Dear NCSG Member,
The numbers are staggering; 221+ calls or meetings, 3 public
consultations, more than 13,900 email messages. This has been the Cross
Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability. Today we have
released our final report:
https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=58723827.
NCSG Member and co-founder Milton Mueller has termed the report "The Good,
The Bad and The Ugly". I can tell you there has been a lot of the Ugly the
past few days. I can also tell you that your NCSG members who have fought
for you day after day after day the past fourteen months on the CCWG were
there again today, at 1 in the morning in America and 6 in the morning in
the U.K., fighting for your interests. We didn't win today but we have won
more than our fair shares of battles in the past and if this proposal is
even half acceptable it is largely due to hard unending unceasing work of
the finest volunteers in ICANN: those of the Noncommercial Stakeholders
Group.
A special shout out goes to our Member on the CCWG: Ms. Robin Gross. I
don't know how Robin did all she did. Her unfortunate time zone meant she
often had biweekly calls at 4 a.m. Yet she was always there, always awake,
always fighting for you and for me. In the early days we didn't have many
volunteers and Robin and I were covering everything ourselves. I remember
one evening we had just finished our seventh call that day on something
called the Legal sub-team and I wished Robin a good night. Night? She had
an eighth call coming up on something called Work Area 2 (not to be
confused with Work Stream 2, Work Party 2, or the many Sub-team 2's we've
all been a part of). I felt like such a slacker. Seven calls, that was
nothing. Robin had eight.
Where are we now, you may ask, in the process?
The final report goes to the GNSO Council where your six Councillors
(myself, Amr Elsadr, David Cake, Stephanie Perrin, Stefania Milan and
Marilia Maciel) will by March 8th cast votes on all twelve recommendations.
As we are the folks who represent you in this process we need your input,
we need you to tell us what you think, we need your help. We also
understand it won't be easy. This Report is in the hundreds of pages and it
is not easy reading. I'd like to offer to help.
If you have any questions about the Final Report please ask them here. One
of our many CCWG participants will be sure to see it and will answer it. If
not I pledge to go through this list every 24 hours and if there is an
unanswered question about our Report here I will either answer it or I will
find someone who can. If you'd prefer to ask me something privately my
e-mail address is [log in to unmask] You can reach me on the Wire
app using the address [log in to unmask] You can Skype me at ejmorris. I
want each and every one of you to have every opportunity to view,
understand and question any aspect of this Final Report that is of interest
to you. This is the most important change in ICANN in over a decade. I want
our members to be the best informed of any group in this community.
Let the questions and the discussion begin. Is this the ICANN you want,
going forward? If not, why not. If so, what do you like about the proposal.
Don't understand something? Ask it here. How do you want me to vote on each
of the twelve recommendations? I ask for your guidance.
Thanks for considering - and thanks for being part of the largest and most
diverse group in all of ICANN: the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group. Thanks
as well for trusting me to represent you on the GNSO Council: it is a
distinct honour that I cherish each and every day.
Kind Regards,
Ed Morris
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