audit committee since Njeri Rionge isn't here.
Is this the second year that this organization has audited our books?
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Yes, it is.
>>VINT CERF: Okay. So normally, one changes auditors after a period of time, but I think two years is by no means excessive.
Perhaps after a third time, we might consider looking at other auditors.
Hagen.
>>HAGEN HULTZSCH: I just wanted to mention, but Susan tried to prevent me from doing it, that usually five years is a good time to change.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much.
All right. Are there any other comments or questions about this particular resolution?
All right. Again, we'll do a show of hands.
All those in favor of engaging the auditor Moss Adams once again, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, the staff is now authorized to proceed with Moss Adams as auditor for years 2005-2006.
I'd like now to call on Hagen Hultzsch to enter a resolution to approve the 2006-2007 budget.
Hagen.
>>HAGEN HULTZSCH: Thank you, Vint.
WHEREAS, ICANN bylaws Article XVI Section 4 provides that at least 45 days prior to the commencement of each fiscal year, the president shall prepare and submit to the board a proposed annual budget of ICANN for the next fiscal year which shall be posted on the Web site.
The proposed budget shall identify anticipated revenue sources and levels and shall, to the extent practical, identify anticipated material expense items by line item.
The board shall adopt an annual budget and shall publish the adopted budget on the Web site.
WHEREAS, on 17 May 2006, in accordance with the ICANN bylaws, ICANN posted its proposed budget for the fiscal year 2006-2007.
WHEREAS, the proposed -- the posted proposed budget and the operating plan were developed through a series of consultations with ICANN constituencies, and the ICANN board finance committee.
WHEREAS, comments to the proposed budget were received, a revised proposed budget was posted on 22 June 2006, and a further revised proposed budget was posted on 24 June 2006.
Whereas the finance committee of the board has reviewed the proposed budget and has found that its adoption is in the best interest of ICANN.
Resolved, the ICANN board adopts the 2006-07 operating plan as posted, and as incorporated in the text of the budget.
Further resolved, the ICANN board adopts the proposed budget as the annual budget of ICANN for the fiscal year 2006-2007.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Hagen. Is there a second?
I see Raimundo seconds.
I'd like to have a couple of points of discussion before we actually vote on this proposal.
First of all, I'm going to call for a vote on the resolution separately, first on the operating plan and then on the budget that supports it.
I have a question for Paul, in the construction of the budget, is it correct that the budget matches all of the targeted activity in the operating plan, Paul?
>>PAUL TWOMEY: That's right, chairman. The budget incorporates the operational plan activity as part of its own structure.
>>VINT CERF: A follow-on question, Paul. It has been your practice in the past, as a conservative steward, to spend according to available funds as opposed to that which has been authorized in the budget.
Can I assume that you intend to continue this practice?
>>PAUL TWOMEY: Absolutely, chairman.
We like to have money in our piggy bank rather than owing money to the piggy bank.
But I would also say, as I said to the community I think two days ago, the operational plan will now be taken by staff over the next six weeks and converted into a whole of organization project plan with project plans for each of these projects.
Potentially for financial reasons, but probably much more for management bandwidth reasons. There is no way all of these projects can start on day one.
So we will have to, I think in mid-August, come back and inform the community of some timing for those projects as we figure through what's the best way to manage the resources across the period.
That resource -- that timing allocation will also have an effect but will also be influenced by cash receipts.
>>VINT CERF: I have other questions, but if board members want to intervene, you should feel free to raise your hands.
The other question I have, Paul, has to do with the expected receipts.
We do not, as yet, have confirmation from the Department of Commerce with regard to the proposed .Com contract and agreement. That, I presume, might have a material effect on the received revenues.
Is that a correct expectation, that until we have -- this budget is based on the assumption that that will be approved. Is that correct?
>>PAUL TWOMEY: This budget is based on that assumption, chairman.
The finance committee has actually overseen some scenario planning on if the .Com agreement does not come into place, it would result in significant reductions in this revenue. And we have contingencies in place for compensate -- or compensating, I should say, reductions in expenditure.
So this is an issue that the finance committee has directed staff to develop contingencies for and is oversighting.
>>VINT CERF: Are there, for Hagen or Paul, do we have a sense of the magnitude of the variance that might be experienced in the event that the .Com agreement is not approved?
I'm looking at the contribution to reserves of $3.2 million, which is important to us because we need to build up at least a year's worth of capability. I am taking words out of Hagen's mouth. Is it the variance more than, for example, the contribution to reserves?
>>HAGEN HULTZSCH: This item has been discussed in detail in the finance committee, and the amount which would -- the reduction amount which would come into effect in case we would have no, let's say, second signature of the .Com agreement is less than the contribution to the reserve.
So we would not have a problem, let's say, running the operations and running the activities which are -- which we committed to do in the operational plan.
