Participants: W Seltzer (Board Liaison), R Sherwood, N Thu Hue, A Muehlberg, D Thompson, H Xue, R Guerre, A Greenberg, C Langdon-Orr, B Brendler, J Morris (ccNSO liaison), S Bachollet, V Scartezini, C Aguirre, H Diakite, F Seye Sylla
Apologies: J Ovidio Salgueiro, W Ludwig
Absent: C Samuels, P Budhrani, D Kasole
Staff: N Ashton-Hart, F Teboul, M Langenegger
Adoption of the Agenda
The minutes were adopted. There were no action items to review.
Staff gave a short review of the current ALS applications. Four organizations have been welcomed since the last ALAC meeting. There are currently two open applications.
Liaison report:
There was some discussion on the last paragraph of the Board Liaison report concerning the RAA Amendments:
As for upcoming issues, I would recommend that ALAC review the Registrar Accreditation Agreement and its amendments. As registrars are one of the most individual-facing parts of the ICANN web, and the ICANN contract the uniform requirements they must follow, we should at least be making recommendations (even if they are likely to be ignored, again) as to how these contracts could better serve the interests of individual Internet users. When even the Department of Commerce is concerned about ICANN's lack of contractual enforcement – shouldn't we make another plug for third-party beneficiary status for the affected public?
(submitted by W Seltzer)
The Staff noted that there will be a briefing session on this issue on 20 August and asked interested participants to submit there questions in advance of the meeting using the “comment” button on the meeting page. There was some discussion whether a discussion on the mailing list would be preferable. It was decided that there should be a discussion on the mailing list. A summary of this discussion will be added to the briefing page (draft_amendments_to_raa)
Issues to be raised at the ICANN Board Meeting
There was some discussion on the Board resolution on the Summit Proposal and how it would impact on the At-Large travel policy.
W Seltzer will ask the board to comment on the travel policy and how it will be implemented. She will make the case that At-Large is productive and is an important part to the policy process.
The ALAC ExCom will draft a short statement for the Board Liaison to submit at the next Board meeting on behalf of ALAC.
At-Large Mailing List Moderation
B Brendler noted that if an individual is consistently disruptive, a suspension does not have anything to do with censorship. He suggested suspending Jeffrey Williams permanently from the At-Large mailing list.
R Guerra made the following motion:
_WHEREAS Jeff Williams’ posting rights to the At-Large mailing list will be suspended for a period of six month. Any future deviation from the code of conduct for the At-Large mailing list will result in permanent suspension.
The motion was carried unanimously_.
Jeff Williams will be suspended from posting to the At-Large mailing list until 5th February 2009.
Best Practice models for ALS <=> RALO <=> ALAC communications
Of the five regional Secretariats invited to this part of the meeting, only the North American representative was present. What followed was an extensive discussion on how the policy development process could be enhanced to ensure greater inclusion of the ALSes.
It was generally felt that more needed to be done to ensure that the At-Large members were informed about upcoming public comment periods. The Staff noted that a step in this direction has been made with the inception of the ALAC-announce mailing list destined for exactly such announcement. He further noted that the ICANN policy updates would include the upcoming public comment periods starting next month.
It was suggested to have short monthly telephone conference for the Secretariats. The Staff will follow up on this.
The agenda item will be revisited once the ALAC-announce list has been well established and after the monthly Secretariat meetings have started.
ALAC appointed NomCom candidates
The Staff gave a quick overview of the current NomCom candidates that have been appointed by the ALAC: Khaled Kouba (AFRALO), Matias Altamira (LACRALO), Ross Rader (NARALO), Desirée Milhosevic (EURALO), Karaitiana Tairu (APRALO)
The Chair noted that she would talk to the NomCom Chair H Hultzsch about the performance record of the NomCom members appointed by the ALAC. Unless the NomCom Chair disagrees, this information will be passed on to the regional officers and ALAC members.
ALAC should submit their candidates by 1 September. The Staff will therefore send a message to the RALOs asking them to nominate new regional NomCom candidats or re-appoint the current members. The deadline for submissions will be 25 August. The ALAC then has until 1 September to take a decision.
Ratification and Status of ALAC Statements
ALAC Statement on GNSO Council Structure WG Report:
A Greenberg gave a short review of his experience on the GNSO Council Restructuring Working Group.
A Greenberg moved the following motion:
WHEREAS, the attached ALAC Statement to the Board of ICANN on the Structure of the GNSO Council will be endorsed by the ALAC.
The motion was unanimously carried.
The Chair thanked the GNSO Liaison A Greenberg and the ALAC members I Aizu and V Scartezini for their great work on this document in the past weeks.
Discussion/Decision on ALAC Statement on GNSO Council Structure WG Report
It was decided that the issue goes to an online discussion until 25 August.
A Greenberg will provide background information on this issue.
The agenda item on ALAC Member Reporting/Recording of Activities, Areas of Interest and WG Commitments will be carried over to the next ALAC meeting. There will also be an online discussion on this issue. The Chair asked the ALAC members to indicated what meetings they participated and in what policy-areas they have been active.
RAA: Registrants bill of rights
It was being discussed on the mailing list whether there should be a sort of Registrants’ bill of rights in the new RAA.
A Greenberg asked if the ALAC should take the lead in drafting such a document, which the participants to this meeting supported.
B Brendler volunteered to take the lead on this issue and will contact the registrant constituency. A draft document will be ready by the ALAC September meeting.
The meeting was then adjourned.
