SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia Herlein speaking, good evening and welcome, everybody. This is 23:08 UTC; this is our last LACRALO call for this year, 2012. We are c berating our sixth anniversary. This is also a very important historic date for all of us because two hours ago the priority draw for the gTLDs started, so this is a very important date for everybody at ICANN. Gisella, if you could kindly proceed with the roll call please.
GISELLA GRUBER: This is Gisella, thank you Sylvia. Welcome to everyone on today’s call. On the Spanish channel we have Sylvia Herlein Leite, Marcelo Telez, Antonio Medina Gomez, Erik Huesca, Aida Noblia, Alfredo Lopez, Fatima Cambronero, Sergio Salinas Porto, Juan Manual Rojas, Fatima Cambronero, Adrian Carballo, Alberto Soto and Philippe Boland.
On the English channel we have Cintra Sooknanan, Olivier Crepin-Leblond, Dev Anand Teelucksingh and Roosevelt King. We have apologies from Jose Arce, Natalia Enciso and Humberto Carrasco. From staff we have Silvia Vivanco, Heidi Ullrich, and myself Gisella Gruber. Our interpreters this evening are Veronica and Sabrina, welcome. If I could also please remind everyone to state their names when speaking; not only for transcript purposes, but to allow the interpreters to identify the speaker on the other channel.
We also have Vanda Scartezini who has just joined us on the Adobe Connect, welcome. And if we could also speak at a reasonable pace to allow for accurate interpretation. Thank you very much and over to you Sylvia.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Thank you Gisella. This is Sylvia Herlein speaking. We have no pending or open action items so we should move on to item three on the agenda. We always have a 30 minute capacity building session in each of our conference calls. Unfortunately given the time of the speaker intended for this month and alternatives that Fatima and Natalia had thought of, well all of them apologize because most of them participated or attending the WCIT in Dubai, so they are traveling.
But I wanted to let you know that given the success of our capacity building sessions this year, we decided to continue with these sessions as from 2013, and we will be shortly sending you a survey so that you can help us choose those topics that you find interesting and are relevant for you, so that we can invite speakers accordingly for these new capacity building sessions. I now open the floor for comments. I don’t know if anyone would like to make a comment at this point.
Sylvia Herlein speaking – so if there are no comments on item three, we should proceed to item four, that is the General Assembly. Today, December the 17th at 23:59 UTC we have the closing time for the comment period on the General Assembly. So far we haven’t received any comments, so as indicated by Jose Arce, we will proceed with the vote tomorrow. That is we will vote on item 18 and items 8 through 14. As you may have observed, all the amendments we were going to vote on were retrieved or recalled, so then these votes would have no effect tomorrow.
We had item 13 still open that dealt with the quorum and item 16 that dealt with individual participation; both topics will be addressed by the governance and the strategic planning working groups. About 15 minutes ago we received an email from Jose Arce; he sent it to the list. He sent his apologies, but I would like to read it out to you – unfortunately we were not able to translate it into English given the short notice, but I will read it out so that the interpreters can interpret that into the English channel. I will now read this email that we received 15 minutes ago.
“Dear region, I am writing to let you know that I have closely followed all the events of the General Assembly since its beginning. I have listened to the audio recordings and read the transcripts several times and I have been able to share many discussion spaces with you. And today, we have reached a point in which things start taking shape. From the latest emails in the list on the General Assembly, I can see that the region on the whole recognizes the work done by the working group, both at LACRALO and ALAC.
And in recognition to this it is possible for us today to have greater dialogue. These groups and these instances of dialogue lead to consensus and better understanding. Therefore in this date, the members of the region reached a common understanding regarding the organization of the region, the steps to follow or the next steps, and the future of our work. That is the starting point. On the basis of that I have decided to withdraw the motion proposed. It is worth noting that the different items on the agenda are all part of the proposal presented by the three members that decided or proposed to withdraw them. This situation means that the General Assembly agenda is now without a content or its content has been depleted.
Therefore I formally conclude the General Assembly, the LACRALO 2012 General Assembly. We will be soon submitting the final report. To conclude, I would like to say that I am very pleased that the region has given this enormous step towards commitment on working together. And seriously, the region on the whole has grown, and everything on the basis of your experience and input. My sincere gratitude and regards, Jose Arce, LACRALO General Assembly Chair.”
Therefore we conclude the General Assembly and now the floor is open for comments. Sylvia Herlein speaking – if there are no comments I imagine you are all relieved with this General Assembly result and that’s why there are no comments. Therefore we will proceed to item number five. This is Sylvia, hello Vanda; welcome to the Spanish channel. Are you on the Spanish channel? Vanda, can you hear us? Okay thank you. Sylvia Herlein speaking – Vanda, I don’t know if you were able to listen to this but I have just read an email sent by Jose Arce in which he decided to bring the LACRALO General Assembly 2012 to a close.