Again, that is a plan, and you never can predict what the reality is, but we feel very safe with this budget.
>>VINT CERF: Call upon Paul. Yes.
>>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, chairman. Just for clarity, and to go through the discussion we had in the finances committee w the existing contributions to reserves at the end of this fiscal year and with the scale-up of the revenues under the .Com agreement, if the .Com agreement was not to proceed for this forthcoming financial year, we would probably have revenues that would bring us at some number very similar to this past financial year, and we could, as the chair of the finances committee was saying, we could maintain operations at the level that we have been able to attain for this past financial year but we would not be able to maintain expenditures or operations as is budgeted to be forecasted here. So that's just a clarification.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Paul.
Are there any other questions on the budget or the operating plan? Raimundo.
>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Okay. Thank you, Vint.
Only a comment, which is the following.
I would like to recall that with the approval of the operational plan and the budget today, we are finishing a cycle, the cycle of the first year of the strategic plan of ICANN.
And we're starting at the same moment the -- a new cycle, and I hope in this new cycle we will be able to achieve the target to have the strategic plan approved in the third meeting of ICANN in the year, the operational plan in the first meeting of ICANN next year, and the budget at the second meeting next year.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Raimundo. And I know you will keep reminding us of those schedules and deadlines, and it is much appreciated.
Are there any other questions or comments?
In that case, I'll call for a vote first on the resolution to adopt the operating plan.
All those in favor of adopting the operating plan, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12.
Mr. Secretary, I believe that I have miscounted almost all of the other votes by failing to count my own hand. It looks like there are 12 of us seated, not 11, because Rita joined us, so I would suggest to you that if you have been recording the votes, I mistakenly said 11 and it should be 12.
Do I have confirmation from another board member who is awake enough to count?
>>JOHN JEFFREY: We're missing four board members this morning that can vote, and therefore there are 11 seated with Rita.
>>VINT CERF: Well, then I -- let's raise hands one more time. All voting board members just raise your hand for a moment.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11. Okay. It's only 11, and the chair will ask for an injection of coffee directly into a main vein.
Thank you.
It's 11 to zero.
Well, that's an important step. Now we have to pass the budget. So I'll call once again for a vote.
All those in favor of adopting the 2006-2007 budget, please raise your hand.
One -- thank you, Sharil.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
All right. Put your hands down.
Mr. Secretary, the 2006-2007 budget has been approved.
I'd like now to call upon Vanda and Sharil to introduce a resolution regarding the board/GAC joint working group.
Before I -- Sharil, are you going to begin?
>>VANDA SCARTEZINI: No, I will.
>>VINT CERF: Vanda begins? Okay. So before you do, I want to read more from Alex's note.
Alex says the GAC communique contains what I immodestly consider a landmark. The concrete ways we have found to work collaboratively with the GAC signal a landmark in proving the realities and depths of multistakeholder cooperation.
The documents for this approved at the Marrakech meeting of ICANN set a standard to measure many other organizations and stimulate us to continue making progress in the difficult meeting of the waters of further development of the Internet, and the complex and diverse forms of the public interest in its continuing global evolution.
The WSIS multistakeholder approach would remain a theory and a nice Utopia were it not so well embodied in this result.
For this work, a huge thank you goes to ambassador Janis Karklins for his leadership, openness, and a straight roll-up-your-sleeves approach. He has taught us much. For Sharil Tarmizi for many lessons, to the board and members of the jointed board and GAC working group, and to Theresa Swinehart and Pablo Hinojosa.
>>VANDA SCARTEZINI: Whereas on 4 of December 2005, the ICANN board chair and vice chair established the ICANN board/GAC joint working group in order to build an existing discussions to improve the communication links and collaboration process between the ICANN board and the GAC and the relevant ICANN constituencies.
Whereas the ICANN board and GAC joint working group is co-chaired by Alejandro Pisanty, vice chair, board, and Janis Karklins, chair of the GAC working group on the future of the GAC.
WHEREAS, on 26 March 2006, the ICANN board and GAC joint work group held its first face-to-face meeting during the ICANN board meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
And I would like to ask Sharil, the chair of the GAC, to proceed from here.
Please, Sharil.
>>SHARIL TARMIZI: Thank you, Vanda.
WHEREAS, it was decided that the joint working group should initially address three areas namely the transition of the GAC Secretariat, outreach, and communications. Whereas the transition of the GAC Secretariat has proceeded. The joint working group has focused on improving the timeliness and efficiency of communications between the GAC and the ICANN board, and begun discussions on outreach.
WHEREAS, since the face-to-face meeting, the working group has worked through teleconference calls and e-mails.
WHEREAS, on 25th June 2006, the working group held its second face-to-face meeting during the ICANN meeting in Morocco where it was briefed on the transition of the of the GAC Secretariat and discussed the communications time line document and outreach program.
