Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, this is Dev Anand Teelucksingh, LACRALO Secretariat. And at five minutes past the hour we will start the call. Good afternoon everyone. First of all let's just quickly go through the roll call. On the English channel I note we have Carlton Samuels, Jessel Ackbarali, Olivier Crepin-Leblond, myself Dev Anand Teelucksingh and Vanda Scartezini. Is there anybody else on the English Channel?
Male: And Gisella.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: And Gisella from staff. I was going to do that at the end as well.
Matt Ashtiani: Matt Ashtiani as well.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Matt Ashtiani, yes, as well, thank you. Okay I get a roll call from the Spanish Channel?
Interpreter: Sylvia Herlein Leite, Sergio Salinas, Fatima Cambronero, Natalia Enciso, Jose Arce.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Is Wladimir on the call as well, he didn’t say?
Gisella Gruber: It's Gisella speaking. According to Adigo, we have Wladimir Davlos on the call as well.
Male: Yes, Wladimir is also present.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you very much.
Male: Okay, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, I would just like to remind everyone before I continue, please say your names when you introduce yourself and speak at a reasonable pace so that the interpreter can keep up. The second item on the agenda, review action items, Dev Anand Teelucksingh to document capturing the discussions on how to deal with inactive ALSs due to their participation involvement in LACRALO and ICANN policy issues.
Well this was indeed completed and I will discuss this further what is going to happen because there was a discussion in Singapore about this. The second action item, Dev Anand to issue a survey questionnaire asking for the Skype usernames, this has not been done and this is going to be an outstanding item still. Those are the two action items from the last meeting in May. Moving quickly to Agenda Item #3 – Open Public Consultations, there are currently five new polices out for comment.
And I also want to mention that the ICANN has redesigned its public comment pages by the way. So for those of you who haven’t looked and seen the new public comment pages, do take a look and send some comments on this. But there are five public comments ongoing.
Vanda Scartezini: I guess you forget one Dev?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I don’t think so; I think there are five of them.
Vanda Scartezini: [Inaudible 00:04:20] that was supposed to [inaudible 00:04:24] in Singapore and then --
Male: Oh you mean the further no [inaudible 00:04:28] of inquiry?
Vanda Scartezini: And I sent a note saying --
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Ah.
Vanda Scartezini: [Inaudible 00:04:34] to the Spanish group LAC Spanish because the other is in English.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Correct. Okay well that’s true but that’s not formally an ICANN policy issue out for comment Vanda. But I think we can mention that in – well we can add that in any other business probably after we deal with these comments that are formally open for public comment.
Vanda Scartezini: Just because it's demanded some – even the Board gets formally people to --
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: To continue to comment.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes and comment and --
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Sergio Salinas: I would like to add something, this is Sergio.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay go ahead Sergio.
Sergio Salinas: Well in the list we had some things that we discussed with some members of LACRALO in relation with – really I would like to give a bit of information about what we have discussed about that topic.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, just to confirm, this is regarding the NTIA further comments – is this regarding the NTIA documents Sergio?
Sergio Salinas: No. It has to do with English and the training of LACRALO members.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: We can also add that as an item to discuss. But let me just quickly go through the existing public consultations and then when we come to a report, the report from the Singapore meeting, Sergio, you can bring up that item for discussion. Okay?
Sergio Salinas: Okay.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Great, thank you. We have five polices that are out for comment right now. One is the new GNSO Policy Development Process. This is a fairly lengthy document. This has 47 recommendations regarding how the GNSO Council Operating Procedures as well as its policy development process. And I have to say that it's an informative read. I don’t think we need to – I don’t think there is anything from my reading of this document that stands out for us to comment on, but I do encourage everybody to read it because it's a very detailed step-by-step of how the GNSO works. And for someone who is not in a GNSO, it's a very good way of learning how tackles and develops its own policies and how it works.
Vanda Scartezini: Dev may I?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay Vanda go ahead.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, it's just about that because I'm a part of the OFT Group that made this process for the GNSO. So I don’t see that it's necessary for any comment like you said. But it's interesting; we can get some feedback from our members. In some ways we can use some parts maybe to improve our relations inside and outside our group like LACRALO. We could use some of those just to read, not to comment really.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, indeed.
Vanda Scartezini: But this was a very interesting process anyway. I have been on this committee and it was really a deep dive process and it was interesting and maybe we can learn something from that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Indeed Vanda. The second policy out for comment is how do you raise global awareness of new gTLDs? Actually this is a comment that ALAC is planning to drop a statement on. What is this talking about is that there is a draft document of the communications plan that ICANN is going to try to follow in seeking to raise global awareness of the new gTLDs. And it's a six page document. And in fact, I should say that there has been some progress already that ICANN has done some steps in this.
There is at least a video. It's a six minute video that’s been posted on ICANN’s website. And actually I have to say that the video is quite informative for end-users, even though it was directed towards potential applicants. But it explained the process and new gTLD program in such a way that I think any end-user could also benefit from it. And I believe this video is going to be – it's in English right now but by the beginning of August, I believe, it will be translated into the six UN languages. I don’t know if anybody has any thoughts or comments on this matter.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, I do.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, go ahead Vanda.
Vanda Scartezini: We have a specific Latin and LAC Group meeting in Singapore, it was organized by the new guy from our region, Jose DeBaja and it was about also how can see and how we could help as a group. One of the issues was exactly how to raise [inaudible 00:11:49] of new gTLDs. And we are discussing then how to participate on some shares and conferences around, so it was a group for that. One of the issues was that and I do believe we need to go deeply on that as soon as the translation is available for the Spanish part.
So this is one thing that we need to pay attention to because we need to be involved in that. And this is our opportunity to offer our hand to the grouping side of ICANN to really put our group as a part of the ICANN to provide information related to important issues for ICANN in our region.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you, I see Carlton, go ahead.
Carlton Samuels: Thank Dev, Carlton Samuels here for the record. The global awareness, I read the document and probably yes some of the comments are made in Singapore in the ALAC room when it came up for discussion. It is true the paper and process tends to be directed and focused on potential applicants for gTLDs. And the objection was that we should move to make it more open to the end-user outreach. And I think that it necessary. I just came out of the IP Version 6 workshop held at the University West Campus this morning, supported by ICANN and Aram. And made a plug for the new gTLD program there and this is a very technical audience.