Sylvia Herlein speaking – okay, if there are no comments on this item regarding the General Assembly, then we can move on to item number five; that is the regional strategic plan. Fatima and Dev will let us know about the results so far. I don’t know who would like to take the floor first.
FATIMA CAMBRONERO: This is Fatima speaking. If Dev agrees I will be the first one to take the floor. Fatima Cambronero speaking, thank you. I want to let you know about the latest news in our Strategic Planning Working Group as convened by Rodrigo. Dev and I sent an email with the latest update. I will post both links on the Adobe Connect so that you can access the Spanish and English versions. We finally formed the regional strategy group with members or representatives of the different communities that are represented within ICANN.
We have, Dev and myself are representing LACRALO and Rodrigo asked former members like Vanda and Alejandro, so there’s plenty to do. And I have also posted the Wiki link, and you have the link to the draft document as sent by Rodrigo available in Spanish and in English. So please read those documents when you find the time so that you can make your comments and input. We thank Natalia and Vanda for their comments on this draft document. And this week we will be holding the first conference call with the entire group. Because so far, we have held no meetings, so we are trying to move forward, so any comment or input will be welcome.
The conference call has not been confirmed yet. Once we hold this conference call we will brief you on what happens there. So this is the latest news so far.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking – thank you Fatima for that quick comment. I don’t know if Dev wants to add any further comments.
VANDA SCARTEZINI: This is Vanda speaking. I just wanted to say that there is a lot of expectation regarding Fadi’s work, so everybody’s engagement, and as Fatima said, is very important because the end result will be really considered by the Board, especially by Fadi, so as to put in place issues related to our area. So in itself this work is very relevant, everybody should be engaged.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking, thank you Vanda. Is there any further comment? Sylvia Herlein speaking – okay, if there are no further comments then we will move on to item number six; that is the LACRALO Working Groups. In the past weeks we have witnessed a lot of activity on the list. Several groups have already submitted their work and comments are being received. So for the record, I have instructed coordinators and co-coordinators to make the comments they deem fit on this call.
I think we have representatives from all of the working groups on the call. I don’t know who would like to hold the floor. Okay, Juan Manuel, excellent. He Chaired the Communication Working Group. Go ahead Juan, you have the floor.
JUAN MANUEL ROJAS: Juan Manuel Rojas speaking. Thank you Sylvia. The word “chair” is a pretty large word for a mere working group coordinator. Thank you all very much. I simply want to say that we have drafted a style manual or handbook. I will post that link on the Adobe Connect so that you can have a look at it. We have received recommendations. We incorporated and took into account the recommendations. Thank you very much for your interest.
I think that this document has to be translated because it’s written in Spanish, so that it’s available both in Spanish and English. And then it can be ready to be put in place. Sorry this has been a very conscientious work of all the members of the working group. I want to especially thank Dev, Silvia Vivanco, Sylvia for their contributions. And I want to thank everybody for their contributions during the discussions of the working group. This is my comment basically. Thank you all for your participation and this is the result we can present to the region. Thank you.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking, thank you Juan Manuel. I have been reading this document. I think this work is excellent. No doubt it will help us in the future so that we run into fewer issues regarding this topic. Thank you indeed. I don’t know who would like to take the floor now. Sylvia Herlein speaking, I’m listening or hearing somebody speaking in English. Sylvia Herlein speaking, I don’t know if Erik is still on the call; if you would like to take the floor.
ERIK HUESCA: Erik speaking, yes I’m still on the call listening attentively. I agree with what has been said before.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking. Erik, I was wondering if you had any comments on the Strategic Planning Working Group in your capacity as a co-chair or co-coordinator.
ERIK HUESCA: Erik Huesca speaking. Yes, Alberto has been working on a document together with Alejandro Pisanty. And at the beginning of next year we will have the mission, the vision, the values and that will be the starting point for us to share the document with all of the assembly for its approval.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking, excellent, thank you. Dev I saw you had your hand up, but I will ask you to kindly wait because I imagine Alberto has some comments on what Erik has just said.
ALBERTO SOTO: Alberto Soto speaking, correct Sylvia. As Erik said yes, we have been working. We have already sent an email to the group, so we need your comments, your feedback, because the scheduled approval is there initially as the first step, and then all the necessary steps – a mission, a vision etc. So we need your input, thank you.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking. Now Dev you have the floor; go ahead please.
DEV ANAND TEELUCKSINGH: Thank you. This is Dev Anand Teelucksingh here speaking. I just posted the link to Humberto’s summary of the report from the Translation Working Group. There’s actually four key issues, but the main one obviously being the mailing list issues; that’s what that is. The problems that we’ve encountered with our email list translations. The four problems, key problems have been identified, and four solutions have been suggested as a way forward. Including one of the ways forward would be that fully formatted emails; especially those that don’t have punctuation would not be translated but a warning would be sent to the sender saying in fact that the email was not translated because of the following reasons, and a link posted to the Wiki page.
