ICANN Board of Directors Meeting
Friday, 30 October 2009
ICANN Meeting
Seoul, Korea


>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Good morning and welcome back.  We resume
now as the board meeting.  There is a consent agenda of items that we
are not going to discuss.  This is the way we normally do things on
our telephonic meetings to aid and improve the efficiency and take
less time.

What happens is the resolutions that are put onto the consent agenda
are all circulated well in advance.  There is discussion by the board
on the board list or by telephone or by any board member who wants to
can get further staff or information or assistance.  At any time, any
board member simply has to request that an item be taken off the
consent agenda and put back on the main agenda for discussion.  And
without any further discussion, that happens.  So there is no onus or
proof or burden that anyone has to show, simply that they want to
talk about that item on the main agenda.  We do that occasionally,
board members have asked for the item to be moved to the main
agenda.  

What it means is that we can get through a great deal more work
without having to go through a process of discussing every single
resolution.

I'm particularly keen when there's been good committee work done,
for example, and the committee has gone through its proper processes,
comes up with a recommendation that's been posted, the board has had
a chance to review it and take advice from the staff, then what we
don't want to do is have the entire board relitigate a decision done
by good committee work.  That's an example of the sort of thing we
tend to put into the consent agenda.

What we are going to do today, though, is a slight modification of
that process.  We do have a number of resolutions on the consent
agenda.  But for your convenience and for the record, I'm going to be
asking individual board members to read those resolutions and we'll
treat them as -- that's how we'll put them into the record.

So the first item is the consent agenda.  The resolution in relation
to this item is:  

Resolved, the following resolutions in this consent agenda are
hereby approved.  

And I'll take the first one and it is approval of minutes.  And it
is, Resolved, the board hereby approves the minutes of the 30
September 2009 board meeting.  

So just to be clear, we are not going to stop and vote on that
resolution.  We are just going to read a whole stack of resolutions
like this and then have a single easy vote at the end.

So the second part of the consent agenda relates to approval of the
Document Publication Operational Policy, work coming out of the PPC. 
And I'll ask the chairman, Jean-Jacques, to read that one into the
record.  Jean-Jacques.

>>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:  Thank you, Peter.  

Approval of the Documentation Publication Operational Policy. 
Whereas, in May 2009 the board requested that its public
participation committee draw up a Document Publication Operational
Policy for ICANN international public meetings.  

Whereas, at its meeting in July 2009, the board further requested
that the document produced by the PPC be put out for public comment.

Whereas, the policy was put out for public comment for 30 days,
link, during which the PPC also held an online public consultation
session.  Changes and additions to the policy were suggested in a
summary and analysis of public input and these were discussed by the
PPC.

Whereas, the PPC provided to the board a completed Document
Publication Operational Policy for approval, noting that the policy
itself contains a requirement to review annually its efficacy,
assisted by a report produced by staff, in light of the experiences
gained at the ICANN international public meetings.

Whereas, the intent is to provide a clear framework and guidelines
for the consistent publication of work across the organization and so
enable timely and wide dialogue throughout the community.

Whereas, the committee is aware that the introduction of this
Document Publication Operational Policy will have a significant
impact on the organization and on its pattern of work, and that the
introduction of the policy is only the first step in a process aimed
at gradually improving ICANN's approach to publishing information for
its international public meetings.

Resolved, reference, that ICANN adopts the Document Publication
Operational Policy.

Resolved, reference, that the Document Publication Operational
Policy be reviewed annually in the light of the experience gained
during the previous ICANN international meetings in an effort to
continuously improve the policy.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Merci, Jean-Jacques.  

The next resolution, 1.3, is approval of the updates to existing
GNSO constituency charters.  I'll ask Roberto as member of the SIC to
deal with that one.

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Yes, Mr. Chairman.  

Approval of updates to existing GNSO constituency charters.

Whereas, the board approved new GNSO stakeholder group structures at
its 30 July 2009 meeting.

Whereas, Article XX, Section 5(3) of the recent bylaws amendments
call for existing GNSO constituencies to commit to the ICANN
secretary a new or revised charter inclusive of its operating
procedures, adopted according to the constituency's processes and
consistent with these bylaws amendments no later than October 2009,
or another date as the board may designate by resolution.

Whereas, a number of the GNSO constituencies are still working to
complete their charter update efforts; and, whereas, the board
expects that the substantive review of the existing GNSO constituency
charters will continue after Seoul to give the existing GNSO
constituencies the opportunity to reconfirm their status and further
update their charters to ensure that they conform with the principles
of the ICANN bylaws and the GNSO improvements process and the
implementation recommendations being developed by the GNSO community.

Whereas, the SIC recommended that the board direct staff and the
community to continue their collaborative efforts, and recommended
that the board should extend the time period for the remaining
constituencies to update their charter documents.

Resolved, the board directs the staff and the community to continue
their collaborative efforts to substantively improve the existing
GNSO constituency charters to reflect the GNSO improvements adopted
by the board and to seek board reconfirmation of the existing GNSO
constituencies by the Nairobi ICANN meeting.  The board otherwise
extends the time period for constituencies to update their charter
documents as described in the bylaws transition Article XX, Section
5(3) and asks the staff to coordinate those efforts as soon as
practicable.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Sorry.  Thank you.

Can we move then to the recommendation 1.4, which is recommendations
from the compensation committee.  And I'll ask Ramaraj, as a member
of that committee, to move that.

>>RAJASEKHAR RAMARAJ:  Thanks, Peter.  

Whereas, the compensation committee is charged with reviewing the
performance and recommending the compensation of the CEO and the
ombudsman.

Whereas, the compensation committee has conducted that review and
made recommendations to the board in relation to the CEO -- the CEO
is the past year for, Paul Twomey -- and the ombudsman for the year-
ending 30 June 2009.  

Resolved, the board adopts the recommendation of the compensation
committee.  Resolved, the board adopts the compensation committee's
recommendation in relation to the ombudsman's contract.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Ram.  The next one is 1.5,
revisions of the UDRP rules.  I will ask Steve Goldstein.

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  This regards efficiency.

Whereas, the UDRP was adopted and implemented in 1999, blah, blah,
blah.

Whereas, the rules for UDRP --

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Sorry, Steve.  You need to read the whole
resolution so that the scribes can --

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Well, okay.  I'm just trying to get us through
this thing, but okay.  Whereas, the rules for --

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  We need to get through it by reading it so
the scribes can get it into the record.

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  -- Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution policy
set forth uniform baseline rules for UDRP providers to follow when
administering UDRP cases.

Whereas, historically, the rules have required for UDRP complaints
and responses to be submitted in hard copy and electronic form to the
opposing party and to the provider.

Whereas, removing the requirement for hard-copy submission of
complaints and responses could result in significant reduction in
paper used in UDRP proceedings and in savings on printing and postage
costs and is likely to further enhance the efficiency of the UDRP
process.

Whereas, the provision of written notice of the UDRP complaint
filing should be provided to an UDRP respondent and under the
proposed amendments to the rules, the UDRP providers must provide
respondents with written notice to all physical addresses and/or
facsimile numbers as required today.

Whereas, the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO,
proposed amendments to the rules to allow for this electronic filing
implementation charge.

Whereas, the proposed amendments for the rules were posted for
public comment for 30 days and received significant support in
principle, including support from UDRP providers, so long as the hard-
copy written notice requirement was explicit.

Whereas, some commenters expressed concern over the ability for UDRP
providers to unilaterally modify their supplemental rules for items
that are not specifically reserved for the UDRP providers to address,
which may result in conflict with the standard rules, and potentially
impact the uniformity of the UDRP process.

Whereas, subsequent to the public comment period WIPO submitted
revised amendments to the rules to make the requirement for written
notice more explicit.

Resolved, the proposed amendments to the implementation rules for
the UDRP as proposed by WIPO on 17 September are approved.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.  We come next to the
budget for the next meeting, which is in Nairobi.  And I'll ask Katim
to take us through that.

>>KATIM TOURAY:  Thanks, Peter.  1.6, Approval of budget for Africa
meeting.

Whereas, the Board Finance Committee, BFC, at its 15 May 2009
meeting reviewed the budget for ICANN's 2010 meeting in Africa,
discussed the impact -- or discussed impact of travel costs and
efforts and ideas to reduce costs for meetings.

Whereas, the board at its 21 May 2009 special meeting approved the
location for ICANN's 2010 meeting in Africa to be in Nairobi, Kenya.

Whereas, the Board Finance Committee has recommended that the board
approve the budget of $2.235 million for the 2010 Africa meeting.

Resolved, the board confirms the budget which is not to exceed
$2.235 million for the 2010 Africa meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Brings me to the last one which I will do
which is the acknowledgment of the board committee reports.  It is
resolved, the board acknowledges the delivery of the reports from the
board committees.  

That is the text of the consent items.  I will now put that
resolution.  All those in favor of adopting all of those resolutions
en bloc, please raise your hands.

Any opposed?

[No verbal response.]

Abstentions?

[No verbal response.]

Carried.  

So let's move to the next item, which is a historic resolution in
relation to the IDN ccTLD fast track.  And as a member of the ccTLD
community, it gives me pleasure to call on another member of the
ccTLD community, Mike Silber, to move this resolution.

>>MIKE SILBER:  Peter, thank you very much for giving me the
opportunity to move this resolution.  Before I do, I would just like
to recognize all of those pioneers, in particular from the Asia-
Pacific region who put so much work into the IDN concept.  In
particular, I think we have one of the pioneers, (saying name), with
us today.  I'm not going to go and recognize each and every one
individually.  But seeing Dr. Chan (phonetic) is here today, I think
it is worth recognizing their efforts, also the efforts of those
who've taken those -- that initial body of work and have developed it
to the working situation we have today, Tina Dam, from the staff, and
two of my colleagues on the board, Ram Mohan and Harald Alvestrand
who have been putting in immense work and effort to make this a
reality.  I would like to pay tribute and acknowledge their special
efforts and commitment to this process.

Accordingly, approval of final implementation plan for IDN ccTLD
fast-track process:

Whereas, IDNs have been available for second and lower level domain
name registrations for years and under the IDNA protocol since 2003.

Whereas, the community has been discussing and working on
introduction of IDNs as top-level domains based on the experiences
gained during the second and lower level introductions.

Whereas, the ccNSO and the GAC were asked in December 2006 during
the São Paulo meeting to, quote, through a joint collaborative
effort, in consultation as needed with the relevant technical
community, to produce an issues paper relating to the selection of
IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO-3166-1 two-letter codes.

Whereas, the ccNSO and the GAC formed a joint working group, the
IDNC working group, that published and submitted to the board a list
of issues relating to the introduction of IDN ccTLDs associated with
the ISO-3166-1 two-letter codes in June 2007 which resulted in the
board requesting, quote, that the ICANN community including the GNSO,
ccNSO, GAC and ALAC provide the board with responses to the published
list of issues and questions that need to be addressed in order to
move forward with IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO-3166-1 two-
letter codes in a manner that ensures the continued security and
stability of the Internet.

Whereas, members were appointed to the IDNC working group following
the board request and initiated their work which resulted in the IDNC
final report which was provided to the ICANN board at its meeting in
Paris, France, June 2008.

Whereas, the board approved the IDNC final report for fast-track IDN
ccTLDs at the Paris meeting and directed staff to initiate the
implementation of the IDNC recommendations.

Whereas, ICANN in October 2008 sought expressions of interest about
participation in the IDN ccTLD fast-track process to inform the
implementation of the IDNC working group final report and received 74
responses with 31 interested in participating in the fast-track
process, representing a total of 15 different languages.

Whereas, ICANN in October 2008 published the first draft
implementation plan for the IDN ccTLD fast-track process for public
comments; the first revision of the plan in November 2008; the second
revision in February 2009; the third revision in May 2009; and the
proposed final implementation plan in September 2009.

Resolved, the ICANN board sincerely thanks all participants for
their hard work towards making IDN TLDs become a reality through the
IDN ccTLD fast-track process.

Resolved, the ICANN board directs staff to launch the IDN ccTLD fast-
track process as detailed in the proposed final implementation plan,
beginning at zero hours UTC on 16 November 2009.

Resolved, the ICANN board directs staff to monitor the operation of
the IDN ccTLD fast-track process at regular intervals to ensure its
smooth operation and subject to board review update the process when
new technology or policies become available with the goal to
efficiently meet the needs of fast-track process requesters and to
best meet the need of the global Internet community.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Mike.  Is there a seconder for
that resolution?  Harald.  Seconded by Harald.  

Any other people that would like to speak to the resolution?  I have
Thomas Narten and then Thomas Roessler followed by Steve G.

Thomas Narten?

>>THOMAS NARTEN:  Thank you, Peter.  I just want to say briefly just
one thing.  Many people in the room here know that the dedication and
perseverance and hard work that's been done by many to bring this
process to where it is.

I would just like to call out attention to Tina Dam in particular. 
And I say that from the perspective of the technical community and as
IETF liaison, I have seen an aspect that many in this room may really
not be aware of or sort of know what's been going on behind the
scenes.  But to many, she's really the face of IDNs from ICANN and
she has been the chief diplomat between ICANN and the technical
community.  She has been to many IETF meetings.  She's worked a lot
with the community behind the scenes as they work on revising the
IDNA protocols.

And she's really been the key individual that has kept the IETF
community engaged and has come to, you know, individual IETF persons
asking them for help, asking questions, saying, "Well, will this
work?  Will this be a problem?  And help me make sure we get this
right."

So she's really been the chief diplomat here between ICANN and I
think the technical community as a whole.  For that I, just want to
sort of personally and perhaps on behalf of the technical community
say thank you to Tina.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Tina, of course, can't be with us, but I
know she will be grateful to receive that message.  Thank you,
Thomas.  Nicely put.

Thomas Roessler?

>>THOMAS ROESSLER:  Thank you, Peter.  I would like to just briefly
reflect that the decision in front of us here today is both the
culminating point of a lot of policy development but also it is a
point that we couldn't have achieved without collaboration globally
and across very different communities in developing the technology
that underlies IDNs over the last almost ten years.