Whereas the working group decided in the run-up to the Sao Paulo meeting to work on the synchronization of the GAC's priorities with ICANN's strategic plan, and to explore issues relate to go the evolution of the GAC and ICANN framework.
Whereas in its XXV Communique, the GAC endorsed the communications time line document.
Whereas in its XXV Communique, the GAC welcomed ICANN's outreach program and committed itself to participate in its implementation. And for the resolution, Vanda.
>>VANDA SCARTEZINI: Okay. Resolved, that the board endorses the communications time line document prepared by the joint work group and endorsed by the GAC, and requests that the joint working group report on the progress of its work including further work on the outreach program, and welcomes the additional areas identified in the GAC communique.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Vanda.
I want to echo Alex's comments on this.
It's been a true pleasure to see such an increase in joint work between the GAC and other components of ICANN, including the board.
I have to say that the invention of this joint working group has been a very salient element in all that, but I think also, Sharil, a great deal of credit goes to your leadership and to the other members of the GAC for their increased open interactions with so many parts of ICANN.
As I reflect on the earlier periods of GAC operation, it seemed like mostly the meetings were closed door. These days, most of the meetings seem to be open door. And I can't but think that that's a healthy change. So thank you very much for your leadership in getting to that position.
Are there any other comments on this resolution before we vote?
I'll call for the vote, then.
All those in favor of endorsing the communications time line as proposed in the resolution, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Put your hands down. Thank you very much.
Mr. Secretary, resolution passes unanimously.
Sharil.
>>SHARIL TARMIZI: Thank you, Vint. And to the board members, thank you.
I think we, in the GAC, appreciate the seriousness, the effort, the commitment that's been put by the board to ensure that there is much improved communications as well as collaboration between governments, generally speaking, and the GAC, and the board members. And to the community, I also would like to say thank you very much for giving us the support. Thank you very much for your willingness to engage with us.
We're not always the easiest bunch to work with. We are probably a lot slower than you are. But we're trying to learn, and I think we're serious about trying to learn. Thank you.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Sharil.
Well, we would like to move on now to the next item, and this has to do with the new gTLD process.
This is heartland for this organization. One of its principal responsibilities is to determine when and how and under what conditions new TLDs are authorized.
I'll call upon Susan Crawford to introduce this resolution.
Susan.
>>SUSAN CRAWFORD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think it's fair to say that the mood of this meeting is -- has been slightly different than the mood of some recent meetings. We have not been discussing the com settlement and the registry agreement that accompanied it. Those have been resolved and are now in front of the Department of Commerce.
It was very important as part of that discussion that we work hard on increasing competition in the gTLD space and increasing consumer choice for generic top-level domains, and also, as has become clear in the .XXX discussion that we find some way of making objective procedures for the selection of open generic, undifferentiated top-level domains available to the world.
We're making a lot of progress on this, and I'm pleased to announce that the GNSO Council and its task forces have been working hard on gTLD policy advice to the board.
This resolution recognizes that work and urges the community to press forward in this direction.
So now I'd like to read the resolution.
Whereas, the GNSO began a policy development process on new gTLDs in December 2005.
Whereas, on the 31st of March, 2006, the board adopted resolutions 6.22 through 24, giving notice of its intent to advance the implementation of a new gTLD process on or before January 2007, and calling on the GNSO to complete PDP-December 05 with sufficient time to allow for such implementation.
Whereas, since the initiation of this PDP, the GNSO has obtained formal constituency statements, issued a call for expert papers, and opened a public comment period, and the GNSO Council's new TLDs committee has conducted several face-to-face consultations to discuss each term of reference within the PDP.
Whereas, in preparation for this Marrakech meeting, a draft initial report has been posted which reflects strong support for the introduction of new TLDs and strong support for the adoption of objective procedural, technical, and financial criteria, but asks for additional community input as to additional selection criteria, selection methods, and compliance regimes.
Whereas, it is the board's understanding that the new TLDs committee of the GNSO intends to publish its initial report for public comment in July 2006, to publish its final report in October 2006, to hold a council vote on the final report in October 2006, and then to publish a board report in November '06 for action by the board at the Sao Paulo meeting in December 2006.
Whereas, the board particularly notes that the GNSO seeks to have an open dialogue with the GAC regarding the public policy implications of a new gTLD process and welcomes comments at any stage in this process, in particular, following the publication of the board report in November '06.
Whereas, the board wishes to thank the participants in the GNSO council and the new TLDs committee of the GNSO for their hard work in this key policy area.
And here are the two resolutions.
Resolved, the board asks the GNSO to continue to work towards having a report ready for community comment by November 2006.
Second, resolved, the board calls on the ICANN community to convey its comments as to the various reports generated by the new TLDs committee in a timely fashion.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Susan.
Are there any -- first of all, do I have a second for the motion?
Veni.
Veni seconds.
A couple of thoughts on this before we vote.
