AT-LARGE GATEWAY
At-Large Regional Policy Engagement Program (ARPEP)
At-Large Review Implementation Plan Development
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As we consider IANA Transition work in the context of accountability and transparency to the stakeholder community I would encourage all to review the current structure of ICANN’s compliance functions. What ICANN has at the moment is an inherent conflict of interest in the management of compliance. Early in his arrival, CEO Fadi Chehade moved the compliance department out from under ICANN legal and had it report directly to the CEO. This was done following various concerns from the community about the independence of the compliance department. However, now there is a curious situation of the compliance department actually reporting to the business division. See the screen captures below from ICANN’s portfolio management page (prior to August 2015 - see 2.5.) :Anchor atallah_as_owner atallah_as_owner
Akram Atallah is ICANN’s Global Domain Division President. His core function is in overseeing the commercial aspects of ICANN and specifically in “Relationship Management” for the contracted parties. This is in complete contradiction to his additional portfolio role which includes Contractual Compliance Functions and Initiatives. Even on an optical level, this presents a poor image. In fact, there is no firewall inside of ICANN that ensures compliance truly serves the public interest. Additionally, the domain business president functions appear far-reaching in comparison to other top-level ICANN officers.
This structure is also in contradiction to the ICANN staff organizational chart which shows the head of compliance reporting directly to the CEO. However, ICANN’s FY2016 budget proposals specify that the compliance budget is part of the Global Domains budget and even a portion of the compliance budget is still controlled by ICANN legal. This is not what the CEO promised the community.
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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.
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In looking at the budget we find a number of discrepancies between structural fact and the current organizational chart. The last FY13 budget showed compliance funding completely under the control of Akram Atallah.
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Another smaller portion of the compliance budget still comes came from Legal.
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We see several examples above of compliance taking management direction and as well as their budget from the Domains Division. However, ICANN Legal still has much influence in the department. First there is the specific budget item of "Reports to the Community" being controlled by Legal. It is not clear why the compliance reports of a supposedly transparent public-interest entity need legal authorization. To be very, specific Legal funds the "Contractual Compliance ICANN Meeting Updates" which implies some need for editorial control. Legal is also still part of the cycle of registrar breaches and terminations. While terminating a contract is a legal issue. Then there is a breach sent to the registry for .JOBS which was exclusively signed by the head of legal. In that case Legal is the driving force behind the breach and it does not even appear to come from Compliance.
2.4. GDD President is Outside the ICANN Structure?
Current Compliance has noted this information is old (see "Comments" below), but we need to be conscious of this and ask for specifics as to when absolute control ended and how deep is the influence now.
2.4. GDD President is Outside the ICANN Structure?
A different ICANN organizational chart demonstrates the seriousness of the issue. This one shows the GDD President completely outside the ICANN structure. Here the domain business president does not report to the CEO, or anyone else for that matter. He is also on the same organizational level as the ICANN CEO.
Secondly, It is important to note location of compliance in this structure, under the COO and not under the CEO. If this chart is to be taken on its face, compliance reports to the COO and the domain business is unaccountable to the CEO, or anyone else. ICANN staff has questioned the origin of this document.
2.5. UPDATE August 7, 2015 (Pending)
2.6. A More Detailed Look at Akram Atallah's Role in terms of Portfolio and Budget
The budget has become more obfuscated, removing names and titles, as opposed to the version seen above in 2.1 from FY13. Without more specifics being provided by ICANN we have to compare the Portfolio Goals with the Budget Line Items, particularly Akram Atallah's FY16 portfolio goals as "Shepherd". In terms of the ICANN Portfolio Management System Atallah has three major Goals as Shepherd which match major budget sections: Foster and coordinate a healthy, secure, stable, and resilient identifier ecosystem and Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted. The budget section entitled: 2.3-Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted includes the following budget line items: 2.3.10 New gTLD Program, 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, 2.3.5 Contractual Compliance Functions, 2.3.6 Contractual Compliance Initiatives & Improvements
It has been suggested that "that document was prepared and posted by a member of the community" (see comments). The full original document can be found here: https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/41899319/ICANN%20Management%20Org%20Chart.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1379370144000&api=v2. Regardless of the origin, it remains a curious artifact which should be discussed and fully fleshed out.