They are talking about the Version 6 mostly, technical people from various companies. And what was surprising was that most of them weren’t even aware of the new gTLD announcements. It is very clear to me that the mechanisms that we use to publicize the program will be critical. And I'm just going to make another suggestion that we have to begin to think about all the media, again, as a way to publicize these things in ICANN. The use of radio and televisions is going to be critical.
A lot of these people get their information in drive time on the radio and in the evenings on televisions. And that’s the information is, what the feedback is. I asked a couple of people “Why haven’t you seen it?” He said “Well it's not been on the news.” With his catchall to say it wasn’t on the radio or TV, that’s the catchall. He said it wasn’t on the news. Well no, it – there were some newspapers that carried it when it was announced in Singapore.
It was online and in a couple of Jamaican newspapers but the more important point is, how they get their information and they say they get it on the news. And I can interpret on the news for you meaning, radio and television.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, so not so much online then.
Carlton Samuels: Not so much online, it's old media. We need to understand and we've been saying this for years, the way people consume information, in our region, is usually via old media.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Carlton Samuels: And we need to make sure that those avenues, those channels are engaged in making global awareness a reality for most of our users or potential applicants in this region, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you Carlton. Olivier, please go ahead.
Olivier Crepin-Leblond: Thank you very much Dev, this is Olivier Crepin-Leblond for the record and for the interpreter. I wanted to ask two questions. The first one was do you think that At-Large should act as a communication channel to the users for the new gTLD program. In other words, not actually a communication channel, sorry, a marketing channel for the users. That's the first question. And the second question is do you think it is time today to inform the end-users of the new gTLD process or do you think that it might be too early to inform them?
Carlton: I can give you a quick response Olivier, yes to both.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Carlton: Do you like my response Olivier?
Olivier Crepin-Leblond: Yes, yes.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well okay I'm tempted to say – alright Vanda go ahead.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, just to – a quick answer to Olivier too, is the importance is to have the words spread around, it's the only way people that are not aware because this new gTLD is not only for IT connected people. So it's for many other kind of companies. In communities it's the only way to have this really is the world connected and informities to have the work going on in many regions. At-Large group is something that is important to make this information be alive during this process because the way we respond [inaudible 00:18:47] is short time from now.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Indeed I see we have --
Sergio Salinas: This is Sergio. I have a comment related to that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, okay Sergio and then Fatima. Go ahead Sergio.
Sergio Salinas: I would like to answer a little bit about the question of Olivier. And I would like to speak to what was said. I think it is important. I guess we have to use the media to distribute these new gTLDs. But I think that we have to do a job – you know, we have to train the journalist because we don’t teach them how to deal with this, we can get people confused. It has happened to me in which sometimes they mix-up these new gTLDs with people [inaudible 00:19:56] and number of other things or issues.
That’s why I think that the At-Large conversations should work with the local journalists with a number of related to informational topics and domain topics. But I think it is important as well that the impact the new gTLDs are going to have in the lower echelon of the users. It isn’t exactly clear what is the topic of the dominion. So we have to work a lot on that to be able to clarify whether the new gTLDs. It is important for us to work with those journalists.
In my country, something that happens in my country is the point – is mixed up with other things. For example, they say have point, have arch – they get confused when they have some many dominion names. That’s why we have to talk to the – to train the At-Large organizations to be able to deal with those issues.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Sergio. Fatima go ahead.
Fatima Cambronero: Yes, this is to answer the question of Olivier. I'm a little bit in disagreement. I think that the responsibility the community takes is with the permit of communications in ICANN. ICANN could contribute with these issues and in order for us to contribute we have to have the tools with the department of communication in order to have a very specific communication in not only the misinformed. I think we can collaborate with them, this is important. Now in relation to the second part of the question, I don’t think it is too early. I think we have to [inaudible 00:22:20] in order to contribute with this communication. That’s my comment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, well thank you Fatima and I guess I will place myself into the queue here. To answer Olivier’s question, the first question being should At-Large be used as the market. My answer to that is not so much marketing but increasing awareness of this new gTLD program. I think just by taking the existing materials and the YouTube video is an example of this, I think it's very structured and easy to understand.
I think just redistributing those materials and then redirecting any persons who are interested a CD, website and follow up with that. So I think, yes raising awareness. It's not necessarily marketing, it's raising awareness of all of this and if people are interested in it, then great. And that ties into the second question which is I think it's not too soon to educate end-users because it's all about raising awareness. I think end-users need to be aware of what these changes mean and so it's not a total surprise and it's not confusing when they see new domain names ending in a particular top level domain.
And also as secondary issue of awareness it allows them to be aware of what gTLDs are being introduced and if so, if they want to object and so forth, how they can do so. That’s my comment in the queue there. Okay I see Jose Arce and then Carlton. Go ahead Jose.
Jose Arce: Very well thank you. I simply wanted to rectify what all my – all our members have been talking like Sergio and Fatima – this is great I think if we could invest some money in the RALOs if we could do something like this. We could also add to Fatima’s point we could view this as a tool in order to communicate this information.
I think that the money that is spent in those videos could be distributed to the RALOs so that each person in the region could promote these not only in one language but in several languages. Maybe in four or five more months we could have even more languages. I think if those courses go strictly directed to the region would be very helpful, that’s all.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay thank you Jose. Carlton, please go ahead.
Carlton Samuels: Thank you Dev. I want to make clear that what I'm talking about here is the program itself the information flow. I think that is what - I don’t want to speak for Olivier but I think that’s what he is more concerned about, how you get the information out to the edge. I am making the case that you have to contemplate different media outlets and even the way you put together press kits. Let me give you an example.
If they have a press kit to be sent to media around the world, it will probably have more – could probably get the press kit to the Jamaica Gleaner or the Jamaica Observer much quicker and probably with more attention than the ICANN PR Department. Why? Because I know the people, I know the editors. And that’s how you use the At-Large. It's one way you use the At-Large. I'm not asking them to send me money or anything like that.
All I'm saying is that in the information flow towards the edge, the At-Large can play a role in interfacing with the local media because most of us have access in one form or another. And so as part of the global awareness campaign it would be useful for them to consider importing or interjecting the At-Large component as part of the plan because of our immediacy to local media. I was making the specific case for that. And I think that is very useful.
I will give you an example of what happened this morning, just this morning and then a workshop, there was media there in the workshop but they were still not aware of the new gTLD program. So when I said that it was voted in Singapore meeting and I spoke to a couple of people afterwards, they were like “Oh well I didn’t see it on the news.”