First of all, Sharil, I hope that you will take this as not so much early warning necessarily, but an invitation to the GAC to look carefully at the gTLD process and its output so far and to encourage your members to make their comments, as the resolution requests, in a timely fashion.
We understand the pace of work in the GAC sometimes is determined by face-to-face meetings.
And since we hope to have something to act on as early as November, it means that between now and then, GAC members will have to do something on an intersession basis.
This isn't to argue that the GAC pace should be altered from its norm, but only that I hope your members will try to be prepared for substantive discussions in November.
Any other comments on these two resolutions?
I'm going to ask that you adopt both of them simultaneously.
I don't think there's any contradiction to doing that.
So I'll call for a vote.
If you vote in favor, you'll be adopting both of the resolutions that Susan has placed on the table.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Secretary, both resolutions pass unanimously.
Now we move on to a subject of considerable discussion during the course of this week, having to do with the WHOIS policy.
There'll be more to say about this, I'm sure.
But -- and I have a couple of remarks after we put the resolution on the table.
But, Susan, I'll call upon you once again to introduce this resolution.
>>SUSAN CRAWFORD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And as you've noted, there's been an enormous amount of comment, energy, and interest in the WHOIS policy process going on inside the GNSO WHOIS task force.
I personally am delighted to see all this interest and hope that we can focus it on the work of the task force as it completes its terms of reference and makes a report ready for the council and thence to the board.
Here is the resolution being proposed.
Whereas, work on policies regarding WHOIS has been ongoing within ICANN since 2000 and has been the subject of several public workshops, in Montreal, Luxembourg, and Vancouver.
Whereas, on the 2nd of June, 2005, the GNSO Council adopted terms of reference for the most recent GNSO WHOIS task force.
Whereas, the board notes that the WHOIS task force intends to produce an initial report, including preliminary recommendations, in early October 2006, to take in public comment, including comment from the GAC and individual GAC members, through the end of November 2006, to produce a final report for GNSO Council action in December 2006, and to have a board report ready for board action in early 2007.
Whereas, the board notes that both the GAC and the GNSO have continued to have open dialogue as to the issues covered by the WHOIS task force terms of reference.
Whereas, the board wishes to thank the participants in the WHOIS task force and the GNSO Council, many of whom have been working on these issues for many years, and wishes to encourage them in completing their remaining tasks.
Whereas, the board recognizes that the timelines in the standard PDP scheme may be unrealistic for complex and controversial issues.
And, Mr. Chairman, there are three resolutions.
Resolved, the board urges the GNSO and its WHOIS task force to continue its work on WHOIS in accordance with the timeline announced at these Marrakech meetings, with the goal of having recommendations ready for board consideration in early 2007.
Resolved, the board supports the GNSO's commitment to alert the GAC and the ICANN community as a whole as to the timing of public comment periods established by the WHOIS task force and to ensure that all interested stakeholders are aware of the status of the work of this task force.
Resolved, the board directs staff to work with the GNSO on reviewing the PDP timelines in the ICANN bylaws as recommended in the independent of the GNSO Council -- independent review of the GNSO Council in 2004.
This work should take into account any further recommendations from the current independent review of the GNSO and consider revisions that would create realistic schedules for community input into future ICANN policy development activities.
Thank you.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Susan.
There is actually a raft of information hiding in all of these resolutions over and above the whole question of treatment of WHOIS data.
My impression is that there continues to be a great deal of debate and concern, ranging from the protection of privacy concerns, up to and including also concerns for law enforcement.
During the course of the week, it's my impression that the GNSO Council attempted to clarify its positions, which on the surface look like they might be in fact inimical to law enforcement.
And I believe that they succeeded at that.
However, it would be interesting to know if any other board members believe that the matter is still unclear.
In any event, Susan, did you want to respond to that?
>>SUSAN CRAWFORD: Just to make clear what's happened, as I understand it.
The WHOIS task force continues its work and has taken an interim -- or has asked the council to take an interim vote as to the purpose of public display of data about registrants.
That interim vote occasioned a great deal of correspondence from a number of directions.
The task force is continuing, and I am quite optimistic that the members of that task force are working towards solutions that will satisfy both people who are worried about protection of personal privacy and law enforcement concerns.
>>VINT CERF: This might turn out to be a tiered access mechanism so that parties who need to have access to information that isn't necessarily public under the right conditions would have access to it.
I think that our experience this week illustrates one of those old sayings that no good turn will go unpunished.
In an attempt to convey its interim views, the council has misunderstood, I guess, as having come to a final conclusion.
It probably would be good in terms of clarity of communication for the council to be very clear, again, as to what its intent was.
This is by no means intended as a criticism as much as it is a thought about how to be very clear as to the meaning of and intent of these various reports.
In any event, it certainly elicited helpful feedback.
And that, I think, is helpful for the process.
