No Such Weblog

The GNSO Council is holding its version of the public forum, which partially takes the role that the DNSO GA should have had back then. So far, the public forum has been rather uneventful, with (remarkably) not a single person stepping up to the opefn microphone to comment on WHOIS.

We are now in the middle of reports from the constituency chairs, and Bhavin Turakhia read a statement from the registrar constituency regarding the .net redelegation. They essentially consider the board's agreement to that contract a breach of trust, and have a list of fundamental aspects that they would like to see revised. There was applause in the room after that statement was read.

It will be interesting to see how the interaction between the registrar community and the board plays out in the public forum later this week, as there is little doubt that the .net contract will be the dominating topic there.

The GNSO Council is now discussing the strategic plan. People are unhappy with the way in which the current state of the strategic plan was developed, and don't believe it's backed by consensus. The following resolution is accepted with a few abstentions:

The GNSO Council does not currently believe that there is a consensus of the ICANN community in the support of the strategic plan. The Council encourages the development of a consensus-based strategic plan.

Under "any other business", but not unexpected:

The GNSO Council expresses its concern to the Board that the final .net agreement was not posted for public comment prior to approval, given the significant changes made to the agreement from the previously posted draft.

The motion is phrased by Marilyn Cade, after a statement, and after Bruce Tonkin wondered if a one-sentence resolution was the right thing, "for clarity."

Cary Karp objects, based on lack of consultation. Tonkin calls the vote. gTLD registries, IPC abstain; NCUC, registrars, BC, and ISPCP vote in favor. Tonkin notes that he will note the concerns raised in reporting the resolution. Lucy Nichols (IPC) seconds the concerns. Tonkin suggests that the resolution attempts to summarize the community consensus he hears from the constituencies. Discussion on what the abstentions mean -- not sharing the opinion, or simply not having a clear position that would support this particular resolution. Discussion on how this be presented to the board.

Writes Kieren McCarthy, about the site of the Luxembourg ICANN meeting: That combined with the fact that the conference centre is little more than a giant truck stuck in a massive car park in the full sun, except with carpets, doors and partition walls. Asylum seekers have died in such circumstances.

An EU presidency mostly failed in these rooms, quite recently.

Tat said, the meeting organization does, indeed, leave some desirables open. For instance, it seems unthinkable here that breaks happen when they fit the work, and that this is maybe not precisely when they are on the schedule. "You have to respect the schedule," told me one waiter, and hence refused to give me any coffee before the scheduled minute.

The GNSO Council taking a little longer than scheduled was apparently another unthinkable surprise: As one participant put it, security personnel was kicking people out of the building once Council was done. Once people had left the building, it required extensive arguing to get back in.

I'd wish conference organizers would realize that the main purpose of such a meeting is -- surprise! -- meeting, and that side discussions and hallway talks are key to a successful conference. Conference organizers shouldn't put obstacles into the way of these conversations, but should rather think about what they can do to enable them.