[ALAC-Announce] Fwd: [soac-discussion] New Years greetings

Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond ocl at gih.com
Mon Jan 2 19:33:45 UTC 2012


Dear all,

please find a message from ICANN Board Chair, Steve Crocker.

-------- Message original --------
Sujet: 	[soac-discussion] New Years greetings
Date : 	Mon, 2 Jan 2012 12:12:45 -0500
De : 	Steve Crocker <steve at shinkuro.com>
Pour : 	Icann-board ICANN <icann-board at icann.org>, Staff
<icann-staff at icann.org>, soac-discussion at icann.org
Copie à : 	Steve Crocker <steve at shinkuro.com>



ICANN Board, ICANN staff and chairs of the ICANN Supporting
Organizations and Advisory Committees,

[SO and AC chairs, please feel free to pass this along to your members.]

I write to bring you a brief greeting going into 2012.  I won't attempt
to cover the full set of accomplishments for the past year nor the full
set of challenges and goals for this new year, but I do want to note
just a few.

In terms of immediacy, the opening of the window for applications for
new gTLDs is January 12, ten days from now.  This is occupying a large
fraction of our attention and is also the source of much attention from
our stakeholders and others watching us.  An enormous amount of work has
gone into the program and I, among many, many others, are eager to see
what will happen.  The opening of the window on January 12 will be a
noteworthy day, but the closing date, three months later and the
publication date for the names a bit later will also be quite
noteworthy.  I know there is a bit of controversy over some specific
aspects of the program, but I am confident the program is well
constructed and will run smoothly.  I expect by the time we meet in
Prague in June we'll have much to discuss along this line, and I look
forward to hearing an initial assessment at that time.

June will also mark the transition period for our CEO.  Rod Beckstrom
has brought enormous energy to the position and has greatly increased
the visibility of ICANN around the world.  The search process for the
next CEO is now in full swing.  Applications have started coming in and
I believe there will be an announcement in the Economist shortly.
 George Sadowsky is leading the Board committee steering the process,
and I know first hand how hard he and the whole committee are working.

Another major event on the horizon is the determination of the next IANA
contract.  Our proposal was submitted to the U.S. Department of Commerce
a few weeks ago, and I have every reason to believe it will be accepted.
 The IANA team, led by Elise Gerich, has done a first rate job providing
the core service that was the raison d'être for the creation of ICANN.
 I expect the decision will be made sometime within the next two months,
with perhaps a bit more time to iron out the details.

These events -- gTLD launch, CEO transition, IANA contract -- will
naturally attract a lot of attention both within our community and from
the press and others, but they are obviously not the totality of our
mission nor even the most important things for us to focus on.  ICANN
was created a little over thirteen years old.  I believe we're well
established and have demonstrated competence in our mission.  However,
like most teenagers, we still have some room to grow and become
smoother.  I'm sure each of you has his or her own list of improvements
we should aim for.  Here's my two in broad terms.

*Effectiveness.*  We often emphasize our commitment to a
multi-stakeholder model.  There's no question this is important.
 However, from my point of view, we are organized around broad
participation from all parties because it's a system that has worked
well in the Internet ecology.  And "working well" means the job gets
done.  If we are not effective and reasonably efficient at doing the job
we were created to do, the details of our processes will matter very
little.  We have many processes in place to measure ourselves in terms
of transparency, accountability and other attributes of fairness.  I
applaud and support all of these, but I would like us all to keep in
mind that in addition to these very important measures that we also
focus on making sure that we deliver the service our community needs.

*Cooperation and Rapport.*  ICANN has some unique characteristics, but
it is also just one among many organizations involved in supporting the
development of the Internet and management of its critical resources.
 Despite the misconceptions sometimes appearing in the press, ICANN does
not run the Internet, is not responsible for either the growth or the
problems of the Internet, and has very little power over the very big
challenges for the future.  We have a vital and important role, but it's
within a much larger ecology.  I look forward to cementing and deepening
the relations we have with the other organizations that created the
Internet and hence created the environment that led to our creation,
particularly the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet
Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), the TLD
registries, the ISPs, the many and varied providers of  content, and,
perhaps the least easy to define, the innovators, researchers, and
entrepreneurs who continuously mine the rich set of possibilities made
possible by the openness of both the Internet architecture and the
lightweight governance structures that evolved.  And as important as all
of these non-governmental organizations are, it is equally vital that we
continue to cement and deepen our relations with governments around the
world and provide them with confidence that the service we are providing
to the entire community is balanced, predictable, effective and
consistent with broadly shared values.

I have had the good fortune to be involved in the network community for
more than forty years, and it continues to be a privilege to be allowed
to serve.  I look forward to a vigorous and successful 2012, and I
particularly look forward to the pleasure of working with all of you.

My very best wishes to each of you both personally and professionally.

Steve Crocker
Chair, ICANN Board of Directors



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