This is what I'm saying; you can use the At-Large for effective interventions or effective movement of information into the local mediascape. That’s what I am proposing and agreeing with Olivier that the At-Large can help with. Thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay thank you Carlton. And well I think the last comment on this because we have other items on the agenda, Sergio. Sergio go ahead.
Sergio Salinas: I would like to say something about what Fatima said. I agree with Fatima that the form of communication of ICANN should define the process but the form, how we communicate in our country is – Fatima had said that it was important that the definitions of the communication should come from the Department of Communication of ICANN.
Now, what I would like to add is that even though I agree with that, I would to emphasize the fact that the communication defined by ICANN should be placed – that is the organizations that we want to communicate then we should do it openly without the – for example if we could do this in Spanish one of us in our countries have our own ways to communicate and this should be communicated that way. I'm talking about the new gTLDs.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, okay that’s it? I see Jose you have raised your hand but make it a very short comment Jose please. And go ahead Jose.
Jose Arce: Okay well thank you very much, let's go to the next item.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, very well. One of the other issues out for comments is the preliminary issue report on the current state of the UDRP; this is the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. And this policy – well the UDRP is used for dealing with cyber squatting cases as a form of arbitration between the domain name holder and the rights holder who feels like the person using the domain name is unfairly infringing on trademark rights or masquerading or using the trademark as to unfairly.
There has been issues report on the current state of the UDRP and the deadline for comments is due on the 15th. I think a lot of the comments have been stating that to try to change the UDRP would be a difficult thing to do. It’s been around for 10 years, there may have been shortcomings even though shortcomings are addressed in subsequent amendments.
For example, there is now electronic filing of documents between the parties involved rather than paper copies being sent via post. But I will open it up for any person who has any comments. And I know Jose was working – took a very strong interest in this, so and I see he has raised his hand. Jose please go ahead.
Jose Arce: Yes I have a comment if I could.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Go ahead Jose.
Jose Arce: For the point number three in the agenda we have 15 minutes but I think that the previous point was very important but at the same time, I want to – the revision of the policy of the UDRP this is a very important topic. I’ve been following this topic very closely and that’s why right before the teleconference finishes I'm going to send – I would like to ask Dev either to send you a comment that could be a public comment about this issue because it is about four to six pages because I'm trying to develop some arguments in why I specifically think or I don’t agree with this.
Of course anybody could disagree with me. But at this particular moment I disagree with the process of UDRP. But if I send it right away to Dev, could you Dev place them along with other documents online so that we can discuss it or work on it? The only thing is I've seen several emails on the list but I couldn’t get in touch with anybody or to discuss with anybody to see if they want to join me and work together with us but I'm going to send a list but this is specifically my own thoughts and conclusions.
This is all related to my participation about this issue and about the process of revision of the policies related to the UDRP. I think that once we publish this document, the document that I'm going to send Dev, I'm sure that there are going to be some other people with whom we could discuss these issues. And perhaps if you read the arguments that I am hailing so that we could have a process. So Dev would you like me to send the document right away?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Certainly you can send the document. And what I can then do is link to it directly and upload it and post a link to it rather than trying to copy text in an email or whatever. If you have a document which has some of your concerns --
Jose Arce: Okay, just give me a second – so we can discuss this and maybe we can publish a statement or something. If I could send the document to Dev I could send a doc online and we could work together on this. And we can work and in the following seven days there are a number of arguments that I am placing there. As I say, this is like a personal opinion.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, by all means.
Jose Arce: If you agree with this --
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes by all means send the documents. But a question for Jose is there a way to quickly summarize what – okay you said you had objections to certain things regarding the UDRP, what does the document specifically – can you just summarize what the document is trying to say? But definitely yes, I will take the document, upload it and post it for comment on the LACRALO meeting list if you think it's too long to talk about because this paper is a large paper.
Jose Arce: Yes I can give you a little summary about it. The summary is the following. As [inaudible 00:38:17] said at the beginning, this is one of the oldest polices in ICANN, I think that started in 1999 in which up to date hasn’t been modified or reformed. Even up to date once this was placed in the public comment so that people could see what the actual status of the policies were, if this is going to open to the UDRP and the concept that has been used.
What is the reach of this? I think that the opening of that comment and the elaboration of that report I think there was – whether or not – several people participated from different parts of the world and were from different policies. And which I have the opportunity to participate in this; there were several voices in relations to the UDRP. And in terms of this, it has to be modified. If there are procedures to change it or if there were only procedural processes, so there was no need to change this [inaudible 00:40:02] and in the same report initiated the ICANN said they didn’t agree.
That we could only get a group of work and work on those issues. So the document that I am elaborating, it talks about the different voices like the meeting that we had in Singapore.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Jose Arce: Well there are some comments online that anybody could get down. But this is basically reasoning with the different arguments for and against the opening of the process UDRP. And once we get to the conclusions from it from my point of view why it shouldn’t open to a process at this moment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, alright, thanks Jose. And I will wait for you sending the document and I will upload it and post a link to the list for consideration. And thank you for your interest on this, this is an important issue. We aren’t going to spend a lot of time on this but it is one issue that is also very important, the WHOIS Policy Review Team Discussion Paper.
The WHOIS Policy Review Team what they are doing is they're getting input from the community on this discussion paper. And I should say the discussion paper is available in Spanish and most of the languages. And it's a series of questions regarding WHOIS. I think Carlton has his hand up because he has expressed a very strong interest in this topic. Carlton please go ahead.
Carlton Samuels: Thank you Dev. I am expressing an interest in this topic not just because of my own personal interest in it as an intellectual subject but because I am chairing the WHOIS At-Large Working Group. It is a standing working group of At-Large. We still need members actively involved. But if you look at the discussion paper for the Review Group, you will see the areas of interest. Essentially it comes down to the question of whether or not WHOIS is currently constructed still have a role and if so how must it be configured to continue onwards?
There are two things I would like for members to take note of. Because the rule for the [inaudible 00:43:13] record expanded well beyond its original scope, there are some very important issues that have come about because of this expansion in the way that it is used. And it is [abused] by members of our community. Now the way WHOIS affects different parts of the community is varied and multiple. And it is not a simple issue.
