AT-LARGE GATEWAY
At-Large Regional Policy Engagement Program (ARPEP)
At-Large Review Implementation Plan Development
Page History
- Transparency and Accountability in ICANN Structure Specifically in ICANN Compliance Reporting
1.1. Summary: This is a space the continuing examination of the ICANN compliance function to ensure that ICANN is completely transparent and accountable in its public commitment. At-Large has been at the forefront for several years in documenting the effectiveness and responsiveness of ICANN compliance.
1.2. Basic Issue: There is a major discrepancy in who directs compliance, more specifically, who compliance reports to. As many of us know, Fadi moved compliance out from under ICANN legal upon his arrival and made the department report directly to the CEO. This was a move welcomed by the community. However, this does not in fact appear to be the case. In terms of portfolio management and budget control, compliance is under the direction of ICANN domain business. This is a serious problem. The attached memo explains the situation and provides some suggestions for remeidying the issue in order to ensure true accountability of ICANN especially as the IANA transition moves forward.
...
The best model, one which serves the multi-stakeholder community and the public interest, would be one in which compliance is completely divorced form ICANN’s business. ICANN’s core function is in managing contracts with registries and registrars. The compliance function is the ultimate protective force for the organization and the greater Internet community. Without an effective compliance function, ICANN is merely a pass-through for domain industry money. My recommendation is to place compliance outside the ICANN structure, possibly reporting directly to the board. Obviously, the functions should remain in ICANN’s offices to ensure continuity, but true structural independence is required for ICANN to deliver its mandate of public interest accountability and transparency.
1.3. Segregation of Duties as a Best Practice
The ICANN Bylaws include a provision for (#8) "Making decisions by applying documented policies neutrally and objectively, with integrity and fairness." ICANN's compliance function is its most critical department for applying documented policies as the enforcement impacts registries, registrars, registrants and users at-large. The need for objectivity, fairness and neutrality of this function cannot be underscored enough. The goal of ICANN's business division is to expand business. A compliance department run by business cannot effectively be neutral, objective, or fair.
2. Actual ICANN Structure vs. Public Claims
As explained above, the President of the Global Domains Division is the "owner" of compliance. This is a fact that distinguishes the compliance director from other CEO direct reports who run their own portfolios (i.e., Theresa Swinehart, John Jeffrey, Tarek Kamel, Sally Costerton, Susanna Bennett, David Olive, Ashwin Rangan, etc.). As a direct report to the CEO, the compliance director has no independence in terms of portfolio management, it's clearly a priority of the President of the Global Domains Division. This differs clearly from the the organizational chart but the GDD control of compliance is supported by other documentation including budgets over the last few years.
2.1. FY13 Budget Discrepancies
In looking at the budget we find a number of discrepancies between structural fact and the current organizational chart. The last budget showed compliance funding completely under the control of Akram Atallah.
...
Another smaller portion of the compliance budget still comes from Legal.
2.2. FY16 Budget Discrepancies
The FY16 Budget no longer uses names but rather goals, portfolios, etc. However, in the budget spreadsheet compliance functions fall under section 2.3-Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted. The other budget items in this section are (2.3.11) Next gTLD Round, (2.3.12) Outreach and Relationship Management with Existing and new Registry, Registrar Community, (2.3.13) Registrar Services, (2.3.14) Registry Services, (2.3.2) Domain Name Services, (2.3.8) GDD Online Services Product Management, and (2.3.9) IDNs. Again, all functions of the President of the Global Domains Division.
The ICANN Draft FY16 Operating Plan & Budget document adds even more specificity to the GDD control of compliance, on page 17 it is stated: "Priority areas: Global Domains Division (GDD) service platform ramp-up and expansion of Contractual Compliance"
This places compliance expansion under GDD. On Page 41 Contractual Compliance Functions (daily operations) are under the umbrella of "marketplace" priorities.
Within the budget spreadsheet we find under 2.1.7 GDD Operations Total: “includes the implementation of Tier one customer service for Registrars and Compliance functions as they implement their proceses on salesforce CRM.” Here compliance funding is tied to customer service (for contracted parties) and sales; this is a $0.2M budget item.
In this case a portion of compliance funding is directly tied to customer service and sales. CRM is "customer relationship management" and implies this is a business-driven process and the greater Internet community is not served.
2.3. Legal Approves all Compliance Actions
3. True Impact of Compliance Activity
At-Large Accountability and Transparency Review
CWG Accountability Work
ICANN AoC
...