And I would like to really recognize the enormous effort that was
invested to enable protocols and enable applications to actually deal
with these names and deal with these identifiers to serve global
needs.  

So the recognition here is to those in the technical community who
have made it possible for us today to pass this resolution.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Thomas.  

I have Steve G. next and then Roberto.

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Thank you, Chair.  I'm absolutely delighted to
see that we have come to this point before my tenure on the board is
up in just a few hours.  I think it is monumental.  In principle, I
want to see this happen.

I know that there are territories who very much want a domain name
in their own script and who are ready to sign up for all the things
that so many of us deem necessary.  For example, an agreement to
adhere to procedures and agreement to help -- to share the costs --
reasonable costs of doing that.

And I think that I would -- I want to see those countries or those
territories get their IDN ccTLDs.  

In fact, with one of them I even have a conflict of interest.  I
know Russia is in the pipeline, and I'm a member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, a foreign member.  But I guess I've got a built-
in conflict there, so I should probably recuse myself on this one.

But I'm going to -- when the vote comes up, I'm going to abstain
rather than vote against it because, as I say, I really want to see
it happen.  The reason I'm going to abstain or the reason I would
want to vote against it is I still believe that this organization
must be supported for the services that it provides.  And there is a
cost to doing those services.

And I believe that territories who get IDN ccTLDs should be obliged
to pay for those services.  If it turns out that they're too poor to
be able to do that, then perhaps we set up a subvention mechanism.  

I also believe that it is necessary that they agree formally to
abide by changes that might be necessitated by new protocol
developments, for example.

And so if not for my strong desire to see some of the countries or
territories that are in the current pipeline for the fast track get
their IDN ccTLDs I would vote against this.  And I hope that when the
board and the rest of the community debate on this in the future and
come to some final conclusion that there will, indeed, be a
requirement that territories do pay their fair shares and do formally
agree to follow necessary procedures to provide for the stability of
the DNS.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.  

Next in line is Roberto.

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I share some of the
concerns that Steve has voiced in the past, but I come to a
completely opposite conclusion for this resolution.  And I will tell
you why.

I think that this is a very important step.  This is bringing some
change that will be even a cultural change, a completely different
way in which we -- certain countries will then see the Internet, the
possibility to open to new users that have been on the other side of
the digital divide.  So this is too important a thing for risking its
delay.

There have been a lot of discussion.  I'm not very much concerned
about paying the fees, although I agree.  My concern is more related
to the fact of being able to identify, isolate and sanction bad
actors, something that is possible to do in the G space but is not
possible to do in the cc space.  So, therefore, in the IDN fast
track, the approach of the cc space has been maintained.

We had several discussions with the ccNSO, with the GAC.  I have
expressed my opinions several times.  I think that we should go to a
situation in which we have the possibility of taking actions on bad
actors.

In the meantime, since we have started the discussions about the
IDN, there were other things that have been developed and that might
be included in the gTLD contracts like the use of DNSSEC, like the
use of IPv6.

So those things are absent from our resolution for the IDN.  And I
think that I share the fact that we approve this resolution, even if
those problems have not been solved for two reasons.

First of all, I have faith in the community that in any case bad
actors will not appear in the IDN fast track and that there might be
other means to deal with that, maybe pressure from the relevant
government or other things, so -- even pressure from the Internet
community.

So a sort of moral situation rather than something that is in the
contract.  That is something that I can live with.  And second, the
hope that this situation can be solved in the future and some
measures can be formalized in the future to have a guarantee which is
not a guarantee for ICANN but a guarantee for the global Internet
community that our single interoperable global Internet is not going
to be affected by the behavior of some bad actors that we cannot
corner.

So I think that given the fact that we have been unable to come to
an agreement on a common course of action, I think that it is my duty
in any case to vote in favor of this resolution and to -- not to risk
that the process is stopped.

So to go ahead, but I still have the hope that in the future, given
this sign of good will from the part of the board of ICANN, who
operates and who is responsible for the operations of those IDN fast-
track TLDs will come to an agreement also in terms of a more
articulated and specific commitment in whatever form it will be
appropriate to do this.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Roberto.  Next in line is Wendy,
followed by Ram, followed by Jean-Jacques, followed by Dennis,
followed by Rod.  So there's a speaking order building so please -- I
know it's an historic occasion.  If you could keep your comments
concise, that would be helpful.

>>WENDY SELTZER:  Thank you, Peter.  Briefly, I first want to
express support for -- on behalf of the millions of Internet users
from among the at-large Internet using public who will now have more
direct access to the Internet through native scripts and languages,
and I look forward to that.

At the same time, I want to express some concern and -- that the
introduction of IDN TLDs, first through the cc side, leaves the
control of use of these scripts in a few places and to express the
hope that countries rolling out IDN ccTLDs should not use that
control for censorship of content or to limit users' access to the
Internet, but rather, that they follow the mode that has been so
successful in the generic TLDs of open, no-permission-required access
and to whatever content the users choose to post.

In that vein, I also look forward to full, free competition from IDN
gTLDs and hope that that process will be launched in short order.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Wendy.  Next, Ram Mohan --
sorry.  Ramaraj.

>>RAJASEKHAR RAMARAJ:  One comment and one question.  Coming from a
country where we have 22 languages, this is definitely a welcome
move, and I'm told that India will apply for a small subset of that
22 on that fast track, and really look forward to the impact on the
Internet community in India.

The question I have is that in Sydney, we had constituted a working
group for two characters and some variants, and I was keen to know
what the progress has been and I was wondering if Ram Mohan could
update us.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Is it going to make a difference to your
voting or not on this resolution, Ram?

>>RAJASEKHAR RAMARAJ:  Well, I welcome and I'll vote in favor for
sure.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Okay.  Let's come to Jean-Jacques.

>>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:  Thank you, chair.  For the record, I'd
like my position to be taken note of.

I will vote in favor of this resolution, clearly for the reasons
which were put forward by all my colleagues, especially Roberto, but
at the same time I would like, as a voting member, to support
strongly the concerns put forward by Wendy Seltzer.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  

Dennis Jennings?

>>DENNIS JENNINGS:  Thank you, Peter.  When I was interviewed by the
NomCom for election to the board, this was the area that I
identified, the topic that I identified as my top priority in
becoming a board member.  So I'm extremely pleased to see this
happen, and I will be voting an enthusiastic "yes" for this.  But I
do have some concerns, and I share the concerns of some of my board --
fellow board members.

I'd like to express these not in terms of concerns, but in terms of
in terms of perhaps more of opportunities and I'd like to draw
attention to one important word in the text and that is
"experimental."  Not experimental in the technical sense but
experimental more in the organization and social sense.

There's an experiment going on as to how voluntary, but expected,
contributions will work out.  There's an experiment going on in
broadening the number of languages and character sets from
effectively one to dozens.  There's an experiment going on in how
disputes that could arise from the use of variants and characters in
different languages and different countries that could lead to abuse
will be resolved.  And I'm a great proponent of the principle of
subsidiarity, but here is where a particular role might arise for the
ICANN board.  It's an experiment in terms of how the -- the new IDN
country TLDs will be encouraged to implement DNSSEC and IPv6.

So there are quite a few experimental aspects to this, and I look
forward to this being a successful experiment, so that when the fast
track is over and we come to the more general implementation of
country IDN TLDs, I'll be able to vote yes again then.  Thank you,
Chairman.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Dennis.  Next in the line is
Rod, followed by Ram Mohan.  Perhaps, Ram, if you could answer that
question, if you get a moment and then we'll come to you, Steve
Crocker.  Beginning with Rod.

>>ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you, Peter.  I'd just like to express my
appreciation to all those across the open Internet ecosystem who have
worked for many, many years to make this possible.  And especially
not only to the members of the ICANN community, but to the members of
the Internet Engineering Task Force, the IETF, some of whom have
worked for over a decade on this issue.

And this represents today one small step for ICANN, and the IETF,
but it represents a very important and significant step for half the
world of Internet users.  Those who use non-Latin scripts and their
own language.

This helps us live up to our shared goals of:  One world, one
Internet, everyone connected.

Now, in people's own script.

And this first step allows them to use their own domain names in
their own languages, but only for the country code domains, so
instead of dot Korea, they can have dot -- the set of Hangul symbols
or, rather, symbols that represent Korea for them -- and this is an
important step.  And yet there's many people around the world that
would like to have the equivalents of the Latin TLDs such as dot com,
dot net, dot org, and others in their own native scripts as well.

This is an important next step that we need to continue working on. 
We, as a community, have not yet reached consensus on the final
resolution of those other issues, but we have a moral responsibility
in what we do for the public interest to push that forward.

Otherwise, we are prejudicing the global domain name system against
half of the world whose native languages are in those other scripts. 
So I hope that to fulfill our obligation to act in the public
interest, which we recently reaffirmed by signing the Affirmation of
Commitments, that we will move forward swiftly and professionally and
with due consideration to bring those issues to a closure, so that
people in Thailand, in Korea, in India, and all over the world can
truly use the Internet in their own script for their domain name
needs.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Rod.  We've come to Ram Mohan and
perhaps an answer, briefly, to Ramaraj's question.

>>RAM MOHAN:  Thank you, Peter.  Ramaraj, thank you for the question
regarding the relaxation of restrictions around the two-character top-
level domains.  The IDN implementation working team, which I co-chair
along be with Harald Alvestrand here on the board, we've completed
our work and will be issuing a report shortly, and the preview is
that we have come up -- the implementation team has come up with a
set of proposed rules that would allow for the relaxation of the
restriction for two-character domains, and TLDs.

And that will then go out for a full public consultation process.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Ram.  Steve Crocker.

>>STEVE CROCKER:  Thank you, Peter.  I want to echo Rod Beckstrom's
comments and extend in a couple of ways.

This truly is a momentous time, and although the Internet was
developed in western culture and with a great deal of it being done
in the U.S., I think there is an enormous amount of good feeling and
intention that this be -- that the Internet be a balanced, extended,
and open access for all peoples of the world.  It's particularly
fitting that we take this decision here in Korea, one of the more
advanced countries of the world with respect to Internet technology,
and one -- and a country which has gone great distance to be able to
speak to western cultures by having English available in many places
and yet has its own very rich and long-standing language and scripts
of its own, and I think that this will be quite educational and quite
helpful to peoples around the world.

I want to add that there is a new opportunity.  This, as Rod pointed
out, is but a first step in extending the IDN space.  This is for
country code top level domains and within that, the fast track as
well.  Many more steps to come.

With this new step comes the opportunity to also make a step forward
with respect to related security and other technology issues, and so
we expect, we hope, and we counsel the new operators of these TLDs to
use the best practices to start with DNSSEC, with IPv6 availability,
and with the prohibition on the use of wildcard redirection.  And
with that, I am again extremely supportive -- overjoyed, actually --
to see that we are in this position, and to anything that I can do
personally, I'll be happy to help.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.  I'm sure that offer will
be very well received by the new operators.  Any other comments?  

If not, I'll claim the closing spot and just perhaps picking up on
some themes in the interest of time, agree with Roberto very
thoroughly that this represents, I think, faith in the ccTLD
community -- in my view, appropriate and well-placed faith in the
ccTLD community -- to operate these new TLDs for the interests of
their local Internet communities and fully cognizant of their
operations to the global interoperable Internet.

In many ways, the conditions under which these TLDs are going to be
operated reflect the status quo in terms of relationships and fees,
and that has stood us well for a long time.

On the other hand, I recognize the opportunities that the PDP that
is moving its way through the ccNSO in relation to the full
implementation of IDNs -- recognizing this is a special fast track,
when the full PDP comes through, there will be opportunities to
review many aspects of the relationship and operations of the ccTLDs
and I welcome that.

So with that comment, I'll put this resolution.  All those in favor
please raise their hands.

[Show of hands]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  I see Rita raising her hand in New York. 
Any abstentions?

[Show of hands]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve G.  Noted.  Any opposed?

[No hands raised]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  And I declare the resolution carried.  Well
done.

[Applause]

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Sorry.  I was slightly more emotional about
that than I thought I was going to be and I see others in the room
are equally affected.  Janis.

>>JANIS KARKLINS:  Peter, thank you very much indeed.  I would like
to congratulate the board for this very important decision which was
taken.  If I would have been -- if I would have voting rights, I
would certainly vote against and not only with one hand but with two.
Chapeau to all those who have been working, as we heard, a decade, to
make this happen and develop the IDNs.  But I would like to
acknowledge a few things specifically related to fast track.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Janis, can I just interrupt for a moment. 
I think either you misspoke or the scribes -- you're down on the
record as saying you would vote against this resolution and I'm sure
from the tone of your comments you're talking about voting for it.

[Laughter]

>>JANIS KARKLINS:  If I -- if I said that, I was -- it was because
of my limited knowledge of English.

[Laughter]

>>JANIS KARKLINS:  I would -- I tried to say that if I would have a
voting right, I would vote like this (indicating).  With two hands.

>>KATIM TOURAY:  For or against?

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Do you want to say anything more about --

>>JANIS KARKLINS:  For.  Yes, if you would allow me.

[Laughter]

>>JANIS KARKLINS:  I would like to acknowledge, first of all, the
exemplary cooperation of supporting organizations and advisory
committees which would allow this fast track being developed in so
short time.

Equally, I would like to personally thank those ICANN staff members
and senior management who made it happen, starting with Theresa
Swinehart, who sent the first e-mail suggesting the idea of a fast
track, Doug and Kurt who followed all along the process developing
this fast track, Tina Dam and Bart Boswinkel, who kept a pen on the
paper along the whole process.  Equally, I would like to thank chair
of ccNSO, Chris Disspain, and the vice chair of the GAC, Manal Ismail
from Egypt, for their personal contributions and successful
elaboration of the fast track.