Are there any other comments on the resolutions before we vote on them?
I suggest that we vote on these en masse, en bloc, all three at the same time.
If you vote in favor, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
That's still 11.
Mr. Secretary, all three resolutions regarding WHOIS have been approved by the board.
I'd like to move on now to the formal appointment of a NomCom chair.
And I'll call upon Veni Markovski to make that resolution.
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Thank you, Vint.
Everybody knows that George Sadowsky's one of the people I really admire for all the things he did in the previous 15 years.
And he's taking a nap right now.
So he cannot really hear the good words.
>>VINT CERF: He's disappeared?
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Oh, he just woke up.
[ Laughter ]
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: George, you're on the record.
It's okay.
I was just saying nice words about you, and it's good you were asleep.
Because I won't feel embarrassed.
So that's why I volunteered to read this resolution.
Whereas, on 31st of May 2006, ICANN announced the resignation of the chair of the ICANN 2006 Nominating Committee, Eugenio Triana, which was prompted by outside work obligations.
Whereas, Mr. Triana was thanked for his service by ICANN president, Paul Twomey, and ICANN board chairman, Vint Cerf, and the full board wishes to convey its gratitude to Mr. Triana for his service.
Whereas, Chairman Cerf calls upon George Sadowsky, the chair of the 2005 Nominating Committee, and an advisor to the 2006 Nominating Committee to step into the role of interim chair of the 2006 Nominating Committee.
Whereas, George Sadowsky is imminently well qualified to continue his leadership of the Nominating Committee and has indicated his willingness to serve as the chair until the conclusion of the ICANN annual meeting in 2006, or until his earlier resignation, removal, or other disqualification from service.
Resolved, that George Sadowsky is appointed as chair of the 2006 Nominating Committee.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Veni.
Is there a second?
I see Hagen seconds.
Before we vote, a couple of comments.
First of all, I want to reiterate my personal appreciation to Eugenio Triana for his initial chairmanship of the NomCom for this year.
I regret that his business demands required him to resign the post.
But he did so, really, in the interests of ICANN, not wanting to do a job with inadequate attention.
And I want to also personally thank George Sadowsky, who served as chair last year and as advisor this year, for undertaking to continue the work.
So, George, assuming that the board approves this, I much appreciate your efforts.
Are there any other comments?
Veni.
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: I just wanted to make a point about two days ago, when we were discussing the time consumption on the board, you -- I said that we spend about 50% of our time.
You said that you spend 25% of your time.
And I understood why.
Your time is actually 16 hours a day.
Ours is eight hours a day.
So 25% of your time is 50% of our time.
That's a point for George and all the other members of the NomCom.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Veni.
Actually, I'm from the planet krypton, and we have a longer day there than do you here on earth.
Paul.
>>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, chairman.
I just wanted to put on the record my thanks and appreciation to Eugenio for the service that he offered to the NomCom and to the spirit he brought to the work that he was doing.
And I wanted to say that I very much appreciated my interaction with him during this brief period, and it is unfortunate that he found himself in circumstances where he felt he had to offer his resignation.
The -- I'd also, then, like to thank particularly George Sadowsky for coming again to the aid of the party and standing in as the chair.
We very much appreciate the work that George does, also appreciate the work Adam does, and appreciate the work that the whole committee does.
We appreciate this is work done by volunteers in the service of the public trust that is the domain name system, and like many good things, is unseen and often unheralded.
So I just want to put on record my appreciation to all of the members of the committee, and particularly to George for taking up this role.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Paul.
Are there any other comments on this resolution?
If not, we'll call for the vote again.
All those in favor of appointing George Sadowsky once again chairman of the Nominating Committee for 2006, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Secretary, the resolution passes unanimously, and, George, I'm sorry that you're still stuck with this job.
The --
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: The next item on the agenda has to do with the schedule of revision for the IDN guidelines.
And I'd like to call on professor Hualin Qian to introduce this resolution.
>>HUALIN QIAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Whereas, the board expresses its gratitude to the volunteers, in particular, in the TLD registries working group, and the IDN president's advisory committee, for their efforts on IDN guideline revisions, related changes to the IANA repository, and their continuing work to determine how best to achieve the stable insertion of IDN strings into the root in a manner that has no appreciable negative impact on existing functionality of the DNS.
Whereas, pursuant to resolutions 05.98, 99, and 100, the ICANN board of directors tasked the IDN working group to continue its important work and return to the board with specific IDN improvement recommendations.
Whereas, the TLD registries working group has met regularly via teleconference and has provided a status update and the version 2.1 of the IDN guidelines on 27 February 2006.
Whereas, the members of the TLD registries working group also provided their expertise in relation to the secure and stable introduction of internationalized top-level labels, and by focusing on this important task, have requested that the board allow for additional time to continue the revision work of the IDN guidelines to reach a BCP status.