What is needed is some balance in the way that it is approached. And I would urge members to consider this WHOIS issue in that context. There is a requirement for WHOIS record to be kept by the registry and registrar community. There is a requirement in the registry RAA contract for ICANN Corporate to ensure compliance. Compliance steps are numerous.
Compliance is itself a very expensive undertaking. And it is also a very complex undertaking. And there are issues with privacy and access to that WHOIS data by everybody in the community. And so the privacy advocates have a compelling case that maybe some of the ways in which WHOIS is currently used is an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals, well maybe. But I'm bringing this up so that you understand that the issues are not simple.
They are very intriguing to deal with. And in the end when you look at it from the perspective of each affected party in the community it is going to be where we strike the balance. That is where the need is going to be. And for us to get there it means that more of us have to become involved and let our voices be heard, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Carlton. I see Vanda, go ahead Vanda.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, just to share with you that I had been in the specific discussion with the review team and SSOC that I'm a member of and the SSOC structure to understand and to go further in this discussion for the policy review team. And asked the SSOC if I can share with LACRALO what is going on on that paper because it's quite clear it's a proposal for structure, it's interesting. How do you do that, just to inform what is going on on the other side with this review team, that we have two meetings with them in Singapore.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, was there a link to the ASOC, make any specific comment on the WHOIS and made a formal submission Vanda?
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, what?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Did the SSOC formally submit a comment on the WHOIS?
Vanda Scartezini: No we provided a document. And it's more a Power Point. It's very clear and too as an advisory to the review team they are [inaudible 00:47:32]. So it's quite interesting to see then because it's more informative and it's a proposal for structures to deal with this whole issue. It's not a technical – no.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay and I'm sure it's available on the SSOC’s website.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay and thank you. I see Fatima has also kindly started a Google doc already on the topic so that – and I will post the link here – on the WHOIS Review Team questions. I think we should at least review these questions. And as Carlton says, it's a complex issue but I think it's a very critical one. And when you have to balance the issues of security and privacy and so forth regarding access to the WHOIS data and also the accuracy of the WHOIS data, who is responsible for this? And how can this be properly achieved?
Vanda Scartezini: [Inaudible 00:48:53].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Carlton Samuels: By the way Dev just to let you know I attended several of the WHOIS briefings, all of them except for the GAC which for some reason they closed, very irritating. The questions they asked tend to be slightly different in each of these face-to-face settings and it was quite interesting. And what is even more interesting is where the arguments came up in the different constituencies. For example, I went to the registrar meeting. It was a totally different set of issues that came up there than with the ccTLD people. It was quite interesting, just to let you know.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think there was also a public forum. I only managed to catch the tail-end of it in Singapore. And again, it was lots of the registrars who were raising lots of objections as to the difficulty of maintaining the accuracy of the WHOIS record. And some were claiming that for example, not everybody has an email address. Some registrants don’t have email addresses and so forth, they just have a phone number.
Carlton Samuels: And can I tell you that those are, in fact, issues if you are involved in data processing. When I sat and listened to it there were – they gave some indicators of some of the difficulties and I know from my practice that those are indeed very, very difficult things. It's not easy. If you look at the process issues they brought up, you couldn’t find fault with them.
For those of us who know anything about data processing and have ever managed a data center, we have experience in this and I think they have some issues there that require thoughtful response. They require thoughtful response. You can't just dismiss them and say “Oh it's the registrar, it is special pleading.” No, they are issues there that are relevant. And they have a basis, a [inaudible 00:51:17] basis for bringing them up as issues for contention, yes.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay well, it's a good question that Natalia has raised in the chat, if you want to be involved in the WHOIS working group, can you find the link for – how do you join the working group?
Carlton Samuels: You send a note to the staff; they will subscribe you to the list. You can be subscribed to the list for those of you who would wish, please send a note to the staff and staff will have you subscribed. There is also a list of members and you will also be added to the list of members. Whenever there is anything discussed on the list you will get the email and you can join that way.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thanks Carlton. I think I myself am on that list. And I see also in the chat that Fatima and Natalia have --
Carlton Samuels: Thank you very much, that’s good. I would love to see Natalia and Fatima on the list. I welcome them. We need the help.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Indeed. Okay, the final public consultation status is the GAS Working Group which is how to expand developing economies participation in the new gTLD program. Given that the At-Large is very much involved in this policy discussion, I think they decided that the ALAC itself would not be commenting on the second milestone report. Needless to say this is a very – the GAS Working Group has a very tough schedule.
Now that the new gTLD program has now been formally approved, they now have to come up with the proper – to try to fulfill the charter of the working group. And it has been meeting twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays – a let me ask Carlton since he is a co-chair of that working group – is there any way for persons to be involved at this stage? Or?
Carlton Samuels: Yes Dev. The working group, the membership is not elastic but the calls are public and anyone in the community can join the call. Even though you are not an official member of the group, you can in fact join the call, ask questions, and listen to the conversations. We welcome you. We would love to have you on it. There is a Wiki that has stuff on it and we can post the link to the Wiki in this chat.
You can follow what's happening on the Wiki. There is also the mailing list where the discussions are stored. You can access to those because those are public. But as an active participant the best move is to join the calls which is Tuesdays and Fridays at 2000 hours – 1300 hours rather, which is 8 o’clock my time, 9 EDT. And we would welcome you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay thank you Carlton and I just posted the link to the GAS Working Group where you can review some of the documentation which there is quite a bit of documentation and a lot of the issues still to work on this working group. Those are interesting and by all means please do check it out and submit any questions. Great now, those were the open public consultations.
Let me just quickly move ahead to some of the rest of the agenda. The status of the LACRALO ALS Application, we received the ALS application from Ageia Densi Columbia. I realize that the link was not properly posted on the mailing list, let me post the link here. We do have to give regional advice on this very soon, by early next week at the latest. Does anybody have any comments on this ALS in terms of the group and whether we should accept or not accept this ALS application? I will just open it out to anybody.
Fatima Cambronero: What was the question?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: The question is does anybody have any comments regarding Ageia Densi Columbia in terms of regarding the ALS --
Carlton Samuels: Their suitability for joining us.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, thanks Carlton and their suitability of whether they should be accredited by ALAC because we, LACRALO, have to give our regional advice on this ALS.
Fatima Cambronero: Yes, I have a comment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Go ahead Fatima.
