Thought this might be of interest to those on this list... http://www.cira.ca/news-releases/177.html June 15, 2006 CIRA’s response to ICANN’s letter dated March 23, 2006 Thank you for your letter dated March 23, 2006, and for taking the time to meet with us on March 29, 2006 at the ICANN Meetings in Wellington, New Zealand. As discussed at our meeting, and to reiterate: ICANN is not losing CIRA’s Voice. CIRA has no intention of disengaging from ICANN. Rather, pending ICANN’s resolution of the serious issues identified in our open letter to ICANN dated March 17, 2006, related to accountability, transparency and fair processes, we have limited CIRA’s continued participation in ICANN. We do this to underscore the gravity with which we view the issues raised and the urgent need for ICANN to take positive and identifiable steps to remedy them. The ICANN model of multi-stakeholder partnership in Internet governance represents a bold experiment. It holds tremendous potential for the long-term, stable management of the Internet. The issues identified by CIRA and the manner in which ICANN responds to them will bear directly on the ultimate success or failure of this model. Clearly there are numerous approaches that ICANN could take to address the issues raised by CIRA. Choosing among these approaches is entirely up to ICANN. Regardless of the particular approaches taken, ICANN must demonstrate willingness to reform. Positive steps toward reform would go a long way toward persuading CIRA that its ICANN participation should be fully restored. To that end, and to demonstrate our commitment to moving the process forward in a productive manner, we offer the following suggestion for ICANN’s consideration, which suggestion could be implemented without delay: CIRA recommends that ICANN engage a non-governmental, independent consultant to conduct a wide-reaching, public review of ICANN’s transparency, accountability and the fairness of its processes and to provide a road-map for ICANN’s reform. This review can be conducted in a manner similar to the review of each Supporting Organization Council, each Advisory Committee (other than the Governmental Advisory Committee), and the Nominating Committee as set out in Article IV, Section 4 of ICANN’s Bylaws. CIRA puts forward this suggestion hoping that ICANN accepts it in the constructive and positive spirit intended. We remain optimistic that ICANN will emerge from any reform process stronger and better for it. We continue to offer any assistance we can to ICANN and to the ICANN Community in this regard. Yours very truly, Canadian Internet Registration Authority Clyde Beattie Board of Directors, Chair Bernard Turcotte President and Chief Executive Officer