A proposed notice that when an email is not translated has also been developed and I just posted a link there in the chat. That and also working with some of the LACRALO working groups dealing with communications, we also are coming up with some proposed styles for emails. And I will link those to Juan’s work and the work from that communication working group. That’s it.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking, thank you Dev. Antonio Medina would like to make a comment, but I want to ask staff about the following. He says he’s only on the Adobe Connect Room – I don’t know if we all will be able to hear him. Antonio can you hear us?
ANTONIO MEDINA GOMEZ: This is Antonio, can you hear me.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: It’s Sylvia speaking, yes of course. Go ahead Antonio.
ANTONIO MEDINA GOMEZ: This is Antonio speaking, thank you. Good afternoon everybody. I would like to briefly describe the work that we have been doing. Last week our working group met and we agreed on intensifying our activities and tasks for the remainder of the month of December and the month of January. This group has to deal with a very complex topic, but I want to thank you all because we have been able to work very accurately and we will be able to have deliverables in the coming weeks. Thank you.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: Sylvia Herlein speaking, thank you Antonio. So Antonio’s participation concludes item six, and then we have item seven – any other business or any other subjects. And I would like to invite Vanda in her capacity as a NomCom member, although she has been recently appointed. Vanda, you have the floor please. Sylvia speaking, yes Vanda, go ahead.
VANDA SCARTEZINI: This is Vanda speaking. I sent two reports to the list and two Jose. I sent the two reports we drafted at the NomCom. The most important aspects are details there, so both reports address all details. But the most interesting aspect is the initial decision that we made when we were in Toronto. We both decided that we are going to record all the conversations during the NomCom sessions and all the NomCom’s work indeed. That will be the basis for the minutes that staff will write, and will help us to look up specific information.
As was the case this year, we had a serious problem within the NomCom, so for that reason we decided that we will be recording all the sessions so there is no dispute regarding to who spoke, who said what, etc. So that was our first discussion. Also, when I was a representative I started drafting a report and I sent that report to the group but nobody else was doing that. So this year therefore, we decided to draft a monthly report with general guidelines. Maybe there may be individual variations regarding the level of detail, etc. But the basis will be the same so that everybody within the NomCom will be submitting similar reports to their respective groups, which I think is very good.
In addition, we guaranteed or assured that processes will be public as was the case this year. But of course, candidate’s names will not be made public because that is private information in order to protect candidates privacy. So this year we will create a subcommittee that I will also be a member of. And that is the subcommittee on outreach recruitment, in order to better organize the recruitment initiative and see what we’re going to do, how, where and guarantee that more people will be applying for the NomCom.
The remaining items related to the latest discussion, had more to do with a significant discussion regarding the GNSO. Because the Bylaws indicate that this year, I mean this year we held a lengthy discussion in 2012. We engaged in a lengthy discussion with ICANNs General Counsel and his theme in order to decide how to proceed regarding the selection of people for the GNSO. Because the Bylaws indicate that we, at NomCom are the ones that should directly elect which seat each of the persons we select will be holding; whether they will be voting or non-voting members.
But internally the GNSO has a different work methodology; they rotate their members in order to guarantee a balance, a clearer balance among the members of the different groups within the GNSO, such as the Business Constituency, the Registrars, the Registries and so on. So in order to keep this balance, the instructions we make are upsetting this balance because we do not know the GNSO internal dynamic. When the NomCom decides that this or that person will be holding this or that seat in their capacity as voting or non-voting member and will have to serve for the entire term – well that is not really the way to proceed.
Because after holding a seat at the GSNO for a year for example, a person goes back to a community. This year we selected or chose a person that was from more business oriented. So that person will be holding a seat representing the business community, but will keep their position as a non-voting member. This upsets the balance significantly in terms of the representation of each of the constituencies within the GNSO. So the GNSO is once again opening this up and it is possible that they will request a change or an amendment of the Bylaws.
So this is the situation we’re facing again. At the end of these reports you will find a list of all the people that are holding seats at NomCom, so that you know who they are, who they are representing, etc. These reports are quite lengthy; they have several pages each, but they are very thorough. So if anyone has any doubt, please feel free to send me an email and I will gladly clarify any doubts or chat with the person that considers that necessary.
Then the rest have to do with normal or usual NomCom procedures. These two points that I raise are the two points that were widely debated, and there may be a change in the selection of people within the GNSO.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia, thank you Vanda for this update. Is there any questions? This is Sylvia again, apparently there are no comments.