Resolved, the ICANN board acknowledges the significant work performed by the members of the TLD registries working group, accepts the request for additional time so that the working group can continue its reframing of the guidelines in a manner appropriate for further development as a best current practices, BCP, document, and to return to the board in time for the Sao Paulo meeting currently scheduled 2nd to 8th December 2006, with a timeline for further progress in this area.
Thank you.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Professor Qian.
May I have a second for this resolution?
Vanda seconds.
Just a couple of comments on IDNs.
It's -- This week, we have spent a substantial amount of time discussing internationalized domain names.
Tina Dam has gone to an enormous amount of trouble to organize several sessions on the subject.
We've had experts speaking on IDNs.
So this work is incredibly important, but it's also incredibly hard and complicates.
So I'm very favorably disposed to this request for additional time on the grounds that we have to get this right.
As we start introducing IDNs into the system, it's very hard to back out again.
So I'm very much favorably disposed here.
And I appreciate the continued work to clarify what is needed to make sure that IDNs will work into the future.
One of the things which I hadn't appreciated, and learned during the course of this week, is that the Unicode set, the code base for the scripts that we are using, has to be revised from time to time, and that those revisions, which allow us to put new languages or new scripts into the system, might in fact be in some sense inimical to our encoding schemes which have been adopted at the IETF.
With any good fortune, the experts will find a way around the tension between those two mechanisms, because it would be a serious problem if we were unable to follow changes to the Unicode tables.
So this simply underscored for me the need for care in working through the specifics.
Are there any comments on this resolution that other board members wish to make?
In that case, I'll call for a vote on this resolution.
If you approve it, we will offer the TLD registries some additional time to complete their work and we'll get, of course, an update on where they are during the Sao Paulo meetings later this year.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, the resolution passes.
The next item on the agenda is a rendering of the -- is an acceptance of the stability and security committee -- advisory committee reports on domain name renewal considerations.
And I'd like to call on the chairman of the Security and Stability Advisory Committee, Steve Crocker, to introduce the resolutions.
>>STEVE CROCKER: Mr. Chairman, let me step squarely into the role of chair of the committee and just offer these reports, which we have presented at the open session on Sunday afternoon, for the consideration of the board.
The committee is pleased to have carried out this work and focused attention on the consequences, the unintended -- sometimes unintended consequences of lapsed registrations.
And we commend the board to pass these on to others who may benefit and be -- need to be aware of these.
And let me ask on that behalf that somebody else introduce these particular resolutions, which we certainly endorse and support.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Steve.
As you point out, as a nonvoting member of our board, although you can introduce the resolutions, another board member needs to officially place it on the table.
So I will ask for a board member to do that.
Veni.
So I have a motion.
I now need a second for these.
I see Hagen.
I'm sorry.
Rita, I -- I -- Mr. Secretary, I will accept Rita's second on this one.
Hagen, I hope you'll forgive me.
But it's nice to see a first action by our newest board member.
So we have a motion and a second to accept these two reports and to, I hope, promulgate them widely.
Let me just say, Steve, that the work of your committee has been very, very helpful to ICANN and its community.
It's much appreciated.
I also want to thank Dave Piscitello, who is your amanuensis in the production of these reports.
His addition to the team has been much appreciated.
I hope that our session this week on the nature of the domain name market, plus these two reports, will begin to shed light for users on the potential hazards, as well as the potential benefits of registering domain names.
And, for the record, I hope that our At-Large Advisory Committee will do its best to promulgate these reports and the advice contained within them to the user community in addition to getting feedback from that community about practices that they might wish were normal in the course of the work -- operation of the domain name system.
Are there any other comments on these two resolutions before we vote?
In that case, we'll take both of them simultaneously.
All those in favor, please raise your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.
Okay.
Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, both resolutions pass unanimously.
The next item of business has to do with three of the top-level domains, dot biz, dot info, and dot org, whose recently proposed registry agreements have been posted.
So I'd like to call upon Paul Twomey to discuss what we have done and what you expect will happen next with regard to these three agreements.
Paul.
>>PAUL TWOMEY: Thank you, chairman.
Well, as members of the community and board will know, the senior executives and the chief executives of the registries that operate the TLDs dot biz, dot info, and dot org wrote to the chairman of ICANN during the week, laying out rationales and requests for moving ahead with contracts that have been in discussion for quite a long period of time for these three registries.
The discussions had -- have all come to fruition at about the same time.
The chairman has instructed that these contracts be placed out for public information, and they have been posted.
And that is to allow the community sufficient time to review them and also for the board to have sufficient time to consider them.
The -- it is possible, it's actually, I think, likely from what you yourself said during the meeting, chairman, that the board may consider these contracts on its next meeting on July the 18th and move to the decision to place these contracts formally out for public consultation.