Fatima Cambronero: The only comment that I wanted to make is that we know them, this Ageia Densi Columbia, we just happen to know him and that was the comment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, alright. I have reviewed their website and it does appear, going to Google Translate obviously, and that it is a functioning ALS. I just wanted to know if anyone had any additional comments on this ALS application. Okay well by all means if anyone has any comments on this ALS application I will post it again to the mailing list --
Fatima Cambronero: Well I can give you a link to that website.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thanks Fatima I was aware of the website. It's in the application. And I have been looking at that website and trying to follow what the ALS does and so forth and thanks for that. Again, if anybody has any comments I will be posting it again to the list for any final comments before we give the regional advice to ALAC.
The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the recent Singapore meeting. I wonder how to best tackle it that it has now crossed over an hour and we have 20 minutes left. We actually covered several of the key issues from Singapore meeting, the WHOIS Review, the new gTLD program that was approved and the [inaudible 00:59:44] communication program that is going to be – that is now posted for public comment.
From any of the participants who attended the Singapore and/or listened remotely to the Singapore meeting, just one topic or one meeting or one issue that was of interest because I do have one and I can talk about it. But I just want to give everybody a chance. Sergio go ahead. And like I said, keep it to one topic because I'm certain other persons will raise the other issues, go ahead.
Sergio Salinas: Yes as I mentioned before I want to make a comment about what we discussed informally, some members of LACRALO who were present in Singapore and this is relation to set up or form an inreach course in our RALO. We discussed this with Carlton, Alejandro - I'm trying to remember the other names - Jose Arce, in order to do some training courses in our RALO.
The idea is to have a platform so that we could develop or set up a – excuse me I'm very tired and maybe I am stretching this too much. But what we want is to develop some actions, very likely for what I saw in the email. Andres Piazza, he made available some training to give us some support. And it think that we should see what are the topics that are close to our RALO to see what are the most important topics and maybe we should tackle them.
But my idea is to start with very basic stuff and then little by little grow in this process. I wanted to propose that and if you agree maybe we can start working with the group that I mentioned before and maybe if someone else wants to join in.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Carlos Verra: This is Carlos Verra if I could make a comment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Alright just before Carlos Verra let me just respond to Sergio. So Sergio obviously training is obviously a very important issue I think for all of us in LACRALO. So ideally if you could provide some details of this in writing as to what the ultimate goal is what the training is about specifically what are the topics that you are seeking training on. That’s all I have to say on that. Carlos Verra go ahead quickly and thanks for joining the call since I didn’t know you were on the call. Please go ahead Carlos.
Sergio Salinas: Yes this is Sergio, I just wanted to ask you, is this just a question or is this just a comment that you made?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: That was just a comment. You know, just to provide some details in writing as to what specific topics you wish to get training on as a form of outreach and so forth. Just be sure to put some details, that’s all. Carlos Verra go ahead please.
Sergio Salinas: This is Sergio, I just wanted to --
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, go ahead Sergio.
Sergio Salinas: What I wanted to do if there is no opposing points of view maybe we can get together and talk about the topics about what kind of training we could have. We don’t have anything just yet. Just the project or the process to be able to receive this training would be great.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay well given that we only have 20 minutes, can I ask to defer that to the next meeting or if we have time towards the end of this meeting because there are some other issues from the Singapore meeting that do need to be discussed. And I would say that Item 6 is very important and we do need to spend some on it, which is the pooling of resources for the AFRALO General Assembly. Is that okay? I don’t think we have that much time for the discussion of what topics needs to be covered. If you want to take and copy the list and so in time for the next conference call later this month, we could dedicate some time to that.
Carlos Verra: This is Carlos, can I still make my comment or shall I wait?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Just a moment, Sergio is that okay with you? And I am seeing an “Agree” from Jose Arce.
Sergio Salinas: Yes I agree we can discuss that topic later on.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Good, okay Carlos go ahead but make it quick. Go ahead Carlos.
Carlos Verra: We need to receive this kind of training. This is something that we have – we need like a very basic training to help form the new members and provide some basic knowledge and there are some topics that are very complex and complicated and I think this is going to one of the very important topics that are going to give us strong point. That’s why we should take into account what Sergio mentioned. You can count on me to help you in any way I can.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you Carlos. Carlton, please go ahead.
Carlton Samuels: Yes, I just want to say two things. You know I am all for training and so on. But the mechanisms we have in place actually do provide a lot more. Let me give you an example. When we started in LACRALO there was no Spanish interpretation. And I remember fellows like Carlos Aguirre struggling to understand the issues because there was no Spanish translation. Now we don’t have that problem. We have a starter kit that is available to each ALS.
We have every single announcement, you have it in Spanish. We have specialized announcements and briefings in staff on the various issues. What really is needed is the commitment of each ALS to getting themselves in the information stream. It is a lot more than where we started because now we have language translation.
When we stared there was a much harder row to hoe. This is one of the things that I admire and I will give him great plus on staying the course, Carlos Aguirre, he worked hard. I used to sit beside him at meetings and he – it's not a question of having the capability to understand the issues but when you are not a native English speaker it is that much harder.
And I've seen that guy work so hard to articulate what he's thinking simply because most of what was happening around him was happening in English and he was not a native English speaker. We are in a better place now. And I really would urge you to look at all of the tools that are available to help you to get into the loop of the information flow because quite frankly this work is about amassing knowledge through going through reams of information thrown at you.
And when you need to understand it some more, this is where you do it. You do it on these lists. You do it on these teleconferences, you ask the question. And this is where we get elaboration, this where we get enlightenment. So we have a framework, we have a system that works. What we need to do is understand how it really works. And so if this is a new idea about some specialized training, yes but to understand issues, to be able to participate really is about making yourself available and getting into the information stream. That is where the action is, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you Carlton. I should also mention in the FY ’12 Budget requests, there was a proposal to have a LACRALO Technology Fest, and the idea being that ALSs can present on particular topic areas. One possible was is that an ALS picks a particular issue, policy issue or something and do a short presentation on it. And that could be used as outreach material for all the ALSs rather than one ALS trying to come up with everything.
Again, I just want to see some details posted on the mailing list and so forth. There is one key topic issue that is of great importance to the region, apart from the next agenda item and that is the Geographic Regions Working Group. The Geographic Regions Working Group, one of the provisional recommends from this group that would possibly go into the final report is to allocate countries in the region as allocated by the Regional Internet Registries or RIRs. And this would have a significant impact to the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
There will be five countries added to the Latin American and Caribbean Region but all of the Caribbean regions will be added to the North American Region. I think this is something that we in LACRALO have to comment on before the working group issues a final report. I just wanted to stress the mention of that because I think this is something of great importance to us. Go ahead Vanda.