And finally, I think that concerns which have been expressed before
the vote showed that the right balance in the implementation plan was
found.  The GAC also had concerns, concerns on the proposed
discrimination against existing ccTLDs, and the mere fact that
everybody had its own concern but everybody voted in favor showed
that the implementation plan reflects the right balance between
different competing interests.

Once again, congratulations and thank you for letting me speak so
long.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Janis.  It's difficult when so
many people have made such an enormous contribution to this but I
would just like to echo and speak in favor of singling out the
efforts of the chair of the ccNSO, Chris Disspain, who has been
enormously influential in bringing this project this far.

Chris, I know, has been a tireless ambassador, and champion, on
behalf of the ccTLDs, liaising with the GAC, with foreign countries,
not part of the ICANN process, and with the board, and Chris has
always brought to that his typical clarity of thinking and eloquence
of expression, coupled always with very good humor.  

So I'd like to pay particular attention to my colleague in the
ccNSO, Chris Disspain.  Thank you.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Everything after that seems a little
mundane, but we have work to do.  Let's carry on.

The next item is a discussion on matters arising -- sorry.  It's the
approval of new GNSO constituency applications, which was on the
agenda.  I'll ask Roberto to explain where we've got to in that
process.

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Thank you, Mr. Chair.  We have just approved the
resolution that was related to the constituency -- to the renewal of
the constituencies' charters for the existing constituencies.

There was a -- we had, in the meantime, four applications for new
constituencies.  Those applications were done initially in a
framework that was different from the one that we are operating now. 
We had changes to the stakeholder group charters, and some of the
assumptions that we were using one year ago have slightly changed, so
the SIC was vested with the task of evaluating these applications,
and while -- and staff has done a very thorough analysis of those
applications to see -- check their compliance with the rules and the
expectations.

We have different cases that I don't want to get very much into
detail, but whereas certain applications are completing to be revised
because they don't fit in the way we have restructured the GNSO,
there is one that was, in our opinion, ready for implementation,
which is the consumer constituency.  However, the situation that is
now created in the noncommercial stakeholder group is a situation
that is new and that is evolving with three councillors appointed by
the board following a recommendation by the SIC, and we have felt
that at this point we need to see how this new stakeholder group
matures and operates before introducing a new element.

So in the spirit of doing the changes little by little, rather than
everything at once, the position that the SIC has taken was to delay
the approval of the consumer constituency and let at least the
stakeholder group start its activity.

At the same time we have to recognize that we are in a difficult
situation because we have application that is perfectly valid and
will, without any doubt, bring also great advantage and new people to
the noncommercial stakeholder group.

So we didn't feel like just dropping -- punting the ball, as you say
in America, and we had meeting with the consumer constituency to
explain that the consideration that we were applying was not related
to the quality of the application, not related to value that this
constituency will bring to the life of the organization, but only a
consideration of timing.

So therefore, we have agreed on keeping, for the moment, this
application on the back burner, in confidence that this will not
sound like a rejection but in the consumer community will continue to
remain intentioned to participate in this process.

We are talking just about to wait until something like the end of
the year, this type of framework, just to let the stakeholder group
start, and before being distracted by further changes.

The introduction of a new constituency, whereas it has been made
clear from -- by the SIC already in April, replying to a precise
question of the chair of the GNSO Council, is not linked to a seat on
the council, so therefore, unlike in the previous structure of the
GNSO creating a constituency does not give you a ticket to the
council.

There is nevertheless a certain power that the constituency has. 
Participation in an executive committee that will coordinate the life
of the stakeholder group, access to resources that will help in the
development of the policymaking process, and so on.

So basically that was our recommendation:  To let the dust settle
for a couple of months before we introduce this new and very welcome
new element to the stakeholder group.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Roberto.  I have a question from
Harald and from Raimundo.  Let's begin with Harald.

>>HARALD TVEIT ALVESTRAND:  So Roberto, I'm a bit surprised.  I
think it was Steve Crocker in another context who said that doing
things in this fashion is like baking a raisin cake and then putting
in the raisins in afterwards.  And I'm promising us to have this --
this constituency charter ready by January -- the dead -- January
board meeting at the latest?

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Well, that's, without any doubt, the objective,
and I'm sure that there will be also other constituencies.  I've
heard in these days in the corridors rumors about an individual
registrants constituency that is getting organized, so this was the --
this was the idea.

People who -- who remember me in a previous life when we started
ICANN and we were forming the constituencies -- and I'm talking about
Berlin 1999 -- I was a strenuous proponent of an open system in which
new constituencies were formed.  I would have loved to be able to go
to an historical step of the creation and the accreditation of a new
constituency for the first time in 11 years in the -- in ICANN, but
this is just that the situation would have created too many
conflicts.  And we adopted the -- a line in which we could think that
the potential conflicts could be managed in time and the conflict
quality could be reduced.  I have to remind that the process of
formation of the noncommercial stakeholder group was a long and
difficult process.  And, you know, even in Sydney we had very lively
sessions.  So it's a real just give the people the possibility of
looking around, realize that the situation is -- to feel at ease with
the situation and then do further changes.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Roberto.  Raimundo, and then we
need to move on.

 >>RAIMUNDO BECA:  Thanks, Peter.  I wanted to say that I have had
some feedback on the sessions that have been held at these days at
Seoul between the -- between the NCUC and the -- and, mainly, the new
appointees by the board.  And they have reached a series of,
according to my feedback, agreements which, in my personal opinion,
is good ground to find a good solution.  I don't know.  I am not
saying that everything is perfect in what they have achieved.  But,
certainly, they have good grounds.  And I'm quite optimistic that we
will achieve a good solution for everybody in this position.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Raimundo.  The seating is good
progress of that.  We're coming into the issues arising from the
Seoul meeting for discussion.  We have a slot on the agenda where we
make sure we cover and discuss any of the critical elements that
emerged from the meeting.  The agenda for the board meeting, of
course, is published well before the actual meeting here starts.  So
the first item for discussion would be any comment from board members
on the Affirmation of Commitments.  

I can perhaps kick that off by saying, universally, that's been
extremely well-received by the community as the first point.  And
then a considerable interest and involvement by the community and all
parts of the community in how -- in looking forward to discussing how
we're going to structure the review process, the composition of the
review teams.  And I think it's widely understood that the goal of
this, of course, is to improve those areas that are focused on.  So
idea is to build a better ICANN.  I think that message has come
through reasonably clearly.  Any comment?  Steve G.

 >>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  I do, indeed, hope that people who are here
will -- not from the United States -- will take back to their
countries the notion and the idea that this Affirmation of
Commitments document can be duplicated in other countries as an
agreement with ICANN as well.  It is not just intended to be an
agreement with the U.S. government.  So I look forward to seeing that
happen as well.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Dennis Jennings and then Janis.

 >>DENNIS JENNINGS: Just very briefly, Peter.  Thank you very much
indeed.  While I agree the reviews are extremely important, they are
our side of the agreement.  I think the most important component of
the affirmation is the affirmation of the ICANN multistakeholder
bottom-up private sector development of privacy for the global
Internet.  That, I think, is a tremendous stake in the ground and a
tremendous milestone for this model and for ICANN.  Thank you, Peter.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Dennis.  Janis.  And then we'll
come to Roberto.  Janis?

 >>JANIS KARKLINS:  Thank you, Peter.  GAC already expressed itself
on the Affirmation of Commitment.  I want to say, first and foremost,
this is a community review.  And we need to ensure that community,
including governments all around the world, feels involved in the
review process throughout the whole time.

This should be done by setting up a methodology that requests a full
transparency of the work of the review teams.  And there is a lot of
interest about the potential timetable.  And, as I said in the public
comments, I believe that the first we should agree on methodology of
these reviews.  And the first review or methodology should be offered
for the public comments sometimes around the end of the year or very
soon after.  Thank you.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Roberto?

 >>ROBERTO GAETANO: I'll be very brief, although this is a step of
incredible importance.  I think that we have turned the page and we
have a great opportunity so that the ICANN model works to engage in a
different way with all our stakeholders, engage with governments, and
prove that we have grown from the beginning.  And I think that
there's also -- we have to say that -- thanks to Rod, who has
mastered this transition.  And, if I have to be completely honest, if
six months ago you would have asked me whether I thought that today
we would have been at this point, I would have said no. It's too
optimistic.  So thank you, Rod, for having conducted this master
game.  

And now we turn the page and we have to roll up our sleeves and work
in a different environment.  This will require a cultural change from
our part, and all for the benefit of the Internet community.

 >>ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you very much, Roberto, for expressing
that.  Like all good things in ICANN, it's teamwork.  So thank you.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  I have Dennis Jennings.  You've spoken. 
We'll come to you, perhaps, for the wrap-up and explain the process --
before do you that, let's go to Katim.  Katim, a quick one.

 >>KATIM TOURAY:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I just wanted to add
my voice to the sentiment that's been expressed by the huge and
enormous importance of the Affirmation of Commitments.  The way I see
it is that the AoC is just one of three issues that really go to make
a 3-legged stool on which ICANN is going to stand and sit down as we
move forward.

The second tool, of course, is the IDN.  And the third one is going
to be the new gTLDs.  All of these three issues offer incredible
opportunities, but I think they are also going to be huge issues that
we need to grapple with the details that are going to be involved
with implementing them.  It's going to be important, especially for
those of us like me who are from developing countries to really go
back home and commit to working with our communities to realize that
there is still a lot of work to be done.  Like they say, be careful
what you pray for.  You might get it.  There's a lot of work to be
done ahead.  I think this is even more -- the best -- I mean, the
best time to call for the community spirit that got us to here in the
first place.  Especially, like I said, from the developing world, we
need to go back and engage our communities and our governments and
the private sector and everybody to really start making this thing a
success.  Congratulations.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Katim.  Let's just go then to Rod
to explain how the staff at whom this project has been thrown has
arranged to deal with it.  Rod.

 >>ROD BECKSTROM:  Thank you very much, Peter.  And, again,
acknowledgment to the entire community for having worked on this for
11 years to get to this new phase.  There have been a couple of
session this week, discussions about the Affirmation of Commitments. 
There was a public session two days ago that we got a lot of very
good ideas on.  We remain open to ideas.  The staff is going to
develop a strawman proposal for the review process for the review
team to consider, once it's seated.  We'll be presenting that to the
board of ICANN on December the 9th for their consideration.  And this
is being done at the request of the ICANN board.  So that will be the
process.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks very much.  Any more from the
board on that?  If not, let's take move to the next topic.  We've
taken that one.  The next is an update on the root scaling study.  

I think, Suzanne, you wanted to -- as a member of the community
deeply involved with that and who will be advising us on what it
means when it all comes together.  An update on that, please.

 >>SUZANNE WOOLF:  Well, I think I did address it in the RSSAC
update.  But, certainly, there's been a great deal of discussion this
week.  A lot of good input from the community as people read and
reflect.  There's just a couple things I'd like to remind people. 
And I believe also other board members had a few things they wanted --
a few comments they wanted to make.  But I think I want the community
to be particularly aware that this is an ongoing process.  That the
report that was produced and has been -- has generated so much
interest is part of a process that we'll be leading to more specific
advice, I believe, from SSAC and RSSAC.

Since that advice has not yet formalized, I'm speaking for myself
here.  But the point I'd particularly like to make -- as we consider
the root scaling issues and how to integrate them into policy and
operations, the most important thing to remember is this:  The system
work team built here has great resilience, enormous capacity, great
adaptability to change.  It's coped with change continuously and will
continue to do so into the future.  That's not in doubt.

However, too much change too fast seems to be the key point here. 
It would put any complex system at risk.  So we're not in a crisis
here.  But what we are doing is analyzing and planning to make sure
that we avoid one in the future.  There's work to do on clearly
quantifying where we're at and making sure that we're protecting the
stability of the system as we move forward.  I believe that ICANN and
the root server operators and the other portions of the technical and
operations community that are involved in the DNS infrastructure will
be able to work together as we continue to protect and grow the
system and the Internet into the future.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Suzanne.  So far in the speaking
order I have Bruce and Ram Mohan.  Bruce?

 >>BRUCE TONKIN:  Thanks, Peter.

I just wanted to sort of put it into context with an analogy that
may help.  We have 1200 people attending this meeting.  And this room
has, I think, roughly, 700 seats in it, just expecting that not
everybody would attend each session at once.  If we added another 100
people to this room, we could do what the airlines do particularly
well and just make the seats all be a bit closer together and you can
have your knees up near your shoulders.  And we could pretty easily
add another hundred people, really, without changing any processes at
all.  So we could use the same room.  We could use the same process
for giving people badges as they come to this event.  S that that's
1200 people, adding another 100.  And we could do that today, if we
wanted to.  We could add another hundred people.  

If, however, we doubled the number of people in here -- so we go
from 1200 to, say, 2,000. Then we could still do it in the hotel, but
we wouldn't all fit in this room.  I discussed with the meeting
organizer how to we'd do that.  We'd have people in different rooms
and broadcast the audio and video to different rooms.  And we'd allow
people to make comments at different mics.  They just might be on the
36th floor, rather than this floor.  So we can still do 2,000 people
in this hotel.

If we go to an order of magnitude change, we go from, say, roughly
1,000 people to 10,000, we can't use a hotel like this.  But there
are hotels that exist in the world that can cope with 10 -- well,
venues, I should say -- that will cope for events or conferences with
10,000 people.  Some of the -- even Inter and some of the other
events that people in this community attend, certainly significantly
bigger than an ICANN event.  And they're held in much bigger venues. 
But their approach for how they process registrations, it's all
preregistration.  You don't just walk up and get a badge.  There are
different processes for how they handle people coming in to much
bigger rooms.  If we go to 100,000, then you start hitting some other
limits.  We'd probably move to a football stadium.  Then you have to
think about distribution.  How do you get people in and out of that
football stadium?  A lot of countries, when they start holding
Olympic games and things like that, need to increase the transport
infrastructure.  They put trains in, and they put in new roads and
new train lines.  You start hitting other limits than just the room
capacity, but start hitting limits in how do you distribute people to
that venue?  

