<html><body><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><div>Milton, <br></div><div><br></div><div>Thank you for your comments. They pretty much align with what I believe to be the NCSG strategy for keeping a bit of heat on the ICANN Board. In this matter they should have been more consultative from the get go, and based on my other work the secrecy around the ISOC sale, and the exclusion of the PIR Advisory Committee in the process, have left much to be desired. I agree that the ICANN board cannot simply void the sale without incurring a probable expensive lawsuit. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The interesting question however is whether or not appropriate safeguards can be incorporated in the registry contract, in contract language that Ethos Capital is happy to live with. As an economist (and this is my personal view) this has all the markings of a purchase where opportunities are monetized within a new .org registry ownership, and then flipped for profit. Ethos Capital continues to say the right things, but as one who has had to evaluate big takeovers and buy-outs, if conditions are not carved in stone, in contract language, they are mainly up front marketing pronouncements, easy to discard as circumstances change (which they always do).</div><div><br></div><div>Lastly, no matter what the Board tells itself, and what we (NCSG) tell ourselves, this is an episode where others will watch us, both the ICANN Board and its integrity, and NCSG as the relevant stakeholder group, and make assessments that will affect us for a long time to come. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Sam L. <br></div><br><hr><blockquote style="border-left: solid 2px #000000; margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px">---- Original Message ----<br><b>From</b>: "Mueller, Milton L" <milton@GATECH.EDU><br><b>To</b>: NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU<br><b>Sent</b>: Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 2:49 PM<br><b>Subject</b>: Status of the ORG negotiations<br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Sam Lanfranco<br>
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</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">> I note that to date the Board has not responded to the three specific
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">> things we are asking for. Also, it has not consulted with noncommercial
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">> registrants and it has not offered protective modifications on the Registry Agreement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Sam, this is not quite an accurate assessment of the situation.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">On 7 January the board responded to the NCSG letter of 9 December with this:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank" href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/botterman-to-perrin-07jan20-en.pdf">https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/botterman-to-perrin-07jan20-en.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">From that, and from subsequent communications, it is clear that ICANN is still exchanging
information with ISOC/PIR and Ethos to determine whether to “provide or withhold its consent to the request.”
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">Recently there was a 30-day extension of that process.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">Until it concludes that process, ICANN is in no position to say anything about our
specific proposed modifications to the RA. In terms of consultations I do not think it is legally in a position to bring us (or any other SG) into direct negotiations with Ethos, but I can assure you they know what we think about this, as well as others making
noise in the media think. But you are welcome to keep communication with them, preferably with a common and coherent set of positions.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">In fact, our three proposed RA modifications were directed not at ICANN but at PIR/ISOC
and Ethos as signals regarding what they would need to do to gain community support for going ahead with the sale. PIR has publicly expressed its support for some of those requests, but in some cases says they would require a PDP:
</span><a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank" href="https://thenew.org/reflecting-on-community-recommendations-to-improve-org/">https://thenew.org/reflecting-on-community-recommendations-to-improve-org/</a>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">I will admit that a clean-slate re-delegation of ORG would bring some positive opportunities
(as well as risks) to our interests, but such a move is unlikely because it is 100% certain to bring litigation down on ICANN. A billion $ are at stake, and even a very small fraction of that can hire a lot of lawyers. We also don’t want ICANN to be able to
do things arbitrarily outside of its contractual agreements – that could easily come back to bite us.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">So the most likely resolution is that ICANN will approve the sale while extracting
some commitments from Ethos/PIR. We want to make sure that those commitments are sufficient, or that we have informally negotiated side agreements with Ethos/PIR that move things in the direction we want.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Dr. Milton L Mueller<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">School of Public Policy
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Georgia Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><img style="width:2.0833in;height:.4479in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="attach.php?img&tn=228920-0_2219a6b83e4c197a3b9a99a225419cb9.jpg&filename=image001.jpg" alt="IGP_logo_gold block_email sig" width="200" height="43" border="0"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#1F4E79;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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