Vanda Scartezini: It's just – this decision was made with [inaudible 01:13:29] each country in the Caribbean region.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well it hasn’t been made into a consultation with each country. I believe the geographic regions working group has made a presentation to the GAC. Carlton is involved with this. I think – I don’t know if he could --
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, that’s my --
Carlton Samuels: Can I give you – the chart of organization needed cross community work groups. So you have people from CCNSO. It was originally a CCNSO matter and then it became into the GNSO and so it was chartered. For At-Large, Cheryl Langdon-Orr and myself are the members from the At-Large on this working group. And you have some other people. From our region we have our colleague from Argentina. Her name escapes me now. Why do I forget her name?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Olga.
Carlton Samuels: Olga, sorry. Thank you very much. Olga is on it from the GNSO and so on. We've made presentations for the last three or four years. We've made presentations to all of the communities, GAC included and so on. It is from the presentations and from the responses from the Wiki that we have put out that we have drafted the report. The report was configured in a specific way. We identified the issues. We asked questions of the members of the community.
We looked at the responses we got from the members of the community. And here I must commend Rob Gaff from staff for providing excellent support in this area. Rob as been a telestrength in putting together the document and keeping track of the comments and so on. He did an excellent job on this. And it was presented as a report for discussion and review by the committee.
The recommendations that were made by the working group are substantively recommendations that would have come out of the discussions and the responses that were seen from the [inaudible 01:16:30]. The chair of the working group, you might not know, is from the CCNSO community. It is David Archibald who is my neighbor in the Cayman Islands. He is less than 45 minutes from me. But he is in the CCNSO. He is in this region.
But in At-Large he is in the European region because of the political connections with the Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom. And that is just to give you a sense of how involved the whole idea is. There are two things I want to say to finish this off. One, this is a report with recommendations to the community. It is not a decision. It is purely from the evidence. It is a preponderance of the evidence that is contained in that report.
The community still has the time and the ability to shoot down to include, exclude any of the recommendations that were coming from the community itself. And this is even before Board action because once this final report is made it is going to be put out for discussion and then before it goes to the Board. So there is still time yet to make comments on the report and on the recommendations.
This is just the preponderance of the evidence we collected from the interactions with the community. This is not personal decisions here. This is just where the evidence goes. You need to understand that.
Vanda Scartezini: No what I was more concerned is the lack of participation in the GAC of most of the councils in that region.
Carlton Samuels: You're absolutely right about that Vanda. We only have two – this was the thing that was made today at the IPV6 Workshop here in Jamaica, only two countries from the Caribbean, for example, are active participants in the GAC.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: That’s right.
Carlton Samuels: And that’s --
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, even for South America, Latin America.
Carlton Samuels: Even for Latin America, 17 Latin American countries and for those who show up for the GAC probably two or three, no more than that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: That’s right.
Vanda Scartezini: Yes, that’s true.
Carlton Samuels: I share that concern with you. I also share the concern that the GAC community tends to be very restricted in terms of its openness and that’s a major concern I have. If you're representing governments and governments represent the people. I don’t see how you can reasonably fathom this predilection to secrecy. I have a difficulty squaring that intellectually.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I know.
Vanda Scartezini: But that’s just me.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well that’s another issue entirely but yes. But yes thanks Carlton for that summary. And yes I have to admit the Geographic Regions Working Group it has a difficult task. And I have to admit allocating the countries according to the RIRs does sound like a sound measure to do so. I just have to admit given the splitting of the Caribbean into – well most of the Caribbean going to North America and other countries in the Caribbean like Trinidad and Ghana and so forth are then – well I am not too keen on having the Caribbean split like this.
Carlton Samuels: No, but neither are we but there is also and uptote capability that is available to any country. That is an uptote capability because while it indicates the mantra was well why don’t you all look at what our eyes are doing and try to get everything organized along that line. We understood the difficulties that would have arisen from that approach and so others have suggested what have in the report there. And that forms the basis for most of the recommendations.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Vanda Scartezini: Okay I have not [inaudible 01:21:15] about that. But that’s an issue that we need to think about because we will be [inaudible 01:21:21] bad decision and some countries to join North America. And you know, but anyways.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I see Fatima has her hand raised.
Vanda Scartezini: If we can go further with that in order for [inaudible 01:21:38].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Indeed, thanks Vanda. Fatima go ahead please.
Fatima Cambronero: Yes this is a question for Carlton to clarify. These recommendations about the territories that those territories that would stay in Latin America or move to the North American area, these are only recommendations, is that true?
Carlton Samuels: Yes they are recommendations based on the logic of the framework that was presented. The first thing was that if you look at the geographic regions as a whole, and the way they are used in ICANN. They are used in different ways by different communities. And the idea was that if we stayed true to the chart, which is to say, should there be a standardized way to look at geographic regions. If the answer is yes, the question is which one of them would you choose to be?
And when we look at all of them, the geographic region formation that is used by the RIRs was probably the most tables. But having done that, the question then arose, how would you deal with outliers, outliers for example because of politics, outliers because of language and so on.
And so the answer came you would do it in a up toe clause which is to say, if you create a standardized geographic regional look based on the RIRs and there was still this conflict in the way the thing was shaped, then here was another way for you to adjust. And that is what was presented. That was what the evidence showed. That was what was reported. But these are merely suggestions, recommendations from the working group. They are not written in law, neither are they bound to be accepted by the general community on second thought or even by the Board after all.
Vanda Scartezini: Okay, thank you.
Fatima Cambronero: I have another question.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay Fatima go ahead. The criteria, so then – so we would be [inaudible 01:24:47] only by the [inaudible 01:24:46] or – now if these territories decide to move to the other regions could they move back or would they be stuck in that region?
Carlton Samuels: The idea was that if they opt to move then surely it should be up to them to make another move as long as that is accepted in principle. First of all, in order for this to happen, it has to be accepted and validated by the Board. The principle that is suggested in the report would have to be validated by the community and accepted by the Board as policy. We are a long way from any of that decision making. But certainly in the way the working group reported the intent is that there is – it is [inaudible 01:25:43]. People can move and people can move again. We have dead air.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes I know, I was assuming the translator was finishing.