Then, if we move to a million, there are meetings that have a
million people in them.  The U.S. president, in his inauguration, had
a million people spread across the ground in Washington.  So, in
other words, you move from an indoor venue to an outdoor venue.  You
put speakers distributed down the streets, et cetera.  So we know
that you can handle a million people at an event.  And we know that
you can handle millions of domain names in a root zone.  However, a
sudden change -- if we suddenly had even 10,000 people coming to this
event, say, to the next meeting in Kenya, that would really stress
the meeting organizers.  Because they've actually got a system that's
designed for around about a thousand people.  If 10,000 people turned
up unexpectedly, they would struggle.  

So I just want to reemphasize what Suzanne's saying is that, in the
engineering design of the DNS, it can cope with great volumes and
capacity.  We know it, because it exists.  But we also know that at
the root zone we don't have the procedures, the distribution
mechanisms to be able to handle, you know, tens of thousands,
hundreds of thousands of names as once.  Over 10 years that could be
developed.  But we're not talking about that.  We're talking about a
few hundred names being added.  And I think that is within the scope
of the system as it is today.  There are some improvements that are
needed, the improvements in the processing at both ICANN and other
steps where names are accepted and changes are made.  Roughly, we had
about one change a day in the DNS in the root.  If we had a few
hundred more names, that would increase to more than one a day.  So
we need to streamline some processes there.  We need to look at
increasing capacity in a few parts of the system.  Some bigger rooms,
essentially, slightly bigger computers.  We might need some better
distribution in some parts.  But, as long as there's time and
planning involved, I think it can cope.  

I just want to put the context there, in just thinking about it with
an analogy.  And, hopefully, that will help people understand that,
as Suzanne says, it can cope.  But it needs to be very carefully
planned.  And you don't want a sudden injection of names or a sudden
injection of change.  You want to plan that change carefully.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Bruce.  A quick reaction from
Rod, and we'll go to Ram.

 >>ROD BECKSTROM:   I hear you scaling from one room to many rooms
to maybe going out of doors.  Let me make sure I got this straight. 
So, if we keep growing, what's going to happen if we mix ICANN plus
ICANN music night with going out of doors?  Will that be Woodstock or
Geekstock?  It sounds like fun.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Certainly does.  Ram Mohan.

 >>RAMESH PHADKE:  Thank you.  The security and stability advisory
committee is studying this issue, and it's informed by the root
scaling report.  Steve Crocker already covered that.  We expect to
have some recommendations to the ICANN community by the end of the
year, barring unforeseen developments.  In doing this, we're
attempting to reach broader consensus and are soliciting more
information from technical experts in the DNS area.  We also note
that scaling the root crosses gTLD and ccTLD boundaries and
encompasses IDNs.  Now, some personal observations about the
directions informed by the root scaling work.  First, we need to
continue to implement DNSSEC, including the efforts to sign the root.
This is an important upgrade to the Internet and is much needed.

We realize that the problem is not how many new TLDs are added to
the root zone, but what is the rate of addition of the new TLDs given
that they're also implementing DNSSEC IPv6, IDNs, et cetera.  So it's
important for ICANN to ensure that the overall rate of change to the
root zone be kept within reasonable bounds and that the system be
carefully monitored to ensure and prevent problems from happening. 
The same time I note the comments made by my colleagues that there is
a great deal of room in the root system for adaptation and expansion,
particularly over an extended time period.  The current estimates
from staff about the expected numbers and rates of applications
received show that it's likely that there would be no collision
between deploying DNSSEC, loading that fast track IDN and new gTLDs
so long as the addition is at a pace of a few hundred TLDs over a two-
to three-year period.  More work is needed to determine target
numbers for a growth rate that ICANN can support over the next couple
years and whether such a rate is above or below anticipated demand in
the first round of new TLDs.  At the end of the day, ICANN and its
actions need to ensure that we don't risk the stability of the DNS
while at the same time balancing that we don't stop forward progress
on important issues in new TLDs.  Thank you, Peter.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Just a reminder, we've got a lot to get
through.  So, if we can keep the comments concise, that would be
helpful.  We've new got the minor matter of new gTLDs to discuss. 
Comments from anyone about reactions here to the new gTLD program?

 >>ROD BECKSTROM:  One comment I'll make is there's been a lot of
healthy dialogue and process going in many of the sessions this week.
And that's, obviously, been relayed back to staff that's been in the
room. And the board has asked us to begin to assimilate some of that
information and to come up with, not a timeline, but a sort of
project plan for moving forward to the next step, given what is
presently foreseen as the set of open issues and processes to have
some sense of what the linkages and dependencies are.  So we'll be
bringing that back to the board in the future.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks.  I'm not sure it's worth going
much more into that, except perhaps the general feeling that the
board had, if I can speak for everyone, is that the tone of the
meeting is very positive here and lots of progress on these issues. 
We're particularly pleased with the way the GNSO has responded to our
admittedly onerous request in relation with the two items of
intellectual property rights protection, for example, and the
discussions taking place in the various parts of the community in
resolving all the overarching issues.  

So we look forward very much, Rod, to the new plan that we're
looking for with all the relevant processes laid out, which will
enable us to start putting concrete timelines and stakes in the
ground.

Let me just confirm, in case anyone missed it, that we have heard
those issues about the cost of delay, the threat to innovation that
delay can bring, and how it can favor incumbents and distort the
markets.  There are certainly no intentions to delay.  But to the
other -- part of the answer is that we're in the hands of the
community in terms of resolving these overarching issues and giving
reaching solutions.  So we look forward to the plan.  

I'm delighted to move on to one element of progress that we are
going to make in relation to new gTLDs.  

And I'll call on Raimundo Beca please to introduce a resolution of
expressions of interest in applying for new gTLDs.  Raimundo?

 >>RAIMUNDO BECA:  Thank you, Peter.  

Whereas, work continues on the remaining issues that need to be
resolved by the community prior to the launch of ICANN's next round
of new gTLDs;

Whereas, ICANN encourages comment on version three of the draft
applicant guidebook for new gTLDs (on which the comment period
remains open until 22 November 2009),

Whereas, the ICANN community has expressed interest in evaluating a
process for calling for "expressions of interest" from organizations
with serious interest in applying for a new gTLD; 

Whereas, such a call for "expressions of interest" could give ICANN
and potential applicants important information about the level of
interest in the and likely strings to be applied for, which could
assist the resolution of the remaining issues and assist ICANN in
planning for the coming new gTLD round; 

Whereas, as part of IDN ccTLD fast track process, ICANN issued a
call for expressions of interest, which assisted ICANN and the
community in planning the launch of IDN ccTLDs; Whereas, the
community has requested that ICANN conduct further economic studies
related to new gTLDs; it is noted that receiving "expressions of
interest" (possibly with some financial deposit) will likely
contribute to a better understanding of:  1) the economic demand for
new gTLDs, 2) the number of gTLDs that are likely to be applied for,
and, 3) relevant industry data; Resolved, the ICANN board directs
staff to study the potential impact of a call for formal "expressions
of interest" and provide a plan for board consideration at ICANN's
next board meeting, in December 2009.  The plan should include
possible options and a risk analysis relating to the proposed action.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thank you, Raimundo, is there a seconder
for this resolution?  Ray Plzak.  Thank you.  

I'm sure nobody needs any further description of the resolution. 
Does anybody want to speak to it?  Steve G.

 >>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Yes, thank you, Chair.  I would recommend
extreme caution on this, for several reasons.  First of all, analogy
was made to the IDN fast track process.  But when -- when a country
like China says, "Well, we want dot Chumwa" or Korea says, "We want
dot Hanguk, or Egypt might say, "We want dot Moussva," there's no
competition.  They love it.  I mean, if they want it, they have it. 
So they don't have to worry about anybody else knowing what they're
submitting and then establishing contention for that.  

Now we're looking at something where somebody might have a brilliant
idea.  Let me just take dot suitcase, which is not terribly
brilliant, but I trust nobody is applying for dot suitcase.  They
think it's just brilliant.  Do they want to disclose that publicly? 
My guess would be they probably wouldn't.  If this were secret, then
they might be willing to discuss it.  On the other hand, it is very,
very difficult for an organization which is as open to bottom-up
processes as ICANN is to keep those secrets.  And so, if this were
done secretly, and then the secret was leaked, we would seriously be
hurting somebody's business plan and that's something we probably
wouldn't want to do.  So I guess I'm not against having staff explore
the possibilities of using this as a vehicle to gain better
understanding of what might happen with gTLD applications.  But, on
the other hand, I would recommend extreme caution and very careful
consideration of the possible consequences of what -- of different
courses of action.  Thank you, chair.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thank you, Steve.  Harald and then
Raimundo.  And then we'll close the speaking order and put this to
the vote.  Thank you.

 >>HARALD ALVESTRAND:   Steve, I think that's an excellent point to
ask the staff to address in the plan.  And there are several ways we
could do this, including what lots of people in the community have
been calling for, opening up the application process.  We just call
the first step in the expression of interest.  But I'm very happy
with having those things explored.  We've got to get off ground zero
somehow.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Harald.  And Raimundo.

 >>RAIMUNDO BECA:  Thanks, Peter.  Almost in the same -- in the same
light as Harald.  Obviously, if I moved this resolution is on the
basis that the -- we're going to get proposals, one or more
proposals.  And at that moment, the board will not accept one of the
proposals.  At that moment, the board, if there's not a pro -- if it
likes the proposal, will put it in public comment.  We have to open
discussion.  The board cannot approve things like this without a
discussion from the community.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks.  Just to make it quite clear, we're
calling for a plan which we are going to consider and discuss and
review with the community.  We're not asking for people to start
giving us proposals.  We're asking for the staff to go and explore
this.  And we'll be quite clear that we're not making any promises. 
It will be full of the usual caveats how this is going to work.

To my mind, this is an excellent example of ICANN's processes at
work.  This is a suggestion that emerged very strongly over the week
and was clarified by a number of requests during the public forum. 
And this is the board responding to that request to say, "Let's
explore to see if we can make it work."  In my mind, there is no
commitment except receiving what may turn out to be very good and it
may turn out to be a completely hopeless suggestion from the floor,
from the community.  And we are treating it with respect and
exploring it.

With that, I will put that resolution.  All those in favor please
say aye -- or raise your hands.

[Chorus of Ayes.]

Or both.

Any opposed?

[No verbal response.]

Any abstentions?

[No verbal response.]

Carried.  Thank you.

[Applause]

Thank you very much.  Let's move to Item 6, which is in relation to
the terms of reference of the board-GAC working group charter.  And I
will call on Ray Plzak who is the co-chair from the board side of the
board/GAC working group to take us through the resolution on that
group's charter.

Ray?

>>RAY PLZAK:  Thank you, Peter.  Before I read the resolution, just
let me note the group has been convened and we actually have
conducted two meetings; and these terms of reference represent the
result of those meetings.

Also, I would like to point out that a lot of the work that's going
to occur in this group is going to fold into a similar-type efforts
inside the reviews required in the Affirmation of Commitment.

So, Whereas, the board of directors on 26 June 2009 resolved to
review the role of the Government Advisory Committee within ICANN by
establishing a joint working group of ICANN board members and GAC
members.

Whereas, the Board of Directors/Government Advisory Committee joint
working group has commenced work, including agreement on the terms of
reference.

Whereas, the Board Governance Committee has recommended that the
board approve the terms of reference.

Whereas, on 30 September 2009, ICANN signed the "Affirmation of
Commitments by the United States Department of Commerce and the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" which calls for
assessing the role and effectiveness of the GAC and its interaction
with the board and making recommendations for improvement to ensure
effective consideration by ICANN of GAC input on the public policy
aspects of the technical coordination of the DNS, and cite the
paragraph.

Resolved, the ICANN board approves the terms of reference developed
by the board-GAC joint working group.

Resolved, as it does its work, the working group may from time to
time come back and consult with the board on issues related to the
Affirmation of Commitments or other issues.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Ray.  Is there a seconder for
this resolution?  Jean-Jacques.  

Any discussion?  If not, I'll put that resolution.  All those in
favor of the resolution approving the terms of reference for this
working group, please raise your hands.  Thank you.

Any opposed?

[No verbal response.]

Abstentions?

[No verbal response.]

Carried.  

We move then to other business.  Is there any -- are there any items
of other business?  Seeing none, we then move to another section of
the agenda where we will be thanking and acknowledging work done by
various people.  

I see Dennis is poised.

Dennis, is this a piece of other business?

>>DENNIS JENNINGS:  If I may make a comment, Peter, on the piece of
information that was highlighted during the community presentations
and that's the gender issue.  

I just want to comment that I'm quite astonished at the low level of
female applications to the NomCom.  I think that's very
disappointing, and I think that we should somehow look at this and
see whether we can with the NomCom address it.

But more generally, I think there is a governance issue here.  I
think it is good governance practice nowadays that there will be a
much better gender balance on boards.  And I just wanted to say in
public my reaction to that is that we should do something about it at
the Board Governance Committee.  Thank you, Chair.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Dennis.  Yes, it is a global
problem.  It is certainly a problem in OCED-type countries where you
would expect -- that have had positive discrimination programs and
civil rights legislation, et cetera, for many years, there is still a
major problem in finding women and appointing women to the boards of
corporations and other bodies.

So it's no easy task, particularly when we look at the pool that we
will be drawing from.  But I think it is something that ICANN can
aspire to change.

Thomas, another item of business?

>>THOMAS ROESSLER:  Very briefly, to the same item of business,
speaking as the chair of the NomCom review working group, it is an
issue that we highlight in our report and we do recommend that future
Nominating Committees take specific requirements and specific targets
into account early in their outreach phase because, indeed, the
composition of the candidate pool is a large piece of this particular
issue.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Thomas.  And your reference to
the Nominating Committee is a nice segue to invite Harald to move a
vote of thanks to the 2009 Nominating Committee.