VANDA SCARTEZINI: This is Vanda speaking. Of course you will have time to read the reports and I am at your disposal.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia speaking again, thank you very much Vanda for your comment.
VANDA SCARTEZINI: This is Vanda, you’re welcome.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia again. The other topic is – Fatima I see your hand up; you have the floor.
FATIMA CAMBRONERO: This is Fatima, thank you very much Sylvia. There is something else I would like to add in terms of training or capacity building. Two hours ago approximately we had the first call of the At-Large Capacity Building Working Group. We had many members from LACRALO – Juan Manuel, Natalia, Dev and myself. And this is important to mention because it is related to the training that we’re monthly coordinating since the meeting in Costa Rica and that we are planning to continue next year. In this At-Large Working Group we are going to focus on this issue and we will give the results in the ICANN meeting in Beijing.
This result will be very successful for the choice or election of speakers for next year. We have decided to draft the mission and objective of this working group and I think it is important to mention that it is related to what we are doing in LACRALO. We are not only talking about internet governance issues being discussed in ICANN, but we are considering the possibility of also extending the [topics] to other issues of governance and coordinating the activities of other working groups within ICANN related to the capacity building issue.
So any comment you would like to make in terms of this, you can be in touch with any of the LACRALO members – Carlos, Salanieta – they will be the members in the Steering Committee of this working group, so you can let them know your comments. That’s all, thank you very much Sylvia.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia, thank you Fatima. I see Juan Manual has his hand up. You have the floor Juan Manuel.
JUAN MANUEL ROJAS: This is Juan Manuel Rojas speaking, thank you very much Sylvia. I was listening to Fatima and I remembered something that will happen tomorrow. This is a reminder for you. You have already received the email there is a webinar tomorrow; the R3 paper webinar. It is important for us to participate because it has to do with the ICANN in terms of making it responsible and relevant. So that information is being posted on the AC room. I would like to remind us that this is tomorrow, so you can just add this to your calendar.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia, thank you very much Juan Manual. I was just about to mention that. Heidi is in charge of that working group. She will be receiving the comments. There are nine documents which are open for public comment, and you can find those documents in this link. One of them is important and it is related to us, and that is what Juan Manuel has mentioned. That is to say how to make ICANN respectable, relevant and responsible. And this document will be published for public comment. It has only nine pages and it is translated into nine languages.
So it is important that our community participate by providing comments and input. So I will also post on the AC, and I think it will be the same link, regarding this issue of the public comment. Is there any other comment regarding this particular issue or regarding the other documents that are published and open for public comment? This is Sylvia Herlein Leite once again, Dev I see your hand up. Dev you have the floor, go ahead please.
DEV ANAND TEELUCKSINGH: Thank you. This is Dev Anand Teelucksingh speaking. One of the announcements ICANN also made recently is that the objection period for objections to new gTLDs has been extended from January to March 2013. As some of you may know, the At-Large has the capability to file objections to new gTLD applications on two grounds – limited public interest grounds and community grounds. So just a reminder that for comments to be considered by the gTLD Review Group, and that’s the working group that’s coordinating the At-Large objection process, for the comments to be considered by At-Large for drafting a formal objection statement on limited public interest or community grounds, the comments have to be submitted by January 16, 2013, which is about one month left.
So that’s just a reminder. I will post the link to the gTLD dashboard where you can read up more about the process. And if you have any comments that you want to submit you can just email me and I will help explain anything regarding that. Thank you.
SYLVIA HERLEIN LEITE: This is Sylvia, thank you Dev for this update. We are now on item seven – any other business. So if there is any comment you have now the floor, or else you will have to be silent till next year. So is there anyone who has any comment? Seeing there are no comments I would like to tell you – this is Sylvia Herlein Leite speaking – that shortly we will be having news on the LACRALO webpage on the Wiki. We’re going to unify in one place the Wiki page so that we can have the two pages together to make navigation easier so that you can receive all the information together as you have already requested.
So if there are no other comments, and I don’t see anybody with his or her hand up, I would like to thank all the participants, the interpreters, the staff for their time. I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very good New Year, and to congratulate you on your efforts and hard work during this year. And I would like to thank particularly for having shared a really a very hard year. So I hope that 2013 will be a good year for us so that we can keep working together. Vanda we are hearing voices in English, could you please mute your phone? Thank you very much.
So, as I was telling you before, I would like to wish you a very good New Year with good wishes and hopes. And I would like to greet you and invite you on January 21st at 23:00 UTC to our first call during next year, 2013. If there is any comment you have the floor now, or else, I will bring this call to an end and thank you once again for this wonderful year together. So, thank you very much. This is the end of this call for LACRALO 2012. Thank you very much and see you next year.
DEV ANAND TEELUCKSINGH: Thank you everyone. Take care all. Season’s greetings and Merry Christmas.
[End of Transcript]
