ICANN publishes plans to improve Internet

A draft of master plan by the Internet global coordinator, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) to improve institutional confidence on the network of networks has been published.

ITRealms Online sources informed that the publication was as a result of a lengthy community consultation to improve institutional confidence in ICANN modus operandi, which is intended to dominate discussions at the on-going Mexico City meeting, due to end on Friday.

The draft implementation plan for improving institutional confidence was produced by the President’s Strategy Committee and follows extensive research, analysis, deliberation and consultation with the global Internet community.

Following two public comment periods, public sessions at the Paris and Cairo ICANN meetings, and a further five regional consultations in Montevideo, Christchurch, Geneva, Washington DC and Dakar, the Implementation Plan contains 18 detailed recommendations and accompanying materials that respond to community requests for more detailed information about internationalization.

The Implementation Plan complements a number of other documents produced by the President’s Strategy Committee (PSC) over the past three years.

ITRealms Online investigations revealed that the recommendations include to maintain ICANN’s headquarters in the United States, to review whether an additional legal presence outside the United States would be advantageous to the organization, to strengthen government involvement in ICANN and work with the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to facilitate effective consideration of its advice, to improve the summary and analysis of public comments, and to set up a committee of independent experts to propose further Board accountability mechanisms.

Further, ICANN said the draft Implementation Plan will be publicly discussed at a workshop and public fora during the ICANN meeting in Mexico City (1-6 March 2009).

“It will be the subject of a further online public consultation after the Mexico City meeting,” our source said.

ITRealms Online recalls that the PSC’s role is to give advice to the President and the Board on strategic issues facing ICANN and since 2006, the PSC’s focus has been on ICANN’s legal status and identity, and regional presence.

The idea for this consultation was announced by ICANN’s chairman, Mr. Peter Dengate Thrush, on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at the United States Government’s Department of Commerce Midterm Review of the review the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between it and ICANN in his address to the session.

However, the first public comment period on Improving Institutional Confidence was carried out between June and September 2008.

This followed a review of the public input from the Midterm Review and building on two years’ work by the President’s Strategy Committee itself, three documents were published to begin community discussion at the ICANN Paris meeting in June 2008.

These documents were the first versions of a Transition Action Plan, outlining what ICANN hopes to address and how an Improving Institutional Confidence in ICANN document, which outlines the main points of discussion in greater detail, and an how to act as supplementary and explanatory guide to the other two documents.

A public comment period began in June 2008 with a two-hour session at the Paris ICANN meeting on Monday 22 June, 2008. Online comments were received until August 2008, and PSC members and ICANN staff shared information and led discussions at a series of public meetings around the world. Whereas the Transition Action Plan and
‘Improving Institutional Confidence’ were revised in line with comments received and the evaluations and discussions of the PSC.

While the second public comment period lasted on Improving Institutional Confidence between September and October 2008.

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