Harald?

>>HARALD TVEIT ALVESTRAND:  So whereas, on -- the NomCom is one of
those things that does a ton of a lot of work.  And if it does it
right, ICANN thrives.  If it gets it wrong, ICANN cannot thrive. 
Critical.  And you don't get anything for it but those little notes
of thanks.  But you get a note of thanks.

Whereas, on 28 August, 2008, ICANN appointed Tricia Drakes as chair
of the Nominating Committee.

Whereas, the Nominating Committee fulfills a crucial role in
recruiting volunteers for leadership in ICANN's community.

Whereas, Tricia Drakes has led the Nominating Committee to a
successful outcome.

Resolved, the ICANN board expresses its deep appreciation to Tricia
Drakes and all of the members of the 2009 Nominating Committee for
their dedication, hard work and successful efforts.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you.  Harald, I would like the
pleasure of seconding this myself.  I had the occasion as chair to
work with the chair of the Nominating Committee through this year and
have been impressed with the work that's been going on and
particularly grateful for the timing, the way the Nominating
Committee was able to bring its work into synchronization with the
board's work, a difficult work.  So I'll second that.

Any further discussion?  In that case, I will put the resolution. 
All those in favor of this vote of thanks in relation to the
Nominating Committee please raise your hands.

Any opposed?

[No verbal response.]

Abstentions?

[No verbal response.]

Carried.  Thank you, Tricia.

[Applause]

I now ask Rod to move a vote of thanks in relation to our departing
At-large community volunteers.

>>ROD BECKSTROM:  I would like to express our appreciation.  Thanks
to departing At-large community volunteers.  Whereas, ICANN wishes to
acknowledge the considerable energy and skills which members of the
stakeholder community bring to the ICANN process.

Whereas, in recognition of these contributions, ICANN wishes to
acknowledge and thank members of the community when their terms of
service end.

Whereas, the terms of the following volunteers from the At-large
community expire at the Seoul meeting:  Jose Ovidio Salgueiro of
LACRALO, whose term began December 2006; Fatimata Seye Sylla ALAC
Executive Committee, whose term began October 2007; Vanda Scartezini,
ALAC vice chair, term began October 2007; Nguyen Thu Hue, term began
October 2007;  Sivasubramanian Muthusamy, IDN liaison, term began
November 2008.  

Resolved, Jose Ovidio Salgueiro, Fatimata Seye Sylla, Vanda
Scartezini, Nguyen Thu Hue and Sivasubramanian Muthusamy have earned
the deep appreciation of the board for their terms of service and the
board wishes them well in all future endeavors.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Mr. Secretary, and for those of you in the
audience who don't know that the board's secretary is sitting down
here in the special little booth out of your sight, Mr. Secretary,
please record that the resolution was passed by acclamation.  Thank
you.

We move then to thanking more volunteers.  And these are those who
are leaving the GNSO.  And as a former chair and long-term serving
member of the GNSO, it seems appropriate to call on Bruce Tonkin to
move this resolution.  

Bruce?

>>BRUCE TONKIN:  Thank you, Peter.  Just before I move the formal
resolution, I think it's worth making a couple of special mentions of
people that I've worked with personally.  One is the former chair of
the GNSO, Avri Doria, who's managed or chaired the council not only
through a very busy policy development period but also in an
environment where the whole structure of the GNSO and its council is
being reviewed as well.  So I certainly hope somebody nominates Avri
for the Nobel Peace Prize for that effort.

Some other members of that community have been on the council in
various forms.  It was at one stage the Names Council which
originally included the ccTLDs and then went on to form the GNSO
Council.

Tony Harris and Philip Sheppard have both been on the various
versions of that for ten years.  And Philip was actually a former
chair of the council before I was chair, so he's made a huge
contribution.

Tony Harris has been there for more than ten years.

Tony Holmes has been involved with the ISPs for around eight years
and Greg Ruth for about nine years on the council.  And Steve
Metalitz as chair of the intellectual property constituency has been
in that role for around eight years.  These are people that have made
sustained efforts over a very long period of time.

So just moving to the formal resolution:  Whereas, the board called
for the seating of the newly restructured GNSO Council at the ICANN
Seoul meeting.

Whereas, the GNSO community has completed work necessary to achieve
the transition to the new council, including creation of stakeholder
groups, recommendation of bylaw changes and the development of
updated rules and procedures for the council's operations.

Whereas, the two longest-serving members of what was originally the
Names Council, and is now the GNSO Council, are concluding their
terms at the Seoul meeting:

Tony Harris, Internet service providers and connectivity providers.

Philip Sheppard, commercial and business users constituency.

Whereas, the following GNSO Councillors also have terms that end at
the Seoul meeting:  Greg Ruth from the ISPs; Tony Holmes from the
ISPs; Avri Doria selected by the Nominating Committee; Ute Decker
selected from the intellectual property constituency; Cyril Chua from
the intellectual property constituency; Carlos Afonso Pereira de
Souza from the noncommercial constituency; Maggie Mansourkia from the
Internet service providers constituency.  

Whereas, the following constituency chairs have terms that end at or
before this meeting include Jon Nevett, chair of the registrars, and
Steve Metalitz of the intellectual property constituency.  

Resolved, the board thanks outgoing GNSO chair Avri Doria for her
steadfast leadership and guidance in helping the community achieve
this significant benchmark in the GNSO improvements effort.

Resolved, the board thanks the entire GNSO community for its
commitment to this effort, recognizes that substantial additional
work, discussions and negotiations still lie ahead and is committed
to working on those matters with the community and the new GNSO
leadership in the months to come.

Resolved, Tony Harris, Philip Sheppard, Greg Ruth, Tony Holmes, Ute
Decker, Cyril Chua Carlos Afonso Pereira de Souza, Maggie Mansourkia,
Jon Nevett and Steve Metalitz have earned the deep appreciation of
all the board for their terms of service and the board wishes them
well in all their future endeavors.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Bruce.  

Is there a seconder?  Roberto.  Would anybody like to speak to the
resolution?

I certainly will.  And in the interest of time, I want to say that I
wholeheartedly associate myself with all of the comments in relation
to all of the people, particularly those portions that relate to the
whole of the GNSO.  

I will just refer to the two long-serving members who are
highlighted in this and to say personally what good friends they have
become over the years.  We started this journey together in 1998,
1999.  And they have been there throughout making an incredible
contribution.

Much of the way ICANN works, much of what it does and much of the
way it looks is a result of their work.  And they have made an
indelible contribution.

In looking at them, the four Ps come to mind as being absolutely
appropriate in relation to policy making at ICANN.  

Persistence, it takes a long time and lot of dedication and
application to work through a policy-making process in a
multistakeholder organization.  They have exhibited that.

You have to have passion.  You actually have to believe in what it
is that you are trying to achieve, both the overall goal of an ICANN-
type organization which they have been loyal supporters of but also,
of course, passionate about the individual activity, new gTLDs,
whatever the thing is.  And, again, these two have exhibited that
kind of passion.

And patience, incredible patience in dealing with people like me who
didn't understand their issue and they would take it and they would
explain it and work it through with the other constituencies.

And the other final part about that is prioritizing.  You don't get
anything done unless you pick your battles and go for the important
ones first.  And these two have exhibited all of those with enormous
strength and consistency.

So I hope we aren't saying good-bye.  I know we certainly are saying
thank you.  Thank you.

Would anyone else like to speak to the resolution?  Steve G.

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Just a quick comment.  When people come here,
they see the board on stage, and it often hides the fact that all the
supporting organizations, advisory councils work just as hard as the
board and put in just as many hours and go through all the struggles,
sometimes with not all the stylus support we get up here.  So I'm
very grateful to all of them as well.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.  

Roberto?

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  I think that for sure I want to thank all those
people in this place my appreciation for what they have done.  I see
names that I have also met in the early days, and for sure they have
done an incredible service to the community.

There's another thing that I'm thinking, is that in a moment when
the GNSO is going through these changes, probably the experience of
those people, Tony Harris, Philip Sheppard, Tony Holmes, would have
been very useful, an indication to the new generation that is now
coming and has to operate in a different environment.

So I think that they would be doubly missed also because of that.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Roberto.  

I'm going to put the resolution then.  I assume that this also will
be carried by acclamation.

>>RITA RODIN JOHNSTON:  Peter, can I say just two words?  

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Yes, of course.  

>>RITA RODIN JOHNSTON:  I was in the queue.  I don't mean to
interrupt.  I also just want to add my word of thanks for the
service.  

And I have a couple of other Ps.  I would add "profound" and
"persnickety" but always, always a pleasure.  

As someone who's kind of grown up in my career to some extent in the
ICANN community, I remember fondly both Tonys, Philip and Steve
Metalitz in the early days and have always found them quite
interesting and quite productive.  And I think they've done a
wonderful contribution because they really care about what we all do
here at ICANN and it is really inspiring and I would like to thank
everybody.  Thank you very much.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thanks, Rita.  I agree.  I could have added
"polite," "persuasive" and "proper" and there were many more.

Let's put that vote to the test.  Who is in favor of this resolution?

[Applause]

We come now to another historic resolution and that's thanking
Roberto Gaetano, our vice chair, who is about to step down after many
years of service both as a board member and prior to that as a
liaison.  

And, Roberto, I was hoping I would have the pleasure of doing this
not only because it is a matter of formality for the chair to thank
his vice chair but also because we have become such good friends and
worked together for so long.

But I have to say, I was lobbied reasonably hard for the honor of
moving this resolution and eventually the prize goes to Rita.  

So, Rita, would you move the resolution in relation to Roberto.

>>RITA RODIN JOHNSTON:  I will, Peter.  I didn't realize I won the
lobbying.  I feel very privileged.  

Roberto has been on the board for the entirety of my tenure, and I
really can't imagine serving without him.  I remember the first board
retreat where I sat down and I think I was feeling a little bit tired
and I said to Roberto, "I don't know how I'm going to catch up on all
these issues.  There's so many acronyms I don't remember, so many
things I have to learn." And he said, "Let's go to the bar,
everything will be clearer there."  And I think that's probably right.

Roberto has been amazing in my experience on the board.  He is
incredibly intelligent and insightful and he brings such a rich
history to the board in everything he does, and he's extremely
passionate about all these issues.  But I'm always struck by the way
he marries a knowledge of everything we've done in the community for
so many years with a true and very steadfast thought about the
integrity of the process and the real public interest and the real
public interest that we serve here.

So I think he really brings a wonderful perspective to our debates,
and I'm going to really miss his thoughts and presence on the board. 
And I just want to personally thank him so much.  So I will move the
resolution now.  

Whereas, Roberto Gaetano was selected by the Nominating Committee to
serve a three-year term on the board beginning at the São Paulo
meeting in December 2006 following his term as liaison to the board,
making him one of the longest-serving board members.

Whereas, Roberto Gaetano has concluded his term at the annual
general meeting in Seoul -- oh, wow, something happened.  Sorry. 
Something happened to my resolution and I'm -- I'm not seeing the
full text.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Let me carry on then, Rita.

>>RITA RODIN JOHNSTON:  Sorry about that.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Whereas, Roberto Gaetano has served as vice
chairman of the board, as both the chair and as a member of the Board
Governance Committee, as a member of the Executive, Meetings and
Reconsideration Committees, as a member of the board review working
group, and as chairman of the Structural Improvements Committee.

Resolved, that Roberto Gaetano has earned the deep appreciation of
the board for his term of service as a board member, and the board
wishes Roberto well in all future endeavors.

Is there a seconder for that resolution?  I see seconded by --
unanimously by the board.  But we'll put Jean-Jacques down as the
technical seconder of that.

Is there anyone else that wants to speak to the resolution?  Thomas?

>>THOMAS ROESSLER:  I'm in the interesting position of having been
involved in getting Roberto on the board twice, first as a member of
the initial At-Large Advisory Committee and second as a member of the
Nominating Committee.  And I wanted to call out this -- the sequence
of roles that Roberto has held on this board:  The liaison from the
At-large Advisory Committee taking on the role of advocating
interests of users all across the Internet and then taking that
perspective into a voting board role.  And I think that was a very
important signal, and I think it stands as an important signal for
the perspectives and the values of this organization.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Thomas.  It is interesting to
know who to blame then.  So it was you who -- to who we should be
grateful, sorry.  Thank you, Thomas.  It has been excellent.  

Harald and then Dennis.

>>HARALD TVEIT ALVESTRAND:  So I'll try to make the words much
shorter than both Roberto's terms of service and the thanks he
deserves.  I first ran into Roberto as chair of the DNSO general
assembly, some of us will remember, few of us remember fondly.

[Laughter]

I have had my disagreements with Roberto.  I never, ever doubted his
commitment to the good of the community and the Internet.  And I've
always stood back in awe and admiration of his ability and
willingness to see what needed to get done, discover that nobody else
was doing it and just jumping onto the job.

We'll miss you, Roberto.  You done good with this community.  Thank
you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Dennis?

>>DENNIS JENNINGS:  Just very briefly.  Roberto, we've known each
other for a long time.  I, too, remember the general assembly and
those fond times when we were attempting to assist to construct ICANN
in those very early days.

Thank you for your friendship, for your knowledge, for your wish and
most recently for your saxophone playing.  Good luck.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Dennis.  

Rod?

>>ROD BECKSTROM:  Roberto, I just want to thank you for your
incredible commitment.  In fact, this entire board -- I've sat on the
board of many for-profit and non-profit entities.  I have never seen
a board that puts in a fraction of the hours of this group.  It is
phenomenal.

Many of the directors are spending 20 to 30 hours every single week
on ICANN issues in addition to their other normal jobs, including
Roberto, who I also remember first -- at my first meeting of even
encountering the ICANN board was at the venue you hosted in Austria.  