We have been following a 21-day public consultation process in the spirit of the requests from the community, and particularly the registrar constituency last year to ensure that before major decisions are made, there's a period of public consultation.
So these -- if the board were to move there on July the 18th, there would be a public consultation period, then, for 21 days after that.
And it would then -- the board would then have to consider its position after the public consultation period sometime in August.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Paul.
I want to alert all board members to the need to review all three of those registry agreements. I intend to put that on the agenda at least for discussion, if not for action, as in posting for public comment, at the next board meeting.
Mr. Secretary, I would like to ask you, in your role as general counsel, to summarize any salient elements of those contracts that the board should be particularly attentive to, if there have been any significant changes from the previous versions. I would appreciate having early warning, to borrow that phrase, for all board members. So those two actions I hope will be taken so that we can move ahead quickly on these reports at the next board meeting.
>>VINT CERF: We have now reached essentially the end of all specific action items for this morning's board meeting but we have many thanks to offer.
Now I'm slightly unprepared for the order of events.
I can see why. It's because I didn't assign this to anyone, so I guess I'll take this part.
This is, for the record, a thank you to the workshop participants, and it's in the form of a specific resolution.
WHEREAS, the ICANN meeting in Morocco included several highly informative workshops that provided valuable opportunities for discussion and progress on a variety of significant issues affecting the ICANN community.
Resolved, the board expresses its gratitude to the organizers, participants, and attendees of the public workshops on IDNs, DNSsec, SSAC, Internet Governance, and the domain name marketplace.
And since I think we all benefited greatly from this, I suggest that we adopt this resolution by acclamation.
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: The next resolution relates to a departing board member, who resigned his position a little bit after the last board meeting. And I'd like to call on Hagen Hultzsch to introduce the resolution.
>>HAGEN HULTZSCH: Thank you, Vint.
WHEREAS, Michael Palage served on the ICANN Board of Directors from April 2003 until resignation in April 2006.
WHEREAS, the ICANN board notes with gratitude and affection the commitment and enthusiasm with which Michael has served ICANN and the global Internet community.
And before I am going to read the "resolved," I would like to ask Veni Markovski to add two other whereases.
>>VENI MARKOVSKI: Thank you, Hagen. This actually goes after the first paragraph and before the second paragraph.
I suggest that we add here,.
Whereas Michael has served on a number of committees, including chairing the meetings committee for a few months, and has contributed with his usual passion to their work.
WHEREAS, Michael has spent enormous time on contributing to the board work with his in-depth knowledge of the bylaws and the history of ICANN.
>>HAGEN HULTZSCH: And then resolved, that the ICANN board formally Michael Palage's service and contributions to ICANN, and expresses its good wishes to Michael in his future endeavors.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Hagen and Veni. And I think the amendment is very friendly and appropriate. I appreciate your having added that.
I recommend that we adopt this resolution by acclamation
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: I don't see Michael in the room. If he were, I would ask him to join us on the stage, but I hope he is off enjoying himself somewhere in -- here in Morocco. There are many enjoyable places to go, probably much more fun than sitting in a board meeting.
However, I would like to now move on to another thank you to another departing board member who is in the room today, so in a few moments, Mouhamet, I will ask you to join us here on the stage.
First of all, before I introduce the formal resolution, I have another note from Alex sent early in his morning today.
Alex says, "May I propose that the resolution to thank Mouhamet Diop for his service on the board mention his greatness of heart, courage in defeating obstacles to participation, among others, the challenging communication links in his region, panache, and for proving how brilliantly he could join an unconceding developing country perspective with technological brilliance. By doing this and with his transparent generous behavior, Mouhamet has defeated more than one stereotype. Let's hope we can find ways to invite and facilitate his continued contribution.
And I hope, indeed, I think and hope our resolution today emphasizes all those good words from Alex.
Whereas Mouhamet Diop was appointed to the ICANN board by the address supporting organization in December 2002.
Whereas Mouhamet has served the board with considerable energy and skill. He has also served as co-chair to the President's Advisory Committee for IDNs, and has provided excellent insight, leadership, and expertise in his role.
WHEREAS, Mouhamet Diop has concluded his term as director of the ICANN board just prior to the Morocco ICANN meeting.
WHEREAS, the board wishes to express its appreciation for Mouhamet Diop's willingness to continue as co-chair of the President's Advisory Committee for IDNs, and for his commitment to continue facilitating the committee's efforts to reach a secure and stable introduction of internationalized top-level labels.
Resolved, the ICANN board resolves that Mouhamet Diop has earned the deep appreciation of the board for his term of service, and the board wishes Mr. Diop well in all future endeavors.
I recommend that we adopt this by acclamation
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: How about that.
Before we do this formal thing, Mouhamet, somebody get a camera. Thank you.
Now, I have to point out to you that I have a certain amount of relief that Mouhamet is leaving the board. And you may be surprised to hear me say that.