2.5. UPDATE August 7, 2015
Allen Grogan has posted an additional response to this page (see below) in which he has indicated ICANN made changes to the ICANN Portfolio Management System Plan Overview. The first major change was to make a "Portfolio Goal" for Allen Grogan who was absent from the top-level management previously. This "Goal" is part of the "Promote role clarity and establish mechanisms to increase trust within ecosystem rooted in the public interest" efforts. The second change to the overall context was to change "Owner" to "Shepherd" for each portfolio goal. The third change was to apparently divide the former management priorities of Akram Atallah. "Contractual Compliance Functions" and "Contractual Compliance Initiatives" are now under Grogan. "WHOIS Core Function/Service & Improvement" and "Security, Stability and Resiliency of Internet Identifiers" are now under David Conrad. (Also see Grogan's summary in the "Comments" section at the bottom of this page). However, for reasons explained below in 2.6, there are more serious budget issues as they relate to management. In summary, if we are to believe the updated plan which indicates Grogan as the manager ("Shepherd") of compliance, the budget and portfolio management place Akram Atallah between him and the CEO. This is not the draft, but the approved budget.
2.6. A More Detailed Look at Akram Atallah's Role in terms of Portfolio and Budget (Following August update above)
Following ICANN's August changes to the PMS we still basically see the GDD President as the "Shepherd" of most of the organization including compliance, as shown below in 2.6.1. and 2.6.2.
2.6.1. "Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted"
The budget has become more obfuscated, removing names and titles, as opposed to the version seen above in 2.1 from FY13. Without more specifics being provided by ICANN we have to compare the Portfolio Goals with the Budget Line Items, particularly Akram Atallah's FY16 portfolio goals as "Shepherd". In terms of the ICANN Portfolio Management System Atallah has two major Goals as Shepherd which match major budget sections: Foster and coordinate a healthy, secure, stable, and resilient identifier ecosystem and Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted. (The following is a composite image from the ICANN Portfolio system and the FY16 Budget):
The budget section entitled: 2.3-Support the evolution of domain name marketplace to be robust, stable and trusted includes the following budget line items: 2.3.10 New gTLD Program, 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, 2.3.5 Contractual Compliance Functions, 2.3.6 Contractual Compliance Initiatives & Improvements, 2.3.7 Contractual Compliance & Consumer Safeguard, 2.3.8 GDD Online Services Product Management, and 2.3.9 Internationalized Domain Names. The Compliance budget falls under a portfolio that Atallah is the "Shepherd" of and is bundled with the Global Domains Division budget and other items that Atallah manages. It is important to note that the budget document is titled "FY16 Budget By Portfolio and Project" which makes a direct reference to the Portfolio Goals of the "Shepherds".
2.6.2. "Foster and coordinate a healthy, secure, stable, and resilient identifier ecosystem"
According to the FY16 Operating Plan and Budget Adopted by ICANN Board at ICANN 53 in Buenos Aires, all the Contractual Compliance functions fall under "Foster and coordinate a healthy, secure, stable, and resilient identifier ecosystem" which has Akram Atallah as the "Shepherd".
From the "Fadi Chehade, Shepherd" page click on "Foster and coordinate a healthy, secure, stable, and resilient identifier ecosystem", this will open the "Akram Atallah, Shepherd" page. View the FY16 Budget by Project and Portfolio to see that Contractual Compliance Functions are part of the "Foster..." portfolio. The budget control of compliance is still under Akram Atallah.
2.6.3. As the CEO Steps Down, Akram Steps Up (again)
It was announced August 17 2015 that NTIA would be extending the IANA contract for another year. This happened at the same time as Fadi's announcement that he would distancing himself from ICANN's operation. The IANA contract had to be modified in order to accommodate the change in schedule. Who signed the new contract? Akram Atallah:
The document makes it clear what entity Atallah is signing on behalf of:
2.6.4. President of Global Domains Division issues Public Statements of Compliance Policy
Beyond what we see above in the historical organizational structure and budget documents, we also see Akram Atallah making public policy statements on compliance. The following are excerpts from last October's Wall Street Journal article on ICANN:
"I don't know how contractually we could do something different than [what] we are doing says Akram Atallah, president of Icann's global domains division"
So, here we have the GDD President definitively stating what the limits of contractual compliance are. As a side note, it is clear from the record that the issue in question was a contractual issue, but Atallah has declared publicly it was not. Why is the GDD President making the declaration and not the CEO, especially if the head of compliance supposedly reports to the CEO?
The following is portion of a June 18 2015 letter by the GDD President on a compliance matter:
"ICANN's enforcement authority is limited to enforcing compliance with the terms and conditions of its agreements
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ICANN is considering these responses and will continue to monitor Vox Populi's compliance with ICANN's Registry Agreement for the .SUCKS TLD."
Again, GDD is making public policy definitions of the compliance role and responding to compliance issues from the community.
3. True Impact of Compliance Activity
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