And, also, I remember you being up in the middle of the night on
calls, you know, interviewing me and other candidates and
videoconferences.  Just the incredible commitment and the knowledge
you have had on so many issues that have come forward and the big
bulldozing projects you have helped to drive, like the GNSO
restructuring.  Just absolutely phenomenal.

I just want to personally thank you for all of that and, as well,
for your support for me as a new CEO at ICANN.  Thank you, Roberto.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Rod.  Roberto, you have to come
out here now.

[Applause]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Roberto Gaetano, one of the
workhorses of the board, one of the memories of the board, one of the
consciences of the board and a big part of the culture of the board.  

I think you've got some idea of the affection from what the others
have said that we hold for Roberto and the awe in terms of the work
effort, some of the things that Rod has mentioned, the number of
hours, the number of meetings, the time and kind of projects.

Roberto, you have made an extraordinarily contribution.  So I will
just say thank you.  I have enjoyed working with you.  I have enjoyed
meeting you.  I have been to your home.  We get along very well.  You
have been a fantastic vice chair.  As we said earlier, while we are
saying thank you, I hope we are not saying good-bye.  You have the
capacity to come back, as you have done before in a number of roles. 
We hope to have you in the ICANN family for some time yet to come. 
Thank you very much.

[Applause]

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Thank you, Peter.  And thank you, all.  Thank
you, all.  I'm going to miss the board.  I'm going to miss this
community.  But as Peter has said, it is not the first time I'm
saying good-bye to everybody thinking I would never be again and
then, you know -- you can't get rid of the passion for this fantastic
community.

And so I needed a rest.  It was too much for me.  And so I will
disappear for a while; but, you know, tomorrow is another day.

And I have been known also for making very long speeches, but don't
worry, I'm not going to repeat the story of my life in ICANN.  I just
want to say one thing that is a comment on the future.

When I was on the ALAC, my objective was -- when I started, was to
build the RALOs and to have the RALOs up and standing in the five
regions, starting from Europe, that is my region.

I worked hard for three years and achieved nothing.  As soon as I
left, the RALOs were formed.

[Laughter]

So since we are talking very much about the fact that this board
talks and talks and decisions are not taken and so on and we have
still the gTLD process that was started.  When I first joined this
community, I was a member of the Council of Registrars.  That was the
organization that was trying to promote the introduction of new
gTLDs, and that was 12 years ago.

And this was not achieved -- not fully achieved also, some steps
have been done.  I hope that by the fact that I'm leaving now, the
process will finally be speeded up and we'll come to this other
historical step.

I don't want to talk about the past.  I would like to -- though, to
say a few words about the future.

What I was saying before about the AoC is really what I think.  I
think that we have turned the page.  One other of my -- of the themes
on which I was insisting is the legitimacy of ICANN.

We have to move from a situation in which the legitimacy of ICANN
comes from a contract or from an agreement with one or more
governments to a situation in which ICANN will stand up on its feet
and the legitimacy will be the consensus of the community.

And the AoC is one step in this direction.  I think it's going to be
more difficult because we are moving -- we say that in Italian, I
don't know if you say that in English -- without net, which is not
something that you want to use as an expression for the Internet, but
--

[Laughter]

-- it's when the acrobats make their exercises and there's a net, a
safety net underneath, so that if something goes wrong, they fall on
the net.  And we are moving into a situation in which we will not
need to have a safety net and the only net that we will have is the
communication network that we build.

So maybe I'll see you in some future, and thank you, really, all. 
The people that form this community are the main reason why I am
willing to put the enthusiasm and effort in doing things.  For you
and for the international community of Internet.

I see so many passionate people -- now the focus is on me because
I'm leaving, and not on you who are staying, but I think that it is
this community that makes the difference versus other situations that
I've known in my life.  Thank you.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Roberto, thank you very much and best of
luck.

I just got the news that Rita is still there.  Her camera is off but
she's on voice only.  We come then to another departing board member,
Steve Goldstein.  It's going to be hard to imagine the board without
Steve and I'm going to call on Steve Crocker.  He specially asked and
got ahead of the queue and wanted to thank you, Steve.  Steve
Crocker, can I ask you -- Steve C. -- to move the resolution about
Steve G.?

>>STEVE CROCKER:  Thank you, Peter.  Steve Goldstein -- Dr. Steve
Goldstein has brought a very rich history to his service on the
board, was instrumental in the opening up of the Internet beyond the
borders of the United States, worked assiduously with countries all
over the world, and developed very strong set of contacts.

I had known him only slightly before he started on the board, and
then by circumstance we shared the long flight from Washington to São
Paulo as he was joining the board.

So to borrow a phrase, I saw my opportunity and I took it.  And
carefully indoctrinated him on the ways of ICANN and what to pay
attention to.

So I will take personal credit for each of the good things that he's
done and take no credit whatsoever for things that you might put in
some other category.

[Laughter]

We've also had the pleasure of sharing the same name, and even to a
certain extent some physical characteristics, so we've occasionally
been, as we say, visually confusing.

[Laughter]

It's been a great pleasure to work with Steve.  He's brought
passion, very -- dedication absolutely, focus on a number of
important issues, and an absolute fidelity to principle and to making
this organization effective.  So with that, I'll read the formal
resolution.

WHEREAS, Steve Goldstein was selected by the nominating committee to
serve a three-year term on the board beginning at São Paulo meeting
in December 2006

WHEREAS, Steve Goldstein has concluded his term as a member of the
board of directors at the Seoul meeting;

WHEREAS, Steve Goldstein has served on the finance, reconsideration,
board governance, compensation and risk committees, and the board
review working group, the nominating committee review finalization
working group, as well as having served as a member and chair of the
conflicts of interest committee;

RESOLVED, that Steve Goldstein has earned the deep appreciation of
the board for his term of service as a director and the board wishes
Steve well in all future endeavors.

Please join me in congratulating Steve.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Would anyone like to speak to the
resolution?  I see Monsieur Jean-Jacques.

>>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:  Thank you.  I'm going to speak to you in
French.  I think you would be disappointed if I didn't speak French
to you because you know this language so well.

So to you, to Isabel, I wish a very nice future together.  I say
"together" because at this time I think you would have spent a lot
more time with ICANN than with other people.  That takes so much of
your time rather than Isabel.

Two or three things.  Since I've met you, it is the strength of your
arguments, arguments that were well-thought arguments, that -- as
well as your sensitivity to the international side of our duties and
this is why you bring such a great contribution to ICANN.

I could continue for several minutes on this, but since our program
is so full, this is why I have to stop here, and with without
forgetting to wish you and Isabel many happy times and we hope to see
you again within ICANN.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  Would anyone else
like to speak to the resolution?  Dennis Jennings.

>>DENNIS JENNINGS:  Steve, Steve Crocker mentioned your service in
the NSF and the bringing global connectivity to many parts of the
world, and I would like to highlight that.  There are many fathers of
the Internet, people who have made significant contributions but when
it comes to the global Internet, and in particular bringing this new
technology to the rest of the world, Steve was a key player in the
NSF's international program, funding links to Europe, to Asia, and to
other parts of the world.

And so Steve, I salute you.  You're a hero of the Internet.  Thank
you for your service there and thank you for your service on the
ICANN board.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Dennis.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Anyone else like to speak?  Mike?

>>MICHAEL SILBER:  I'll try and be brief, though it is difficult
when you're dealing with Steve and Roberto, for that matter.

Just to say my first experience with Steve was getting into a
significant argument with him and disagreeing and thinking back
because I happened to serve on the same Nominating Committee as
Thomas Roessler, and thinking, "This is really interesting getting an
insight of the people we put on this board."  And over the few short
months that I've actually gotten to know Steve, I know that he's
outspoken and it's always with a reason, and that reason is to
provide thought and consideration amongst others.

You know, Steve is very well known in the community for his no
shirt, no shoes, no service comment, but he more clearly has defined
issues for us on the board than many hours of debate through a
process of encouraging us to do -- to think for ourselves and Dennis'
comment was certainly brought to the fore when Steve invited me to
join him in Daejeon two days ago, when I happened to see him interact
with members of this international networking community who treated
Steve as a long lost friend who, in many cases, had been responsible
for first connecting them.

And I think in many ways, Steve has connected us not to the
Internet, but connected us in many respects to a way of thinking
that's very useful when we have some very serious and weighty issues
to deal with.  So thank you, Steve, for your guidance.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Mike.  We come to Wendy, then
Bruce.  Wendy?

>>WENDY SELTZER:  Thank you, Peter.  I'd like to say a joint thanks
here to the two departing board members, Steve Goldstein and Roberto
Gaetano, for their contributions to the role of the at-large Internet
user.

In very different ways, Roberto coming up from ALAC and Steve coming
from a position that initially seemed a bit skeptical of what at-
large could contribute to Internet Governance, I think both of them
have done a lot to advance the interests of individual Internet users
and the individuals' participation in the ICANN process, and for that
I want to thank both of them very much.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Wendy.  Thomas Roessler?

>>THOMAS ROESSLER:  Just briefly, Steve, in an environment where it
is often tempting to look at pragmatism and expediency, you have been
a guardian of principle and your sentence of the "stiff spine" is one
that sticks into my memory.  I wanted to thank you for your quest for
really the principled argument, questioning of argument, and the
willingness also to change the conclusions, if the argument had been
wrong.  Thank you for your work on this board and it's been an honor
to work with you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Thomas.  Roberto?

>>ROBERTO GAETANO:  Steve, all has been said.  I just wanted to make
one -- remember one thing, and that is, your ability to take a
position, take it passionately, and then if convinced by
argumentation, able to change it.

And this is a rare ability to do this, because most of the time
people think that they lose face if they change opinion, whereas this
is the whole essence of this debate and this life and this community.
Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  And Bruce.

>>BRUCE TONKIN:  It's switched off again.  

Thank you, Peter.  

I think it's interesting to contrast the different paths board
members take to reach the board, and I think there are some board
members, including myself, that have started in the policy trenches
and spent years there, and then by the time we get to the board,
we've sort of heard just about every angle possible, almost, to the
issues.  I think Steve's an example of someone that's come from
outside.  He hasn't been in the -- you know, for example, in the GNSO
policy trenches.  And it's often very difficult for a board member in
that situation, because a lot of people refer to conversations that
they had two or three years ago, and for someone new, they don't have
that history.

But I think what Steve's done has showed a tremendous thoroughness
in both reading the board papers on any issue, but also a real
willingness to get either side of the debate to come and see him
personally.  

And I know on a number of occasions where there's been a major
policy issue -- it could be the trademark issues or it could be, you
know, some other issue relating to new gTLDs -- when he hears there's
two sides to a debate, he really encourages both sides to come and
meet him personally and sit down and really explain it.  

So by the end of that process, as others have pointed out, Steve
will tell you up front what his current view is and then be open for
others to try and convince him otherwise, and really takes that
effort to, by the time he gets to the end of an issue, he really
understands it.  

So, you know, I really commend him for that effort.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Bruce.  Steve, it's your turn to
come out and face the music.

>>MIKE SILBER: Peter, sorry.  We are just wondering if the gift is a
pair of shoes and a shirt.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  No shirt.  

>>MIKE SILBER: No shoes. 

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Goldstein.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Steve, one of the nice things about my job
is getting to do this, to say the last word, and I want to just pick
up a couple of things, some of which have been hinted at by the
others of your fellow board members who are genuinely sorry to see
you go, and one of them is your fearlessness.  

All of the hard issues, you're quite ready to tackle.  You tackle
them up front and early and you've forced us to take the same
approach in relation to many things, which as a board has been very
useful.  

The other thing that you've had -- and others have mentioned this --
is this extraordinary scientific and technical community which you've
made available, very generously, and sought hard to bring that into
the ICANN family and, where you can make conversations, you've been
very assiduous in that other kind of networking that we need to do as
a board member, and you've had a very firm view about your role in
relation to that which has been very helpful.

You were, of course, known to me for a long time before I ever met
you, because you're famous in ccTLD land for being one of the
coauthors of the most important document to the ccTLD managers, RFC-
1591.  So it was an amazing pleasure to actually meet one of the
living legends who had helped create this thing on which this whole
ccTLD thing was eventually founded.  

So thank you for that and thank you for the hard work.  As others
have mentioned, of all -- of a very hard-working board, you stand out
for the diligence with which you read the materials and clearly -- I
think what's been our record?  What's the record book board?  

386 pages of board book for one meeting.  We've put a stop to that,
but it's an indication of the amount of preparation that goes into
preparing for a board meeting.  

So Steve, I think you get the gold star from the chairman for that.

And it's been a pleasure both meeting and working with you socially,
traveling and going to all the places that we've gone to, and I'm
going to miss.  

So good luck, and thanks for your hard work.

[Applause]

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Thank you, Chair.  I'd be willing to bet even
money that this is a T-shirt or a sweatshirt emblazoned with no
shirt, no shoes, no service, but whatever.

[Laughter]

This is a very emotional moment, especially to have heard the
comments of my colleagues on the board, and knowing that I would
probably be emotional about it even without them, I did prepare a few
remarks.  No, not really.  I know you want lunch.


[Laughter]

No.  But the -- my service on the board has been an honor.  It's
been a very, very intense three years.  I have learned a lot.  They
say when you get older, it's good to keep the brain exercised, and
this has been much better than Sudoku or crosswords to do that.  

I leave with some very bittersweet feelings because my colleagues on
the board, with whom I've not always agreed but with whom I've always
felt close, have become like family, and as soon as I walk off this
stage, I will just be dropping off a cliff.  I'll be removed from the
mailing lists, and this will become a memory but a very fond one.  So
to my colleagues and to the community with whom I've been able to
interact, thank you all very, very much for this opportunity.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  The next resolution relates to a departing
liaison from the TLG, Thomas Roessler, and I'll call on Ram Mohan to
move this resolution.  Ram?

>>RAM MOHAN:  Thank you, Peter.  Before I read the resolution, just
a couple of words.