The reason is that he dresses better than I do.
[ Laughter ]
>>VINT CERF: I can't even come close. When the television cameras come around to record what's going on in the board meeting, instead of focusing on the chairman, which they should focus on, instead they go straight to Mouhamet whose elegance, charm, and grace, to say nothing of his fabulous clothes, make the absolute idol of attention.
So, Mouhamet, we thank you from our hearts for all the hard work you have done, and we look forward to your continued service to ICANN and its community.
Here we have a small token of our appreciation.
[ Applause ]
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: Thank you very much, chairman.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
I'm part of this community and I am going to miss the board, but I am here in front, and I try really to be on a continuous move in order to bring what I think that in my heart, and for the whole community. And I think the message has been heard. It's time for the evolution of this organization to get new faces and new people who bring something new to the whole community.
And I thank you for your confidence in me, and I think I try my best to serve you.
Nobody was perfect, but I think that I try to do my best.
So thank you for your confidence. Thank you for your support. And let's move on on the next thing. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: We now come to another thank you to the sponsors, staff, scribes, and event team, and I would like to call on Roberto Gaetano to introduce this motion.
>>ROBERTO GAETANO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is a motion on thanks to sponsors, staff, scribes, and event team.
The board extends its thanks to all sponsors of the meeting, including Maroc Telecom, VeriSign, Public Interest Registry, Nokia, Meditel, Afilias, LogicBoxes, Maroc~Connect, Cisco Systems, AfriNIC, and CBI.
The board expresses its appreciation to the scribes Laura Brewer and Teri Darrenougue, to ICANN staff present here in Morocco, and to the rest of the ICANN staff for their effort in facilitating the smooth operations of the meeting.
The board also wishes to express its appreciation to the teams of Avant Scene, E-Informatique, K's Event, and Le Palais Des Congres.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Roberto. I'm going to add to your comments another note from Alex Pisanty.
He says, "Thanks to all who made this meeting possible. To Steve Conte, a special word of recognition for solving a huge problem against awesome odds. And to all other directors and friends who walk the extra mile to keep me connected. I want especially to add Steve's name to this list. He is standing over there in the corner and he has pulled so many rabbits out of a hat this week that I think every magician in the world is envious of him.
So I think we should adopt this by acclamation as well
[ Applause ]
>>STEVE CONTE: If I may, Vint, and the rest of the board, I am really just the face of what's taking place here. And there's a fabulous team locally with the event staff, with my staff, and with the staff back in Marina del Rey, and I am just the face you guys see running around and going crazy. So I appreciate the thanks, but there are a lot more people behind me supporting us.
>>VINT CERF: Paul.
>>PAUL TWOMEY: I wonder if, Chairman, I might share an anecdote which drives off your vote of thanks there.
We recently had a management meeting in Marina del Rey, and it was a fairly highly charged one and the president and CEO was probably being his more aggressive manager for detail self. And we were going through a long range of things, sort of driving about we need to get this done and we need to get that done.
And suddenly in the middle of all of this, Steve just stood up and in a spirit I thought which was fantastic, he was talking about why we come to work every day. And he just blurted out with this phrase. He said "I come to this ICANN thing because I believe in this ICANN because it's cool. It's important. It's noble. It's global."
We're going to be making T-shirts which say it's cool, it's important, it's noble, it's global.
And so you can expect to see these T-shirts appearing around at ICANN meetings from now on.
>>VINT CERF: That's a lot better than the T-shirt I have which still says "IP on everything."
[ Laughter ]
>>VINT CERF: Well, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the final action for this meeting, and that's thanks to our local hosts. And I'm calling upon Raimundo Beca to make that nomination.
So Raimundo, please.
>>RAIMUNDO BECA: Thank you, Vint.
I will make this -- I will read these thanks to our local hosts in French, and I hope the describes have the text, so they may translate it.
(Speaking French).
The board wishes to extend its thanks to His Excellency, Driss Jettou, Prime Minister of Morocco for opening the ICANN meeting in Marrakech as well as in his role as chairman of the board of ANRT, the telecom regulatory authority of Morocco. We also wish to particularly thank the Minister of Communication Nabil Benabdallah, ANRT, and the whole ANRT team, and the Moroccan Internet Society (ISOC Morocco) for hosting ICANN Marrakech.
Merci.
>>VINT CERF: Merci Beaucoup, Monsieur Beca. Tres bien. Merci.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have completed all of the work that the board has been scheduled to carry out today.
It appears that we finished a few minutes after 10:00.
I hope this gives all of you an opportunity to go on to enjoy the pleasures of this fine city, or perhaps climb back in bed and take a nap.
And I want to thank the board members for their expeditious prosecution of all these items and say that I look forward very much to seeing all of you in Sao Paulo at the end of the year.
In the meantime, see you on the net. The meeting is adjourned.
[ Applause ]