Vanda Scartezini: Go ahead and ask the others.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Operator – is the interpreter still there?
Carlos Verra: Yes this is Carlos Verra. I have a comment or a question about this topic.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, well sure go ahead Carlos, ask the question.
Carlos Verra: I don’t agree that this is only a recommendation. The topic of every region in every community to move to another region, this has to be an independent decision, a decision that each of our communities decides. We could work on that and how would that affect our integration or in our job within the group in general? In terms of the procedures we all know you start with a proposal and you go open a group and then you make recommendations and so on.
And but you know we have to be very careful what implies for the region because we have to talk about presence, budget and a number of issues. We have to focus on those things rather than – and in addition to bring the criteria of the countries involved and to see if they are in the position to keep that position. LACRALO, we have to work in group to move to a region may be they can change – in general the region could be set up without the communities they want and integrate it.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Carlton Samuels: Can I just respond to that?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Sure go ahead Carlton.
Carlton Samuels: There is nothing – this is not a decision. Work groups don’t make policy. What we can do is make recommendations. The way the process has been is that we ask the community. There is community feedback and then based on the community feedback you see the preponderance of views and you make some recommendations trying to make sense of what you get back from the community. That is the way it has worked here. It is very important for you to understand that there is a process that is followed. It is very important for you to understand that recommendations do not make policy.
Recommendations become policy when the Board decides and the Board has not decided anything about the geographic workgroups work yet, nothing. So it is not a question of the recommendations becoming law. There is a long way to go before any of those recommendations even get to the place where they could impact users or groups anywhere. That is the first thing and you need to understand that.
The second thing is you need to read the report and you need to read or at least look at the presentations. They are posted on the website. You have access to them. I am urging you to read them. They are translated in Spanish. There is no reason for you not to access that information. It's available for you to inform yourself not just about the process but what happens next, that is important for you to get.
All this aside, let me say this about choice, there is nothing that constrains any country, any group to remove themselves from the names and numbers policy in ICANN if they believe it is not in their interest. ICANN can't stop them, nothing can stop. If Jamaica decides, if my ALS decides we do not wish to be caucused anymore with LACRALO, ICANN can't stop that.
We simply pick up our bags and walk. This is not for ICANN to do because ICANN could not refuse us commenting on policy or make our voices heard any way we can. We’re just not part of the organized LACRALO unit. There is nothing that says we cannot do that. Here is the other thing, if we decide to caucus with another RALO, for example, North American RALO there is nothing in their bylaws that stops us from doing that, nothing.
You need to understand how it works. ICANN cannot stop us neither can they tell us we couldn’t join based on the criteria. We can decide to join or we can decide to opt out. It is totally our wish. Second of all, how we organize ourselves to impact ICANN policy does not stop with being a member of a RALO. It does not stop with being a member of a RALO. It allows you a framework to participate. But that is not the only way for you to participate. Let us not fool ourselves.
You can still have a voice if you have something sensible to say. Because if you have something sensible to say in a public forum and you get support from others, it will impact policy, that’s a fact. Do not believe that this is the only way you can impact ICANN policy, not true. Remember also there are the communities you can join, not just At-Large, there is the CCNSO community. And there are other communities.
You need to be mindful that this is not about the RALO; this is about effective impact on policy. That is what is important and we need to remember that in all of our doings that is what is important to us. Vanda will tell from the experience that she has, let us give Vanda the resource.
Vanda is probably one of our best resources because Vanda has been at some many levels. And one of the things I've seen that we have not done is that we have not used that kind of experience to our advantage. And I'm just saying this, talking to Vanda and knowing where she has been and in conversations and being in forum where Vanda has been to know she has this experience. She has been on the Board. So she understands how things come to the Board.
She understands Board deliberations and how the Board makes decisions. She has been in the ALAC. She has been in the At-Large, very active. She has been in SSOC. She has been in NomComm and is a resource from this region that we have.
Vanda Scartezini: In the GAC.
Carlton Samuels: In the GAC as well. This is a resource that we have. And she will tell you – and I can tell you she hasn’t told me this – but I have seen that she has had an impact on policy in every single one of those.
Vanda Scartezini: Even without any help on that.
Carlton Samuels: Well you don’t have a hat on. Even without being attached to a group, she has had an impact, you know why? Because she has something to say that makes sense to people around her because she is familiar with the issues, she is familiar with the implications. I urge all of you that what you need to do is look at the data and look at the reports again and see. Don’t get bogged down with this idea of being in this hut or that hut. I'm just urging you not to take that position, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, thank you Carlton.
Vanda Scartezini: I guess we have enough people to continue that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, thanks everybody for this thing on. We have until the top of the hour but I do want to try to finish it off because there is one important agenda item and that is agenda Item 6 and this leads to the draft proposal to the ICANN Chief Operating Officer regarding pooling of resources for the AFRALO General Assembly. Just to give some background behind this in Singapore, the ALAC met with the Chief Operating Officer to discuss the budget issues and it was – one of the proposals was that in the FY ’12 Budget allotment, six persons from a regions previously asked for General Assemblies, EURALO, LACRALO, and AFRALO.
And the budget response was to only allocate six persons to attend a regional ICANN meeting. Well six persons by themselves doesn’t a General Assembly make. LACRALO has 36 ALSs for example. Just having six additional persons would not make a difference. One of the things that were discussed was to pool the travel support from the three RALOs and allow AFRALO to have a General Assembly.
And this would be an exceptional measure not a [inaudible 01:37:55] with AFRALO. What we have to do is to draft a short statement to the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Akram Attallah – I hope I got his name right – stating this. Sergio and Jose Arce have drafted a statement. Sergio I don’t know if you wish to – I know a Google doc was created for this purpose. Sergio and Jose have created the first draft of this. I wonder Sergio do you wish to read what was put in the Google document? And I will post a link to the Google document right now. Go ahead Sergio.
Sergio Salinas: Yes I have a comment to make. First of all a little bit of the background on how this developed. If you remember there were six ICANN, the initiative department of ICANN offered to the RALOs six people to travel to have a General Assembly. We said a relationship with them in and out of the meetings discussing this topic as somebody proposed to support the Africa region so they could have the assembly there and having their six representatives coming in from each one of the ALSs. In the first place we decided that either we travel all of us or none of us. And this had to do with – to talk about some of the – within the framework of the participation of the members of ICANN.