I first encountered Thomas because he's the owner of a very
distinctive domain name doesnotexist.org and he used to create -- he
used to have an aggregator that brought together a lot of comments
from various members in the ICANN community, and it was always
interesting for me because I was curious to find out who is the
gentleman who says, you know, he owns a domain doesnotexist.  Over
the years, I've had the privilege of working alongside Thomas
Roessler many years now.  Most recently in his board liaison role,
but before that, in the ICANN NomCom.  Certainly bantering and being
on opposite sides of arguments in the GA as well as other places in
the technical community.

He's been a clear-headed advisor.  He's kept us focused on doing the
right thing.  And ensured that the vision of one Web from W3C where
he comes from stays alive.

Thomas, you're a shining example to me of what it takes to be a
liaison, and I think you're a huge credit to the technical liaison
group in general, and the W3C in specific.

So to the resolution:

WHEREAS, Thomas Roessler was selected by the technical liaison group
to serve as its liaison to the board beginning in the Cairo meeting
in November 2008;

WHEREAS, Thomas Roessler has concluded his term at the annual
general meeting in Seoul;

WHEREAS, Thomas Roessler has served as a liaison to the public
participation committee and as chairman of the Nominating Committee
review finalization working group;

RESOLVED, that Thomas Roessler has earned the deep appreciation of
the board for his term of service as liaison and the board wishes
Thomas well in all his future endeavors.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Ram.  Is there a seconder for
this resolution?  Again, we'll call this Ray Plzak.  Thank you, Ray. 
Would somebody like to speak in support of the resolution?  Steve G.

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  Thomas, it's been a delight and an honor to work
with you.  I want to recognize you as possessing one of the most
logical, fair, probing minds with a supreme intellect of any person
that I've ever had the opportunity to work with, and in addition to
all that, you've just been a wonderful, wonderful companion in
discussions, in concerts, in dinners together.  I've just thoroughly
enjoyed every aspect of working with you and I hope our paths will
cross again.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Steve.  Others who want to
speak?  Jean-Jacques?

>>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:  Yes.  I won't be long but I do want to
recognize the tremendous contribution of Thomas to the public
participation committee, which has been working with him, and there
again, I mean, I must repeat the clarity of his analysis, the crisp
formulation not only of his analysis but always of solutions, and
finally, I remember a trip we had back from Brussels to Luxembourg in
my car, and how do you relate mathematics to music, music to
literature, literature to the ICANN.  Ask Thomas.

Thank you, Thomas.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  Thomas Narten,
and then we have Mike.

>>THOMAS NARTEN:  Thanks, Peter.  I just wanted to make one small
point here, and that is, it's often said in this community that it
takes up to a year to come up to speed when you're on the board
before you actually sort of get your head around things and are a
solid contributor, but in Thomas Roessler's case, he hit the ground
running like no one I have ever seen before.  He's been a tremendous
contributor and ICANN has been extremely well served by his single
year of service here, and I think he set quite a high standard for
others to follow.  

Thanks, Thomas.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH: 

Thanks, Thomas.  Mike Silber.

>>MICHAEL SILBER:  When the NomCom looks at the qualities and skills
needed on the board, they always say some degree of technical
understanding, so that lawyers like me don't get totally lost. 
Thomas, to me, is the example of why you need engineers on the board,
because they actually have a clarity of purpose and a focus that I've
rarely seen in people, and I think it's an enormous quality he brings
to everything that he does, and it's something that we all appreciate.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Mike.  Any further speakers?  In
which case, Thomas it's your turn to come out front.

Ladies and gentlemen, Thomas Roessler.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thomas, thank you for your service.  You're
another one of the people that have come through the Nominating
Committee that already had a history and I was, of course, aware of
you, again, through the domain name that was referred to earlier.

And I just want to pick up on the clarity of thinking.  I have
really appreciated the clarity that you bring to every issue,
including the risk analysis kind of approach, and one of -- Thomas is
one of those directors who, when faced with an issue, immediately
understands it and goes straight down three or four steps next down
the track and then works back to make sure we're not getting into
trouble and frequently we've averted trouble because of the clarity
of that kind of thinking.

But that's not all.  Coupled with that is a persuasive manner and an
ability to logically explain and articulate that, but also to do that
very fairly.  So that when the debate is on, you're equally willing
to see and to change and to adopt and then become an advocate for the
new position.

So that kind of combination of clarity of thinking and
persuasiveness is enormously valuable, just what the board's always
needed and we've been very glad to have had it from you.  So thank
you and good luck.  Hopefully we, again, won't be losing you.  You've
got deep roots into the community and I'm sure we'll be seeing you in
one guise or another.  Thanks again.

[Applause]

>>THOMAS ROESSLER:  Thank you, Peter.  As the term was short, so
shall be the speech.

[Laughter]

There are two things I want to say, or perhaps three.  One is, it's
been a true pleasure and honor to serve with all of you, and this
board is an incredibly broad and incredibly open set of people that
is a real pleasure to work with.

So thank you all for that privilege.

Secondly, the -- this community is a community that struggles with
this conflict between an incredible number of perspectives that it
needs to bring together, and it is a great pleasure to see how, over
the years, we are getting to a point where a discourse happens and
where agreements and compromises are forged, and I'm extremely
pleased to see that.

The third point is, I want to specifically say what an honor it's
been to serve with the other technical people on this board, and I
think one important parting thought here is that as ICANN has a
responsibility for a global infrastructure, it needs to stay in touch
with all -- with those communities and even with those who don't show
up at these meetings.

I think there is an important link to the broad technical community
that this organization needs, and I'm glad to see much of that
institutionalized in some of those liaison arrangements.

And with that, I've spoken more than I had planned to, and I thank
you all.  Bye.

[Standing Ovation]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Thomas.  And last, but by no
means least, in this list of thanks, we come to the last of them. 
Thanks to Wendy Seltzer.  And for this, I turn to Thomas Narten to
move the resolution of thanks.  Thomas.

>>THOMAS NARTEN:  Okay.  So the resolution -- let me just read off
the resolution, to start off with.

WHEREAS, Wendy Seltzer was selected as nonvoting liaison to the
ICANN board by the At-Large Advisory Committee to serve from the
annual meeting in 2007 until the annual meeting in 2009;

WHEREAS, Wendy Seltzer has served as a liaison to the risk committee;

RESOLVED, that Wendy Seltzer has earned the deep appreciation of the
board for her term of service as liaison and the board wishes Wendy
well in all future endeavors.  

I'd like to add a few words, if I could.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   As a matter of formality, I see Roberto
seconded that.

 >>THOMAS NARTEN:  So, just briefly, I'm certainly going to miss
Wendy and especially her tireless perspective of reminding us that
it's about the individual end users and that ICANN needs to keep that
in mind.  She brought that up over and over again for us.  

And the second thing, on a more personal note, one of the things
that helps me personally survive these ICANN meetings is having an
occasional workout, which almost always means really early in the
morning before the meeting starts and before the breakfast starts and
so forth -- and I can say I've taken more than a few early morning
6:00 a.m. runs in ICANN city that, quite frankly, would not have
happened had I not known or not been inspired by Wendy who I knew
would do that and who, if I was not there as well, I would hear about
it or feel like I hadn't lived up to expectations.  So this may seem
like a small thing.  But I think it's really important to remember in
the ICANN context that it's really sort of small, interpersonal
connections in the end that often make the difference here.  So
thanks.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Thomas.  Katim.

 >>KATIM TOURAY:  Thanks, Peter.  But I didn't expect actually to
get called so soon.  I was hoping that many more people before me
would speak before me.  So I get to really pick their brains and know
exactly what to say.  But all along I have been waiting for the
opportunity to say thank you to Wendy and Steve and also Roberto and
Thomas.  Because I thought, rather than thank them individually, let
me just compress it in one.  Because, really, it -- the nice thing
about them is that they all have their own individual qualities that
make them so valuable and even more valuable as a group of people. 
Steve, for instance, Steve Goldstein, I was always -- I always was
amazed by his sense of sacrifice.  I mean, this is a guy, that each
and every time we met at an ICANN meeting, the first thing I would
ask him is, "How is your back?"

No matter how far or how long it took, he really struggled with his
back and got to participate in ICANN meetings.  That was and still is
very, very inspiring.  With regards to Roberto, I'll always be
impressed by his sense of historical perspective.  He's been there
from day one.  You can always count on him to give you a perspective
you never would have seen had he not been there.  

Wendy has also been an inspiration.  As Thomas said, it's been quite
fascinating, because, as someone who has done some work with
nonprofit organizations, she has that passion of an activist and she
really rubs it off of you before you even know it.  

With regards to Thomas, I always marvel as his technical prowess.  I
always tell my friends -- in fact, just this morning I was talking
with the fellows, the ICANN fellows.  And I told them one of the
things you get from participating at ICANN activities is that you
hang around the smartest people in the world.  And I am glad to be
associated with someone like Tom, who I fervently believe is one of
those smartest people that I all the time talk to people about.  It
seems to me that I'm going to miss half of my brain because I lost
these people from being on the board.  But I'm hoping I continue
mental links with them.  And I just cannot say enough of how much we
appreciate the efforts that they put in on ICANN for ICANN.  So on
that note I want to wish all of them all the very best.  Thanks,
Peter.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thanks, Katim.  Jean-Jacques?

 >>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:  Yes. Wendy, I cannot let go of this
opportunity of saying a word to you.  In addition to all the rest,
I'd like to say just this:  You have been a clarion call on two
important issues throughout.  And you've spoken out on that with such
distinction and forcefulness that I must echo that call, that clarion
call.  And that is the importance, the overriding importance of civil
rights and individual liberties.  As we move forward to an ever-
larger Internet, more complex, I think we should heed your message. 
Thank you.

[Applause]

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  

Bruce Tonkin.

 >>BRUCE TONKIN:  Thank you, Peter.  I think both Thomas and Wendy
are examples of people that have been in the policy trenches.  And I
met both of them in the WHOIS chronicles, I suppose -- I think we can
start turning some of these things into books -- in the WHOIS
chronicles and GNSO.  And they both were major contributors at that
time.  And I think, of course, that they're major contributors at the
board, even though they've both been liaisons rather than nonvoting. 
And that -- you know, for those that don't see the board in action in
terms of its interactions amongst themselves, it's similar to the
GNSO Council in that the liaisons have always been treated as full
members just as they have on the GNSO Council as they are on the
board.  And both of those individuals have participated actively.

One of the things that's interesting about Wendy is Wendy is going,
as a nonvoting liaison from the board -- and many times she was a
nonvoting liaison in GNSO activities -- to finally having a vote. 
And so she's now a voting member of the GNSO Council.  So I'd like to
wish Wendy well in her elevation to the GNSO Council.  Because that
really is the pinnacle of policy development in this organization. 
Not the board.  People make the mistake the board somehow does policy
development.  It doesn't.  It does governance.  Policy development is
done in the GNSO, at least with respect to generic top-level domains.
And I'm sure Wendy will continue to contribute in that role.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thank you, Bruce.  Rod?

 >>ROD BECKSTROM:  Yes.  I already thanked Roberto.  And now I'd
like to thank Steve Goldstein here whose great story and slogan "no
shirt, no shoes, no service" exemplifies two of his great
characteristics -- humor and strong principles, which he always had
at every encounter we've had since we first met.  You're always
helping me to move to the next step and with the very positive nod of
support, which is enormously appreciated, Steve. You're going to be
very missed.  You've given not only a lot to ICANN, but to this whole
Internet movement over the last few decades.  I cannot thank you
enough.  

As for Thomas Roessler, this guy is a little scary.  He is so smart.
He's so incredibly brilliant.  Every topic he touched he brought
phenomenal alacrity to and added -- always great value in trying to
get to the core of the issue and solve it.  Very, very impressed was
I and fortunate to work with you, Thomas.  I thank you very much.

And, as to Wendy, she, as mentioned by my fellow directors, Jean-
Jacques and others, consistently stood up for the individual user and
for civil rights and civil liberties, privacy, freedom of expression,
and other issues that are so near and dear to her and so many others,
she held fast to and always reminded us.  She also gave me a lesson
or two in economics and helped to refocus my own thinking, if it was
ever straying, with just the clarity of her own thought.  

And, with respect to any allegation that she jogs, do not suffer
from this misapprehension.  The other morning we decided at 6:00 a.m.
to go running up this hill.  There's this big mountain behind us
called Namsan Park with a big tower on top.  I don't know.  It seems
like countless thousands of steps going up.  As I was trying to huff
and puff and barely make it from step to step, I could have sworn a
gazelle went by.  That was Wendy, an amazing runner.  

All three of you, I thank you so much for your great support and the
opportunity to work together and what you've done for the Internet
and the community.  Thank you.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Rod.  Wendy?

[Applause]

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Wendy, this is really sad.  Because it's
bad enough losing a woman from the board when we have so few of them.
But to lose a lawyer --

[Laughter]

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   -- when we need so many of them is awful.
I want to just echo what others have said about the clarion call that
you've always issued to the board to defend human rights and
individual user rights.  And that's been such a clearly expressed,
well-understood, and usually very persuasive argument that you put
together coupled, as Rod has said, with a very sound understanding of
economic theory and the clarity of legal thinking in relation to so
much of what the board does, so much of what we do is intervening in
situations where rights are involved, contractual rights, human
rights, a mix of trying to get the balance of the public interest
right.  And you have always contributed enormously to, I think, us
getting close to getting that right.  And also add a thought Bruce
said and congratulate you on the appointment to the bear pit of
policy development, is what I would call it, Bruce.  The challenge
now in front of you is enormous.  We've got such work in front of us.
And the GNSO Council is going to be very lucky having you helping
them to solve those problems.  Good luck with that, and thank you
very much for your service to the ICANN board.

