[ALSC-Forum] FYI: ETSI on ALSC Draft Report

[Alexander Svensson]

- Comments from ETSI to the ALSC Draft Report on ICANN At-Large Membership
Date: 16-10-01

ETSI has analysed the comprehensive document drafted by the ALSC.

Firstly, ETSI wants to notify that no part of the above referenced
document has a direct impact on technical issues neither for the Internet
Protocol nor for the operation of the Internet. Potential indirect impact
is clearly identified in our comments.

Some of the content of the ALSC document has an impact on the structure of
ICANN and therefore affects the PSO as ICANN Supporting Organization and
the comments contained herein are presented under this view.

¨        ETSI supports the creation of an At Large Supporting Organization
to channel the involvement of At Large in the ICANN structure as it is in
line with the approach followed to set up the other existing 3 SOs.

¨      ETSI advices caution and care in the implementation of the proposed
ALSO membership restricted to "those individuals holding a domain name".
While the ALSC has clearly examined the technical requirements and
potential for abuse in e-mail based ALSO registration, we nevertheless
observe that any choice to allow direct voting by the At Large members, is
going to be subject to considerable problems of authentication and
certification (that the same person does not appear multiple times). If
the intent is to give the at large effort sufficient voting leverage,
efforts at capture are almost inevitable. While the ALSC report concludes
that this is a problem for e-mail based voter registration, it is our
opinion that existing technical systems are not sufficient for precluding
the same behaviour in individual domain registration based systems.

¨      ETSI expresses concern for the technical implications in the DNS of
the need to hold a domain name in order to get At Large voting rights.
This choice could lead to the creation of more registrations that are not
tied up to functioning domains. The technical purpose of the DNS is
mapping from names to hosts. There is no evidence that the, somehow
artificial, increase of second level domain names within the DNS tree
would not create technical problems.

¨      Furthermore,  ETSI considers that it would be beneficial for the
Internet community to allow other means to become "At Large member" such
as being an individual member of a national, regional or international
recognised User Association not linked to commercial businesses. This
alternative will not bring the undesirable side effects of the one linked
to the domain name registration.

¨      As for the number of seats in the ICANN Board that this proposed
new Supporting Organization should have, ETSI considers that it should be
identical to those assigned to the other ICANN SOs (presently 3 seats per
SO, further reconsideration of this number is acceptable). No value added
is identified for increasing the number of seats for any of the SOs
(including the proposed ALSO)  as those individuals elected would hold,
anyhow, the representation of the whole SO. The overhead cost associated
with an increase of the ICANN Board seats should be carefully considered.

¨      Also, ETSI believes that ICANN is structured around a careful
balance between technical and operational input. Decisions that change the
balance, on the Board or elsewhere, need to be considered very carefully
and examined for unintentional side effects.

¨      Regarding the duration of the terms of office of the ICANN Board
members representing the ALSO, ETSI supports an identical model to the one
followed so far by the existing 3 SOs.

¨      ETSI supports the target of having this new ALSO self-funded,
self-organising and transparent, the way the PSO is. Initial funds and
outreach from ICANN to start up the process is acceptable.

¨      ETSI supports the proposal made in the document of increasing the
relationship and exchange of views between the ICANN Supporting
Organizations, including the proposed new one, the ALSO.


[from http://www.pso.icann.org/PSO_Statements/PSO-Statements-26October2001.txt]