And we could have these six spaces of support under the exceptional conditions. That is, we wouldn’t – and we also pointed out the times and moments we were supposed to have General Assemblies and we didn’t have them. Within this framework the President of ALAC, Mr. LeBlond, decided to draft a document. He had a rough draft and we went to finish with that draft tonight and present it tomorrow.
It's going to be translated in English so there are no problems with interpretation. At the same time we’re going to have available the Spanish version. The translation was done today in English.
Carlton Samuels: Yes but this translation is not going to work.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I know.
Sergio Salinas: We’re still working on that document. This is not the final document. Once the document is properly drafted then we are going to send it. Either they approve it or not. This document – we want to emphasize the exceptional character of this document in terms of the representatives of each one of these regions so that we can give our support to Africa. And we are also – [inaudible 01:42:22] users participate in the General Assembly in general terms that’s about it, that’s the comments.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay well thank you Sergio. I just want to say I think we will Google translation of the Spanish text but well – the translation is lacking to put it mildly. I think Carlton said it best. There are issues with it. My question for Sergio and Jose, do you think you will have finished with this now so that it can be sent to be properly translated? And does anybody have any particular issue with the text.
Carlton Samuels: This is Carlton, let me say this. You must recall, please remember that the person we are sending it to is used to reading in English. It is very important that the translation is typed. It is very important that the information we send is in a sense contained in the document, it reads the right way to an English speaker. It's very important that we finish the document and then we can make sure that it is properly translated. And given back to Sergio – retranslated and given back to Sergio so that they are satisfied that it captures the sentiments that they want to. It’s very important that that happens.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Indeed. But we do have to move quickly on this. I would just like to ask is the Spanish version ready to be sent for translation to English because once it's properly translated to English, well myself and probably Carlton could also review it and make sure.
Carlton Samuels: This is where Sylvia would be very important because she is a translator. She might be able to help answer that question.
Sergio Salinas: The answer is no, the document is not fully completed in Spanish just yet. But it is going to be ready tomorrow for sure.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well Sergio I'm going to have to be by tomorrow because to send it translation I don’t know how long ICANN will take to translate this properly. And like I said, it doesn't have to be a long statement so keep that in mind. And keep in mind what Olivier is looking for, that’s all I will say on that. Does anybody have any additional comments on this now for Sergio or Jose to add to the document, Natalia, Fatima, Wladimir? Does anybody have any comments on the Spanish text so far?
Carlton Samuels: My --
Fatima Cambronero: This is Fatima, if I could make a comment.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay Fatima go ahead.
Fatima Cambronero: On my part, I agree, that’s fine.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay. Alright and I see Natalia has no comment on the text so far. Carlton you were going to say something.
Carlton Samuels: Thank you Dev. I was going to say that to me the two most important things that a document and in the Spanish it is very clear, that it captures the fact that we agree to support LACRALO in solidarity, to it is a one-off gesture. This is not to be construed as something that is ongoing. Three, we continue to be disappointed by the way the budget process has treated the LACRALO submissions. I think those three elements are in the document, even the Spanish language has captured those. And I think those are the ones that need to be emphasized when the English document in produced.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, yes I agree. Jose, go ahead.
Jose Arce: Yes, I just want to tell Carlton that those are the main objectives or the main goals are the ones that Carlton mentioned. Those are the objectives of this document.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, well again, so Sergio and Jose you review the text of this so we can send it to translation tomorrow because we do need to send this out. Okay and Olivier has something to say about this, so please Olivier.
Olivier Crepin-Leblond: Thank you very much Dev. I was just going to say we need that text very quickly because it's going to be put on the Wiki and it will be shared with the other At-Large regional organizations thanks to the Wiki. And then once we've got something that we all agree to, I will send that email over to Akram Attallah. I'm asking for everyone's input on this because I think it is important that we say exactly what we want to say to Akram.
We know that the answer is going to be a “Yes.” But we just want that to be done correctly for the record so as for next year or the year after, so as for us to not be told “Oh we’re going to do like last year.” So yes I think it's particularly important to say it is a one-off case. And we are making concessions by doing this. It is not something that we would like to do every year. I believe that we should get funding for more than just one per year. It has been agreed in the past. So, that’s all I wanted to say, thank you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Olivier. Okay, so and Vanda yes that would be appreciated. There is nothing being added to the English text. The text has been primarily drafted in Spanish. I just said the Google translates just to get the gist of what was being said. But again, as Olivier has mentioned, we need to get this done soon.
Sergio, in fact, it will be an action item to finish this document tonight. And so that first thing it can be sent for translation and put up on the Wiki for us to review and probably modify. Okay? Very well. Well we are – literally we have come to five minutes until the hour.
Carlton Samuels: Can I ask you Dev – I have to run. Can I just – I have a comment I wish to make.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Alright, a very quick comment because we are cutting off at the top of the hour, so go ahead Carlton.
Carlton Samuels: Members will know that we don’t have a President and it's open for election of someone to take over through the end of the former President’s term. And I would love to make a suggestion. We have spent a lot of time in election season in LACRALO and it is looked on by others are seeming to be our preoccupation – elections. I think that if we could have a consensus on having a single person to take over until the end of the term, a consensus. It would help to ease us out of this mire.
I am therefore asking our colleagues to consider that we do not spend a lot of time trying to get somebody elected for the rest of the term. But we keep the electioneering off until January 2012 or until Costa Rica when we will have our General Assembly. I would therefore suggest that we consider one of us who has a steady hand; a person who has the experience and the knowledge that will help us get through this little period until the next election.
What I'm asking for is that we agree on a consensus replacement for the President instead of going through a long electioneering process. I hope you understand that the objective here is for us not to take up too much of our valuable time on electioneering especially at this juncture with new gTLDs and all this extremely important policy issues that are on us. I would ask us it would be better for LACRALO if we spend the time focusing on these matters and brining our voices together to have an impact than to go into electioneering. Thank you very much.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, we have literally 90 seconds, Fatima it's going to be a very short comment. I'm going to let you have the last word and then I'm going to close the conversation, 30 seconds.
Fatima Cambronero: He answered my question. We need to find somebody by consensus and not by election. And this is a good proposal, I agree with that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, alright well I will take the conversation off the list then. I would like to end the call and I will post the discussion of the LACRALO meeting held in Singapore. With that I'm going to end the call, thank you very much for everybody for attending. It was a very productive call. And I will keep communicating on the mailing list. Thank you and have a good day and bye for now.
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