[Applause]

 >>WENDY SELTZER:  Thank you, Peter.  And thank you to all of my
colleagues here for those nice and surely undeserved compliments. 
It's truly been a privilege to work with all of the parts of the
ICANN community.  We think of the Internet as a distributed network. 
And, of course, to be governed properly, it's governed in the
distributed manner.  So I have to thank the board, the community
here, the ICANN staff, all of whose efforts together are necessary to
keep this organization working.  Well, I came in and have at times
expressed some skepticism.  What I've seen in my time on the board
has confirmed to me that everyone here approaches the Internet with
goodwill, with commitment, with dedication to preserving the open
Internet, to preserving and creating opportunities for millions and
billions more to access information, to connect with one another, and
to share.  And I leave the board and head to the GNSO with a renewed
sense of hope that, with this commitment, we can bring connectivity
to the Internet users and the Internet users to be.  And I thank all
of you for helping to make that happen.

[Applause]

>> PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  I come now to some resolutions thanking
other contributors to the meeting.  I call on Rita, if she's back. 
Are you still with us or able to be heard?  Well then, I'll ask
Harald to deal with the resolution 15.  

Harald, can you take us through the sponsor -- the thanks to sponsors?

 >>HARALD ALVESTRAND:  I'll do that.  These are also a critical
piece of what makes ICANN work.  The board wishes to thank the
following sponsors:  Korea Telecom, VeriSign, Inc., NeuStar, Inc.,
Afilias Limited, SIDN, InterNetX, Minds + Machines, IP MIRROR, Core
Internet Council of Registrars, GMO Registry, Inc., Public Interest
registry, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC),
RegistryASP, Interlink, dotMobi, Netpia,com, Inc., Asadal, Inc.,
Digitalnames, EURid, .PRO, .Music, Zodiac, Holdings Limited,
NameAction, Inc., Central Registry Solutions, Knipp Medien und
Kommunikation GmbH (ironDNS).  DotAsia Organisation Limited, RU-
CENTER, Inames.co. Ltd., Gabia, Inc., WHOIS.co. Ltd.  

And that was the end of the list.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Harald.  The board acknowledges
all of those sponsors with deep gratitude.  We move then to scribes,
interpreters, staff of the event, and the hotel.  I wonder if I could
ask Wendy, please, to read in the appreciation to that group.

 >>WENDY SELTZER:  Thank you, Peter.  This one seems particularly
appropriate.  Because, as no one mentioned, my very first contact
with ICANN was, as the organization was getting started, helping to
scribe its very first meeting in Boston.  So I know that they've got
a tough job and do it extremely well.

So thanks to scribes, interpreters, staff, event and hotel teams. 
The board expresses its appreciation to the scribes, the
interpreters, and to the entire ICANN staff for their efforts in
facilitating the smooth operation of the meeting.  The board also
wishes to express its appreciation to VeriLAN Events Services, Inc.
and Rental Bank for their technical support.  Special thanks are also
given to Steve Morgan, Production Manager, Kris VanDerPlas,
Production Supervisor, Paul Bevan, Audio Engineer, and Ted Bartles,
Technical Director.  The board also wishes to thank domaine.info for
providing photography and filming for this meeting.  The board would
also like to thank the event staff at the Lotte Hotel Seoul for their
support and for this beautiful facility to hold this event.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  I'd ask Janis to read into the record the
board's thanks to the local hosts.

 >>JANIS KARKLINS:  The board wishes to extend its thanks to the
local host organizers, Korean Communications Commission, and Korea
Internet and security agency.  Special thanks are given to the
Internet Name Policy Team of KISA, (Korea Internet & Security Agency)
for their support.  The board also extends thanks to Mr. Choi, See
Joong, Chairman, Korea Communications Commission, Mr. Ko, Keung Kil,
Senator, and Chairman of the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting
and Communications Committee of the National Assembly, and Ms. Kim,
Hee Jung, President, Korea Internet & Security Agency for their
support and participation during the meeting.  The board also wishes
to thank Korea Internet & Security Agency, (KISA) for its financial
support for the fellowship program to facilitate increased
participation in ICANN.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Janis.  The last of thanks is a
new one on the list.  And I'd ask Jean-Jacques, as the president of
the Public Participation Committee to record the thanks that the
board has to you, the meeting participants for your contribution. 
Jean-Jacques.

 >>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:   Thank you, Peter.  It's an honor to do
so.  And I'd like to address myself to all the participants across
the world who are following this meeting over the Internet.  Thanks
to meeting participants.  

Whereas, the success of ICANN depends on the contributions of
participants at the meetings; Whereas, the participants engaged in
fruitful and productive dialogue at this meeting; 

Resolved, the board thanks the participants for their contributions.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  That's the end
of the resolutions.  And I see Dennis wants to add one.  Dennis?

[Applause]

[Standing ovation]

>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN:  This is thanks to everyone who stayed with us
for this long, long meeting.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Ladies and gentlemen, that marks the end
of that portion of the meeting.  We now go through a changing of the
guard.  I would ask those departing directors and liaisons to quit
the stage.  And you do so with our deep appreciation and thanks. 
And, as they go, I'd like to invite the newly appointed directors and
liaisons to come and take their proper places on the stage.  

George Sadowsky, Gonzalo Navarro, and Jonne Soininen.  And, of
course, Vanda Scartezini.  She's only been gone for a short while, so
I sort of forgot she was coming back.  Vanda, you're more than
welcome.  Vanda is a previous board member, so we're returning back
one of our own.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking and congratulating
and welcoming Vanda and George and Jonne and Gonzalo.  Welcome to the
ICANN board.

[Applause]

We only have a short order of business in relation to this section
of the meeting.  And the first item of it is to elect a chairman of
the board.  For this I will hand over to the chairman of the Board
Governance Committee who has been responsible for work in that area. 
So, Dennis, as chairman, please take -- as chairman of the BGC,
please take the chair.

 >>DENNIS JENNINGS:  Thank you very much, Peter.  Just to remind
everybody that the Board Governance Committee, the BGC, is
responsible for developing the slate of candidates for the leadership
of the ICANN board each year; that is, the chair, the vice chair, and
the committee chairs and members.  And we have developed quite formal
processes now in the BGC to do that, consulting with the board
members.  In particular, in relation to the chair and vice chair,
we've processes, if and when there are more than one candidate, for
consulting with those candidates, for having the candidates advise
the board of their candidacy and making a selection.  

So, with that as background, I'd like to read the resolution.
Resolved, that Peter Dengate Thrush is elected as chairman of the
board.

[Applause]

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  May I have the chair back?

[Laughter]

 >>DENNIS JENNINGS:  No, I rather liked it.  No!  

Yes, Peter.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  My colleagues on the board, thank you very
much for reposing further trust in me.  That's an extraordinary
position to hold, and I look forward to working with you in the
coming year.  We move to the second item, which is an election of a
vice-chairman.  And there is one nomination that is:  

Resolved, that Dennis Jennings is elected as the vice chairman of
the board.  

Is there a seconder for that resolution?  I see -- Ram Mohan was
first, I think.  Is there any discussion about that resolution?  And
we put that resolution carried by acclamation.

[Applause]

We come then to the committees and appointments of board committees.
And we have a composite resolution up on the screen, which I will
just read through.  And then we'll pass this as a single -- in a
single vote.

Resolved, that membership of the following board committees be
established:  

Audit:  To be chaired by Rita Rodin Johnston with members Harald
Alvestrand, Steve Crocker and Dennis Jennings,  

With the Board Governance committee to be chaired by Dennis Jennings
with Ray Plzak and Rita Rodin Johnston and Ram Mohan, 

For the Compensation Committee to be chaired by Peter Dengate Thrush
with Bruce Tonkin and Rajasekhar Ramaraj as members,  For the
Executive Committee to be chaired by the Chairman of the Board with
Raimundo Beca vice chairman of the board and president and CEO as
members ex-officio, 

For the Finance Committee to be chaired by Rajasekhar Ramaraj and
Gonzalo Navarro and George Sadowsky as members, 

To the IANA Committee with Harald Alvestrand as chair, Dennis
Jennings, Katim Touray, Thomas Narten, and Suzanne Woolf as members,  

to the Public Participation committee to be chaired by Jean-Jacques
Subrenat with Gonzalo Navarro, Jean-Jacques Subrenat and Katim Touray
and Thomas Narten and Vanda Scartezini as members, 

To the Risk Committee with Mike Silber, Bruce Tonkin, Steve Crocker,
Rajasekhar Ramaraj, and Suzanne Woolf as members, 

And the Structural Improvements Committee to be chaired by Ray Plzak
with Raimundo Beca, Mike Silber, George Sadowsky, Jean-Jacques
Subrenat, and Jonne Soininen as members.  

Is there a seconder for that resolution?  

Dennis Jennings, is there any discussion about that resolution?  

I'll put the resolution then. All those in favor, please raise your
hands.

[Show of hands]

Is anyone opposed?  Are there any abstentions?  Jean-Jacques and
Raimundo, would you like to -- let me declare the resolution carried.
It's our practice -- let me explain to new board members.  You have
the right, when you abstain or vote against it, if you would like, to
have any reasons for your vote recorded.  

So I'm going to ask Jean-Jacques first is there a reason -- would
you like to have your reasons for abstaining recorded?

 >>JEAN-JACQUES SUBRENAT:   Thank you, Peter.  As a member of this
board, and but also as a former member of the BGC and member of the
President's Strategy Committee, which drafted the improving
institutional confidence paper, I would like to explain my
abstention.  

First of all, I will provide to the secretary of the board in due
course a written statement on this.  But I would like to make the
following explanation:  I want to make clear that it's not about the
names on the list.  It's about process.  The slate poses no problem
to me.  But I would like to ensure that we, too, in our internal
process improve and ensure ever-greater accountability and
transparency.  Colleagues have pointed out to me that it is on the
strength of the charter of the BGC that these decisions -- or rather
that this process was adopted.  And,whereas, I'm happy with the way
that the charter provisions have been carried out, obviously, they
were correct.  I would like to propose that for the very next steps,
we apply overarching principles rather than respecting so faithfully
the charter of one committee.  There is an important requirement or a
principle, if you wish, which I think carries more weight in the end
than simply one committee charter.  I say this because ICANN is
engaged now in a new phase of its history.  We are living now with a
new thing, which is called the AoC, the Affirmation of Commitments. 
And I think that this is important.  Look at the four main tasks
which are assigned by this Affirmation of Commitments.  You will
notice that transparency and accountability figure in the very first
place among all the tasks.  So I think it would be paradoxical that,
whereas, we engage in ever-greater efforts and at great expense of
effort for the staff and for the board, in a very large review
process, which deals with our relation with other elements of ICANN
but also with the outside world, I think that it would be paradoxical
to do all this work and then to have a sort of lower standard or not
to accept to revise our own internal rules, for instance, a charter,
to make sure that we, too, internally improve and meet the higher
standards.  

I think that, as our chairman Peter Dengate Thrush has constantly
reminded us over the past year, it is the duty, it is the honor of
ICANN to try to achieve the status of one of the models of global
governance.  Thank you.

 >>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:   Thank you, Jean-Jacques.

[Applause]

Do you want to make a comment, Raimundo?

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Jean-Jacques.  Do you want to
make a comment, Raimundo?

[Applause]

>>RAIMUNDO BECA:  Yes, Peter.  Thank you very much.  But I will do
it in Spanish which is a way also to my acknowledgment to the
interpreters and scribes.

The function, the task of populating the committees is a very
difficult task in all parts of the world because we need to find a
balance of many things, a balance of rotations of the different
committees so that the board has different experiences come to it,
the experiences -- the expertise of different people, the
distribution, the diversity -- the regional diversity.

And in this case, and for this board in particular, the fact that we
have to have a balance between those who are nominated by NomCom and
those who are elected from their support organizations, this is
difficult -- this is the sixth time that I have been present in a
group that belongs to the board.

This is the best of the six times that I have been, but it is still
far away from being excellent.  And my abstention is to indicate that
we have to improve this method.  In my country of origin, when we
place notices in primary, secondary or tertiary education, we place
marks from one through seven.but in this one, I would give it a four.
The best of the other five would get a three.  A project would have a
one.  

This one, I would give it a four, and four is very far away from the
excellence of seven that this organization should have.  Thank you.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you, Raimundo.  There are -- did I
put that resolution?  Yes, we voted.  Thank you.

We come next to the item of business which is required under the
bylaws, and that's to confirm the officers of ICANN.  The officers
are President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer,
General Counsel and Secretary and Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer.  And to no one's surprise, the resolution appoints Rod
Beckstrom as the President and CEO; Doug Brent as the Chief Operating
Officer; John Jeffrey as General Counsel and Secretary; Kurt Pritz as
Senior Vice President; and Kevin Wilson as Chief Financial Officer.

Is someone prepared to move that omnibus motion?  I see Ramaraj is
prepared to move that.  Is someone prepared to second that?  Mike
Silber was first.

I will put that resolution for all those officers to be confirmed in
their respective positions.  

Is there any discussion about the resolution?  In which case, all
those in favor please raise your hands.

Any opposed?

[No verbal response.]

Any abstentions?

[No verbal response.]

May the record note that Rod Beckstrom abstained on the vote.  Thank
you.  I declare the resolution carried.

Is there any other business for this portion of the board meeting?  

Dennis Jennings.

>>DENNIS JENNINGS:  Peter, just to remind everybody that Ramaraj is
also a returning director, continuing on.  I think you inadvertently
missed telling the community that Ramaraj continues to serve, is
returned by the NomCom.

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Thank you very much.

Rod Beckstrom?

>>ROD BECKSTROM:  I will share my own closing remarks.  I just want
to thank all of you for a terrific ICANN 36.  It was my first full
ICANN as a participant and member, and I'm just thrilled and honored
to be a member of this community and just really appreciate all of
your incredible commitment and spirit and the openness that, I think,
pervaded this week.  

And the warm welcome you gave me was something very, very special.

So I just wanted to say my final gratitude.  Thank you.

[Applause]

>>PETER DENGATE THRUSH:  Any further items of other business?

Seeing none, I will declare the meeting adjourned.  See you all in
Nairobi.  Thanks very much.

[Applause]