1. NCSG charter
1a. NCSG has initiated its Exec Comm, putting in place necessary mechanisms (e.g., membership criteria, working drafts of NCSG-EC procedures, voting procedures) to support NCSG
1b. NCUC continues to grow in numbers and interests, recent interest by grassroots consumer protection advocates in NCSG, encouraging supporters of Consumer Constituency petition to join NCSG
1c. Noncommercial interests are eager to move forward with a Board _ratified_ NCSG charter. NCUC submitted detailed letter in October(?) outlining arguments for supporting NCSG, where does the Board (specifically the SIC) stand on approving? What questions can we answer to expedite process?
2. New gTLDs/EOI
2a. NCSG councilors Bill Drake and Rafik Dammak eloquently raised in the GNSO working session how the complexity (and expense) of the new gTLD process is detrimental to potential applicants from developing regions.
3. Parity in ICANN policy-making process w/r/t inclusion of noncommercial interests
3a. Unfortunately, we have yet another instance where ad hoc creation of an advisory group (that has potential to influence policy) results in draft report which fails to include noncommercial interests, much less address potential policy conflict. In this case, the zone file access (ZFA) advisory group failed to adequately consider in its draft report how a uniform, third-party ZFA contract might impact and conflict with the variance in national privacy laws concerning registrant data. If ICANN's intent is to make consensus policy it is imperative that its processes, including "advisory groups," include all perspectives - from the start.
3b. On a positive note! Thx for providing the opportunity to discuss noncommercial interests with the Board. Having met in Seoul and now in Nairobi, we believe these regular f-2-f interactions benefit both the Board and noncommercial interests and hope they will become a regularly scheduled occurrence going forward.